They Got Off Cheaply

Major league baseball’s punishment of Dodger players this week could have been worse for them. They could have been suspended without pay.

Calculating their salaries per game, not including performance-based bonuses included in their contracts, the following is approximately the amount of money such suspensions could have cost each player:

Gary Sheffield: $293,210; Shawn Green: $236,111; Carlos Perez: $154,321; Todd Hundley: $111,111; Eric Karros: $92,593; Chan Ho Park: $71,296; Darren Dreifort: $57,407; Alan Mills: $41,667; Chad Kreuter: $27,160; Terry Adams: $25,926; F.P. Santangelo: $23,148; Mike Fetters: $13,580; Geronimo Berroa: $5,556; Onan Masaoka: $4,259; Antonio Osuna: $3,889; Eric Gagne: $3,796

The 16 players did not get off without some hit to their wallets. Pending appeals, all were fined between $3,000 and $5,000.

Major league baseball rarely requires suspended players to forfeit pay for games missed, usually making exceptions only in cases involving criminal activity.