Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Cost of Todd Helton

A friend of mine, WVLT-TV sports caster Jeff Archer, tweeted about the total salary that the Colorado Rockies have paid Todd Helton during his MLB career.  Almost $161.5 million for 17 season.  That's about $9,500,000 per season.  I was curious how much that worked out every time he went to the plate (and some other stats).  So, a bit of copying and pasting from Todd's page at Baseball-Reference.com and then a bit of simple spread sheet manipulation gave me the following:

YearSalaryGPrice / GPAPrice / PAABPrice / ABRPrice / R
1997$150,00035$4,286101$1,48593$1,61313$11,538
1998$190,000152$1,250595$319530$35878$2,436
1999$750,000159$4,717657$1,142578$1,298114$6,579
2000$1,300,000160$8,125697$1,865580$2,241138$9,420
2001$4,950,000159$31,132697$7,102587$8,433132$37,500
2002$5,000,000156$32,051668$7,485553$9,042107$46,729
2003$10,600,000160$66,250703$15,078583$18,182135$78,519
2004$11,600,000154$75,325683$16,984547$21,207115$100,870
2005$12,600,000144$87,500626$20,128509$24,75492$136,957
2006$16,600,000145$114,483649$25,578546$30,40394$176,596
2007$16,600,000154$107,792682$24,340557$29,80386$193,023
2008$16,600,00083$200,000361$45,983299$55,51839$425,641
2009$16,600,000151$109,934645$25,736544$30,51579$210,127
2010$17,775,000118$150,636473$37,579398$44,66148$370,313
2011$20,275,000124$163,508491$41,293421$48,15959$343,644
2012$4,900,00069$71,014283$17,314240$20,41731$158,065
2013$5,000,000121$41,322430$11,628386$12,95341$121,951
Totals$161,490,0002244$71,9659441$17,1057951$20,3111401$115,268

YearSalaryHPrice / HHRPrice / HRRBIPrice / RBITBPrice / Base
1997$150,00026$5,7695$30,00011$13,63645$3,333
1998$190,000167$1,13825$7,60097$1,959281$676
1999$750,000185$4,05435$21,429113$6,637339$2,212
2000$1,300,000216$6,01942$30,952147$8,844405$3,210
2001$4,950,000197$25,12749$101,020146$33,904402$12,313
2002$5,000,000182$27,47330$166,667109$45,872319$15,674
2003$10,600,000209$50,71833$321,212117$90,598367$28,883
2004$11,600,000190$61,05332$362,50096$120,833339$34,218
2005$12,600,000163$77,30120$630,00079$159,494272$46,324
2006$16,600,000165$100,60615$1,106,66781$204,938260$63,846
2007$16,600,000178$93,25817$976,47191$182,418275$60,364
2008$16,600,00079$210,1277$2,371,42929$572,414116$143,103
2009$16,600,000177$93,78515$1,106,66786$193,023266$62,406
2010$17,775,000102$174,2658$2,221,87537$480,405146$121,747
2011$20,275,000127$159,64614$1,448,21469$293,841196$103,444
2012$4,900,00057$85,9657$700,00037$132,43296$51,042
2013$5,000,00098$51,02015$333,33361$81,967167$29,940
Totals$161,490,0002518$64,134369$437,6421406$114,8584291$37,635

The whole spread sheet is here.  It just wouldn't fit nicely on this blog.  I've highlighted the best value for the Rockies in green and the worst value for the Rockies in red.  1998 was Todd's first full season with the team and his salary was still on the low side.  2008 was the year that Todd had some back issues.  Less playing time and no change in salary makes it a bit tough on the Rockies' budget watchers.

Thanks, Todd, for a fun career.

* stats as of September 26, 2013