Marc forwards this
fantastic tool. View salary by team, by player, highlight by position. Great way to see who's spending money and on whom.
(Can you call it a cartogram? I'm reminded of the great cartograms following the '04 election:
Alternate views of the electoral map)
So, what does it say about the A's? Each of the following groups looks to be about even, salary-wise, at roughly $10 million (forgive my aggressive rounding):
Group 1 - Jason Kendall
Group 2 - Kotsay and Zito
Group 3 - Eric Chavez
Group 4 - Loaiza and Payton
Group 5 - Bradley, Ellis, Kennedy and Kielty
Group 6 - Witasick, Harden, Calero, Crosby, Haren, Frank Thomas, Melhuse, Dan Johnson, Blanton, Duchscherer, Ron Flores, Chad Gaudin, Antonio Perez, Marco Scutaro, Huston Street, Swisher and Matt Watson
It's fascinating to see the allocation of resources, the tremendous cost of Kendall and the great values found in the 63% of the team receiving only 17% of the money. Also funny to see the A's total payroll graphically lined up against the Yankees starting infield - well really just A-Rod, Jeter and Giambi, who earn the same $60 million that the entire A's team will earn this year.