A-Rod could write a check for the Marlins

Every year the Associated Press compiles the team salaries from each team, and every year it seems more preposterous.

This year's numbers show the ever-growing divide between large and small markets. As much as commissioner Bud Selig and players' union chief Donald Fehr will say how healthy the game is, how is it that the highest-paid team should be spending almost 10 times as much on players than the lowest-paid team?

That's what's happening, as the New York Yankees are paying their opening-day roster $209 million and the Florida Marlins are paying their players a total of $21.8 million.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will make $28 million this season, which is more than his hometown team.

"The Marlins? It's amazing," Rodriguez told the AP. "And they still seem to find a way to be very competitive. They have a great pool of talent; they made some unbelievable trades, so they have great personnel people. To win two championships in 11 years, that's really admirable, and I'm very proud of that organization, being from Miami."

But there's no way he'd consider playing for them, of course, at least until they pay their players better. A new stadium could fix that down the line.

“They’ve won a championship more recently than we have as an organization. So there’s many different ways to skin a cat,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the AP.

More inside the numbers using the Yankees' salaries:

• Add first baseman Jason Giambi ($23.4 million) and shortstop Derek Jeter ($21.6 million) to Rodriguez, and three players in the Yankees' infield make more ($73 million) than both of the major-league teams in Florida combined ($65.7 million).
• Those three are also making more than the two teams in the National League Championship Series last season: the Rockies ($68.7 million) and Diamondbacks ($66.2 million).
• Add second baseman Robinson Cano ($3 million) to the list, along with backups Morgan Ensberg and Wilson Betemit, and the Yankees' infield is very close to the total payroll of the team that knocked them out of the 2007 playoffs, the Cleveland Indians ($78.9 million).

Check out a chart of the 2008 team payrolls.