Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Alfonso Soriano may have lost his arbitration case. Heck, he may not even have a position on his new team, the Nationals. But the man he did break the arbitration record when he was awarded ten million dollars yesterday.
That sounds impressive, but really, he will be making just $2.5 million more than he made last year in Texas. I mean, I wouldn't turn it down, but is that in actuality a big pay raise by baseball standards? I don't know.
That made me wonder what exactly was the greatest pay raise in baseball history and where does Soriano's 2006 hike fall on the list of all-time increases?
So I looked it up.
Well, There are 315 pay hikes that were at least as much as Soriano's $2.5 M pay increase though many were due to free agent signings.
Here are the one-year salary increases of $5M or more:
| Player | Yr1 | Tm | Salary | Yr2 | Tm | Salary | Increase | Prev Yrs |
| Alex Rodriguez | 2000 | SEA | $4,362,500 | 2001 | TEX | $22,000,000 | $17,637,500 | 7 |
| Roger Clemens | 2004 | HOU | $5,000,000 | 2005 | HOU | $18,000,000 | $13,000,000 | 21 |
| Gary Sheffield | 1997 | FLO | $6,100,000 | 1998 | FLO | $14,936,667 | $8,836,667 | 10 |
| Manny Ramirez | 2000 | CLE | $4,250,000 | 2001 | BOS | $13,050,000 | $8,800,000 | 8 |
| Carlos Delgado | 2000 | TOR | $6,600,000 | 2001 | TOR | $13,650,000 | $7,050,000 | 8 |
| Larry Walker | 1999 | COL | $5,417,857 | 2000 | COL | $12,142,857 | $6,725,000 | 11 |
| Matt Morris | 2002 | SLN | $4,000,000 | 2003 | SLN | $10,500,000 | $6,500,000 | 5 |
| Adrian Beltre | 2004 | LAN | $5,000,000 | 2005 | SEA | $11,400,000 | $6,400,000 | 7 |
| Jason Giambi | 2001 | OAK | $4,103,333 | 2002 | NYA | $10,428,571 | $6,325,238 | 7 |
| Shawn Green | 1999 | TOR | $3,125,000 | 2000 | LAN | $9,416,667 | $6,291,667 | 7 |
| Chan Ho Park | 2002 | TEX | $6,884,803 | 2003 | TEX | $13,000,000 | $6,115,197 | 9 |
| Albert Pujols | 2003 | SLN | $900,000 | 2004 | SLN | $7,000,000 | $6,100,000 | 3 |
| Chan Ho Park | 2000 | LAN | $3,850,000 | 2001 | LAN | $9,900,000 | $6,050,000 | 7 |
| Bobby Higginson | 2002 | DET | $5,850,000 | 2003 | DET | $11,850,000 | $6,000,000 | 8 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 2004 | SEA | $6,500,000 | 2005 | SEA | $12,500,000 | $6,000,000 | 4 |
| Kevin Millwood | 2002 | ATL | $3,900,000 | 2003 | PHI | $9,900,000 | $6,000,000 | 6 |
| Miguel Tejada | 2004 | BAL | $5,000,000 | 2005 | BAL | $11,000,000 | $6,000,000 | 8 |
| Kevin Brown | 1998 | SDN | $4,935,000 | 1999 | LAN | $10,714,286 | $5,779,286 | 12 |
| Carlos Delgado | 2001 | TOR | $13,650,000 | 2002 | TOR | $19,400,000 | $5,750,000 | 9 |
| Darren Dreifort | 2000 | LAN | $3,700,000 | 2001 | LAN | $9,400,000 | $5,700,000 | 6 |
| Todd Helton | 2002 | COL | $5,000,000 | 2003 | COL | $10,600,000 | $5,600,000 | 6 |
| Chipper Jones | 2000 | ATL | $4,750,000 | 2001 | ATL | $10,333,333 | $5,583,333 | 7 |
