The cost of winning

The Toronto Blue Jays entered 2009 with a payroll of $80,538,300.

In other words, every time the team takes the field, Blue Jays ownership shells out $497,150 in player salaries. If the club won every game, this would simply be their cost per win. Of course, that’s just not possible. So what is their cost per win?

Well, entering Wednesday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, the Blue Jays (39-33) had spent $917,815.38 for every win this year. That ranks 11th in the majors. The Florida Marlins have spent the least per win ($454,740.74), while the New York Yankees have spent the most ($2,290,682.78). Not too surprisingly, those are the club’s with the league’s lowest and highest payrolls, respectively.

What’s impressive, though, is that the Marlins (36-36) have just two fewer wins than the Yanks (38-32). As it turns out, seven of those top 11 teams with the lowest cost per win have records of .500 or better. The others are: Tampa Bay (37-35), Texas (37-32), Minnesota (36-36), St. Louis (40-32), Colorado (37-34) and Toronto (39-33).

Here’s the full list and what theyve paid for each win this year (win-loss records in parenthesis) …

Florida (36-36) — $454,740.74
San Diego (31-38) –  $   600,888.04
Pittsburgh (31-39) –  $   678,715.64
Tampa Bay (37-35) –  $   760,516.91
Texas (37-32) –  $   784,841.00
Minnesota (36-36) –  $   806,163.76
St. Louis (40-32) –  $   862,278.98
Oakland (31-39) –  $   868,518.52
Colorado (37-34) –  $   890,769.26
Baltimore (32-38) –  $   906,079.61
Toronto (39-33) –  $   917,815.38
Cincinnati (34-35) –  $   921,484.47
LA Dodgers (47-24) –  $   936,358.82
Milwaukee (37-33) –  $   936,398.91
San Francisco (38-32) –  $   939,433.31
Kansas City (30-39) –  $1,001,200.40
Arizona (30-41) –  $1,074,008.91
Cleveland (30-42) –  $1,208,580.24
Seattle (35-35) –  $1,221,039.08
Boston (43-27) –  $1,223,402.23
Atlanta (34-36) –  $1,229,272.26
Chi White Sox (33-37) –  $1,257,911.52
Washington (20-48) –  $1,266,143.20
Detroit (39-31) –  $1,275,080.75
Philadelphia (37-31) –  $1,281,994.52
LA Angels (37-32) –  $1,308,962.45
Houston (32-36) –  $1,351,033.20
Chi Cubs (34-33) –  $1,639,833.51
NY Mets (35-34) –  $1,817,778.68
NY Yankees (38-32) –  $2,290,682.78

Note: A hat tip to friend and former classmate, James Carruthers, for putting together the excel on this.