When the Angels signed Gary Matthews Jr. to his outrageous 5 year $50 million contract this month just hours after Juan Pierre had seemingly set the bar for idiotic contracts with his 5 year $44 million deal with the Dodgers, the sirens officially started blaring. 

Major League Baseball has gone crazy again. 

Suddenly journeyman centerfielders who have a lifetime OPS of .755 after a career year are worth $10 million per, Japanese pitchers are commanding $50 million just to enter into negotiations and Carlos Lee is being given $1 million for every pound he’s going to put on during the duration of his six year deal with Houston. 

Needless to say, the KC Royals are probably screwed.

Besides being fodder for those who enjoy sports based comedy (c’mon, like watching Alfonso Soriano in centerfield at Wrigley won’t be freaking hilarious), the continual increase in baseball salaries makes one wonder what the payrolls of some of the great teams of the past would have looked like today. 

Teams as recent as twenty years ago would have redefined the term “fantasy baseball”.  Take the 1986 Mets for example.  They won 108 games and beat Boston for the World Series with a reasonable mix of veterans, youngsters, stars and role players.  Could they have kept that team together nowadays? 

If in 1987 the Mets were trying to piece together a roster that included all of the major players from their championship team, what would it cost? Without going all Ned Colletti on you and tossing out contracts that far exceed anything of reason, I tried to take a rational look at what the roster of a classic National League team would look like by today’s monetary standards.  And for the record, that may mark the first time the word “rational” has been used when describing anything related to baseball salaries. 

Here’s what I came up with:

(My projections are based on a number of factors – comparable players in today’s game, traditional stats, a few sabermetric stats, tendencies of over anxious and downright stupid general managers and a lot of guessing.  I’m sure statheads can and will pick it apart, but it’s fantasy so I really don’t give a crap) :

Catcher: Gary Carter
1986 Salary: $2.1 million
Despite a horrific perm, Carter established himself as one of the more valuable players on the Mets in 1986.  He played a premium defensive position, was an All Star, Silver Slugger and finished third in the MVP voting and in Runs Batted In.  His status as the clean cut, media hungry face of the franchise probably would have driven his value up beyond his production in 2006, especially in New York.  His closest age comparable player currently playing is Ivan Rodriguez (according to baseball-reference.com, which pretty much served as the hub for all of the info in this column). 

Seems like a valid comparison as both are on the downsides of their careers but serve as the de facto “leaders” of their team, at least in the eyes of the public.  Rodriguez made $10 million in 2006. 

Projected 2007 Salary: $10 million

1B: Keith Hernandez
1986 Salary: $1.65 million
Sure he was a cokehead, but Keith Hernandez led the 1986 Mets in Batting Average, On Base Percentage, Games Played, Runs, Hits, Total Bases, Doubles, OPS + and led the league in Walks.  Not to mention he was arguably the best defensive first baseman in baseball history.  He was the type of name that a team in the Big Apple needed to compete for headlines. 

He was fourth in the MVP voting in ‘86, but was the player the Mets could least afford to lose.  And you know how teams these days like to pay up for their favorite veterans, especially one with an MVP award on his mantle.  At 32 years old, he had a few more years left in the tank.  And thank god too, because baseball needed that mustache.

Projected 2007 Salary: $13 million

2B: Wally Backman
1986 Salary: $325,000
Batted .320 in 1986, but wasn’t much more than a singles hitter who played mediocre to below average defense.  Backman’s offensive stats for ’86 (.320/.376/.385) lay out similar to someone like Luis Castillo of the Twins whose salary sits in the neighborhood of $5.5 million.  Castillo is on the downside of his career, while Backman seemed on the way up. 

Projected 2007 Salary: $5.5 million

3B: Ray Knight
1986 Salary: $645,000
Knight wasn’t a powerhouse third baseman, hitting .298 with 11 HR’s and 76 RBI with a mediocre .775 OPS. Given the offensive discrepancies, it’s safe to say that had he played in today’s league, he would have put up numbers comparable to Scott Rolen this past season, who makes over $12 million per season.