| Brian Giles | 2000 | PIT | $1,816,667 | 2001 | PIT | $7,333,333 | $5,516,666 | 6 |
| Sidney Ponson | 2004 | BAL | $3,000,000 | 2005 | BAL | $8,500,000 | $5,500,000 | 7 |
| Pat Hentgen | 1998 | TOR | $3,250,000 | 1999 | TOR | $8,600,000 | $5,350,000 | 8 |
| Carl Pavano | 2004 | FLO | $3,800,000 | 2005 | NYA | $9,000,000 | $5,200,000 | 7 |
| J.D. Drew | 2004 | ATL | $4,200,000 | 2005 | LAN | $9,400,000 | $5,200,000 | 7 |
| Cecil Fielder | 1994 | DET | $4,237,500 | 1995 | DET | $9,237,500 | $5,000,000 | 9 |
| Derek Jeter | 1999 | NYA | $5,000,000 | 2000 | NYA | $10,000,000 | $5,000,000 | 5 |
| Jeromy Burnitz | 2002 | NYN | $7,166,667 | 2003 | NYN | $12,166,667 | $5,000,000 | 10 |
| Kevin Brown | 1999 | LAN | $10,714,286 | 2000 | LAN | $15,714,286 | $5,000,000 | 13 |
| Magglio Ordonez | 2003 | CHA | $9,000,000 | 2004 | CHA | $14,000,000 | $5,000,000 | 7 |
| Mike Piazza | 2002 | NYN | $10,571,429 | 2003 | NYN | $15,571,429 | $5,000,000 | 11 |
| Mo Vaughn | 2002 | NYN | $12,166,667 | 2003 | NYN | $17,166,667 | $5,000,000 | 11 |
As far as the percent increase, Soriano comes nowhere near the top. Here are the players who have seen their pay increase an Exxon-like tenfold in a single offseason. Most are arbitration specials:
| Player | Yr1 | Tm | Salary | Yr2 | Tm | Salary | PCT Inc | Prev Yrs |
| Bo Jackson | 1992 | CHA | $109,000 | 1993 | CHA | $2,410,000 | 2211% | 6 |
| Juan Encarnacion | 2000 | DET | $325,000 | 2001 | DET | $4,400,000 | 1354% | 4 |
| Willis Roberts | 2002 | BAL | $260,000 | 2003 | BAL | $3,500,000 | 1346% | 3 |
| John Cangelosi | 1986 | CHA | $60,000 | 1987 | PIT | $800,000 | 1333% | 2 |
| Pascual Perez | 1988 | MON | $70,000 | 1989 | MON | $850,000 | 1214% | 8 |
| Jose DeLeon | 1985 | SDN | $155,000 | 1986 | PIT | $1,825,000 | 1177% | 3 |
| Kris Benson | 2000 | PIT | $300,000 | 2001 | PIT | $3,450,000 | 1150% | 2 |
| Pedro Martinez | 1996 | MON | $315,000 | 1997 | MON | $3,615,000 | 1148% | 5 |
| Charles Johnson | 1997 | FLO | $290,000 | 1998 | FLO | $3,300,000 | 1138% | 4 |
| Andruw Jones | 1999 | ATL | $330,000 | 2000 | ATL | $3,700,000 | 1121% | 4 |
| Jarrod Washburn | 2002 | ANA | $350,000 | 2003 | ANA | $3,875,000 | 1107% | 5 |
| Richard Hidalgo | 2000 | HOU | $330,000 | 2001 | HOU | $3,500,000 | 1061% | 4 |
| Henry Rodriguez | 1996 | MON | $220,000 | 1997 | MON | $2,300,000 | 1045% | 5 |
| Torii Hunter | 2001 | MIN | $230,000 | 2002 | MIN | $2,400,000 | 1043% | 5 |
| Rick Helling | 1998 | TEX | $216,500 | 1999 | TEX | $2,250,000 | 1039% | 5 |
| Adam Dunn | 2004 | CIN | $445,000 | 2005 | CIN | $4,600,000 | 1034% | 4 |
| Bob Brenly | 1987 | SFN | $60,000 | 1988 | SFN | $600,000 | 1000% | 7 |
| Pete Harnisch | 1998 | CIN | $300,000 | 1999 | CIN | $3,000,000 | 1000% | 11 |
This chart also shows that big Cecil was considerably ahead of his time...
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