Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Max Scherzer among players leading MLB payrolls

Ken Griffey Jr. is the fourth-highest-paid Cincinnati Red. He's not the only former player leading team payrolls.

Griffey is making $3.6M this year and next, money deferred from when the 53-year-old signed with Cincinnati at age 30. He hasn't played for the Reds since 2008, but he's been getting deferred money since 2009.

The second-highest-paid Red also won't be on the field for them this year. The Reds ate the remaining $22M of Mike Moustakas' contract. 

And when they slashed payroll after the 2021 season, they were left with just Joey Votto ($25M) and free agent signing Wil Myers ($6M) out-earning the two players who are gone. 

They're not the only team. Retired first baseman Chris Davis is second on the Baltimore Orioles payroll, making $9.16M this season. That's behind only free agent signing Kyle Gibson, who got $10M from Baltimore this offseason. 

Honestly, he might have received an extra million on that deal just so Davis wouldn't be the highest-paid Oriole.

Davis signed a seven-year contract in 2016 for $161M, though he never took the field after 2020. The deal contained $42M in deferred payments, so Davis is making over nine million each of the next two seasons, before the deferrals drop to $3.5M annually for the next seven years. From 2033-37, he gets $1.4 M per year. Eat your heart out, Bobby Bonilla!

In addition, pitcher Alex Cobb and his deferred $4.5M are fourth on Baltimore's payroll, even though he's been pitching for the San Francisco Giants since 2022.

The most painful example might be Max Scherzer, who is getting deferred payments of $15M each July 1 from 2022-28. That means he's the third-highest-paid player for the Washington Nationals this year, while making an MLB-high $43.3M salary to pitch for their division rivals, the New York Mets. 

Thanks to the huge salaries given out to Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Francisco Lindor and others, the Mets' deferred money is a drop in the bucket. 

But for the record, they will be paying Bobby Bonilla $1.2M per year through 2035, and Bret Saberhagen $250K per year through 2028. They'll also owe Jacob DeGrom over $25M in deferrals, but not until 2035.

Finally, 23 years after signing with the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez is the eighth-highest-paid Ranger, receiving over $9M. He originally deferred $36M of his deal, and it's been earning interest. 

So depending on the interest rate — estimate at two percent — A-Rod might be as high as seventh on the Rangers payroll. Perhaps that makes Ben Affleck marrying Jennifer Lopez sting a little less.