Another thing working in his favor was that he was the 1986 World Series MVP.  We all know how a hot performance in the postseason can inflate a player’s value.  We’re about to see it happen with Jeff Suppan and Jeff Weaver.  Given how team’s froth at the mouth for players who grabbed headlines in the previous postseason, expect someone like Knight to get grossly overpaid in a short term deal.

Projected 2007 Salary: $8.5 million

SS: Rafael Santana
1986 Salary: $235,000
The thing I remember most about Rafael Santana was that he was the first player that I shipped to the bench whenever I was the Mets in Nintendo RBI Baseball.  It would be an understatement to say he was there solely for his defense.  A league average OPS+, which is adjusted for stadiums, is roughly 100.  Santana’s in 1986 was 52. 

Basically, this guy was the offensive equivalent of having a cardboard cutout of Mr. Met at the plate. 

Projected 2007 Salary: $650,000 (he was a veteran)

OF: Lenny Dykstra
1986 Salary: $92,500
In his pre-steroid days, he was a hard-nosed, scrubby outfielder who hit for a decent average, stole a few bases and played a solid outfield.  In 1986, he was only in his second year, so the Mets would be able to get him back for cheap.  One of the keys to success for most mid-level teams in the modern Major Leagues is getting production out of low cost players who you have under your control for several years. 

Projected 2007 Salary: $500,000

OF: Mookie Wilson
1986 Salary: $700,000
At the age of 30, Preston Wilson’s stepdad was still a productive player.  He was a quality fielder, hit close to .300 and stole a few bases. He had his shortcomings too – didn’t walk a whole lot, no measurable power and the fear that his best years were behind him.  Sound familiar?  If you factor in a slight offensive bump given the eras they played in, Mookie Wilson is basically an 80’s version of Gary Matthews Jr. and Juan Pierre, the two players who just cashed in close to $98 million between them. 

Would you pay $50 million for five years of Mookie Wilson?  The Angels and Dodgers just did. 

Projected 2007 Salary: $9 million

OF: Darryl Strawberry
1986 Salary: $945,000
After the 1986 season, Strawberry was 24 years old, a former Rookie of the Year, three time All Star and finished in the top five in the NL in OPS and HR. 

An apt comparison to Strawberry is the man who happened to finish fifth in NL homeruns this season – Andruw Jones.  Both were phenoms at a young age, both established quickly that they had the talent to dominate at the Major League level.  Calibrate Strawberry’s power numbers (27 HR, 93RBI, .865 OPS 4th in the NL) to today’s game and you’ve got a 24 year old who’s good for 40 HR, 120 RBI and the skill to take it to another level as he matured (little did we know that “as he matured” meant “as he decided that drugs were way cooler than baseball”)

If a young Andruw Jones hit the market today, what would he be worth? And more importantly, how far above that amount would hyperactive teams like the Blue Jays and Red Sox go with their offers? 

Projected 2007 Salary: $16 million

Bench: Kevin Mitchell, Tim Teufel, Howard Johnson, Danny Heep
1986 Combined Salary: $837,500
The Mets mixed in a few veterans (Teuful, Heep) with a few cheap younger players (Mitchell and Johnson) to form a bench comparable to the Cardinals World Series team with veterans like Scott Speizio and So Taguchi and inexpensive bodies like John Rodriguez and Aaron Miles.  

Projected 2007 Combined Salary: $5 million

SP: Ron Darling
1986 Salary: $440,000
Darling was a young pitcher coming off a season where he was top five in the Cy Young voting, third in ERA and had a impressive K/9IP ratio.  At the age of 25, he had just recorded his third straight season over 200 IP and 12 or more wins. Not to mention the dude was Hawaiian and positively handsome. 

The only people more excited by Darling than his female fans, would be GM’s looking to grab a quality young arm.  Teams in today’s league would line up to hand Ron Darling a long term deal in the neighborhood of the 5 year $55 million contract AJ Burnett got from the Blue Jays last winter.

