Park’s Annual Salary Exceeds Florida’s

Park Chan-ho (33, San Diego Padres) gets paid more than the 25 Florida Marlins on this year’s opening day roster combined.

According to a recent major league payroll report by the Associated Press, Park will get paid a total of $15,333,679 (approx. 1.46 billion won) this year. His salary is the 12th highest annual salary in the major leagues this year and the fourth highest among pitchers. Park’s annual salary is the highest among his fellow Asian major leaguers, surpassing Hideki Matsui’s (New York Yankees, $13 million) and Ichiro Suzuki’s (Seattle, $12.53 million).

In contrast, after dumping most of its veterans this season except for Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, Florida is currently paying its opening day roster $14,998,500. This means that Florida’s average annual salary per player is $576,865, which is not much higher than the league minimum of $337,000.

The New York Yankees was the league’s most generous club in terms of salaries paid. Yankee infielders Alex Rodriguez ($25,680,727), Derek Jeter ($20,600,000), and Jason Giambi ($20,428,571) are the highest paid athletes in major league baseball this year.

uni@donga.com