Projected 2007 Salary: $11 million

SP: Bob Ojeda
1986 Salary: $550,000
More than anything else in the current market, veteran pitchers are commanding high dollar.  Scrubs like Adam Eaton are locking up for $8 million a year, the likes of Vincente Padilla and Gil Meche are looking for more than that.  Bob Ojeda was the veteran on the Mets staff, leading the team in wins (18), ERA (2nd in the NL) and K/BB ratio.  He was 28 years old and lefthanded.

All of that means his ass would have been rich in 2006.   

Projected 2007 Salary: $12 million

SP: Sid Fernandez
1986 Salary: $200,000
Fernandez was 23 in 1986, and in his third season in the league he racked up 200 strikeouts - the same amount as Dwight Gooden - and 16 wins.   His age comparable pitchers at this point included Carlos Zambrano and Jake Peavy.

In 1987 there was no way that a front office could have predicted that the guy would literally eat himself into mediocrity as his career progressed.  As everyone would learn, the only thing that Sid could rack up faster than strikeouts were empty Twinkie wrappers.  Fat or not, assume the Mets would have had to pony up a few bucks in arbitration to what appeared to be a young star.

Projected 2007 Salary: $5 million

SP: Dwight Gooden
1986 Salary:  $1.32 million
Imagine you’re a GM and you’ve just watched the first three years of a pitchers career where he averaged a 2.32 ERA and 19 wins, racked up a Cy Young and Rookie of the Year, was one year removed from one of the most amazing seasons on the mound since Bob Gibson’s 1968 and was just on the cover of Time magazine. 

In 1985, Gooden went 24-4 with 16 complete games, 8 shutouts, 268 K’s, a 1.53 ERA and a .96 WHIP.   In the 1986 NLCS, he threw 17 innings in two games and gave up two runs.  He was 20 years old. 

There really isn’t a “market” for a guy like that.  Even assuming a bump in most numbers given the offensive environment of 2006, you really only have one choice as a GM – sign the guy for as long as you can for as much as he wants. 

Projected 2007 Salary: $15 million

SP: Rick Aguilera
1986 Salary: $130,000
The lone break in the pitching staff for the Mets checkbook.  His status as a second year non-phenom means they could rest easy and slot him in the rotation for a minimal cost. 

Projected 2007 Salary: $500,000

Bullpen: Jesse Orosco, Roger McDowell, Doug Sisk, Randy Neiman
1986 Salary: $1.36 million
In today’s baseball environment closers are like tickets to the upcoming Rocky movie – I know they’re overpriced, but what the hell are you supposed to do, not go see Rocky Balboa?  You have to have a closer.  For whatever reason, not having a defined closer is a recipe for disaster in 2006. 

Jesse Orosco was the established closer for the Mets. Yes, the same Jesse Orosco that retired in 2003. He’d been around since 1982 and was the guy that ultimately closed down the World Series.  Expect to pay a healthy sum for his services.

Roger McDowell was the Mets version of Adam Wainwright.  He snagged some saves, actually leading the team in that category with one more than Orosco, and was in his second year in the bigs, so he was a reliable option that came cheap.

The other guys were scrubs, but every bullpen needs them. 

Projected 2007 Salary: $6 million for Orosco, $1 million for the other guys

Tack on three or four more league minimum guys or overpaid veteran scrubs to fill out the roster and you’ve got yourself a pretty competitive team.  That team in 1986 cost the Mets an estimated $12.5 million to field.  In other words, twenty years ago, a World Series team cost one quarter as much as it costs for the rights to negotiate with a star Japanese pitcher in 2006.

According to my very rough and non-scientific projections, if the 1986 champions hit this current baseball market, their total value would hover in the neighborhood of $121 million, good for second or third highest payroll in the league depending on how the offseason shakes out.

What does all of that mean? Even with all of the ridiculous contracts being tossed around throughout the league, if you took one of the great teams of the past twenty years and paid them in today’s baseball money, they’d still be a cool $80 million cheaper than the Yankees.  

Isn’t baseball great?

JSF Weekly is written by Josh Bacott.  He would have paid extra if it meant keeping Gary Carter's perm on his team.  E-mail him at josh@joesportsfan.com