The next financial efficiency report we will dive into is the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks finished the regular season with a 94-68 record, eight games ahead of the Giants for the NL West title (their first playoff appearance since 2007). The Diamondbacks then took on the Brewers in the NLDS, and after being down 0-2 in the first two games they forced a decisive fifth game where they lost 3-2 against them.

Arizona overcame a horrible 2010 season where they went 65-97, good enough for last place.The Diamondbacks’ payroll was the sixth lowest in baseball at $53,639,833 million. With that payroll, they won 94 games, or 45 games above the 49 game line. That means they spent $1,191,996.29 for every win over 49.

Their top five paid players were:

– Kelly Johnson ($5,850,000): Johnson hit .209/.287/.412 with 18 HR’s, 49 RBI’s, 59 runs scored and a .699 OPS in 114 games with the Diamondbacks in 2011. He was traded to the Blue Jays late in August. If we presume that the D’backs paid Johnson for the entire season, it means that he earned $65,000 for every hit he got (90) with them, $325,000 for every home run he hit and $99,152.54 for every run he scored. He also earned $119,387.76 for every run he batted in and $42,700.73 for every time he got on base.

– Joe Saunders ($5,500,000): Saunders went 12-13 with a 3.69 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 212.0 innings throughout 33 starts in 2011. He earned $458,333.33 for every won game, $50,925.93 for every batter he struck out, $25,943.40 for every inning pitched and $166,666.66 for every game he started.

– Chris Young ($5,200,000): Young hit .236/.331/.420 with 20 HR’s, 71 RBI’s, 89 runs and a .751 OPS. Young earned $260,000 for every home run he hit, $38,805.97 for every hit, $73,239.44 for every run he batted in, $58,426.97 for every run scored and $23,853.21 for every time he got on base.

– Stephen Drew ($4,650,000): Drew hit .252/.317/.369 with 5 HR’s, 45 RBI’s, 44 runs and a .713 OPS in only 321 AB’s. Drew earned $930,000 for every home run he hit, $57,407.41 for every hit, $103,333.33 for every run batted in, $105,681.82 for every run scored or $41,517.86 for every time he got on base.

– Justin Upton ($4,458,333): Upton hit .289/.369/.529 with 31 HR’s, 88 RBI’s, 105 runs and a .898 OPS in 592 AB’s. Upton earned $143,817.19 for every home run he hit. $26,072.12 for every hit he got, $50,662.86 for every run batted in, $42,460.31 for every run scored or $17,904.95 for every time he got on base.

The Diamondbacks had a collective OBP of .322, a collective SLG of.413 and an OPS of .736. Throughout the season they scored 731 runs, or about $73,378.70 for every run they scored as a team. They ranked third in slugging, fourth in OPS and seventh in on-base percentage as an overall team in the National League.

I believe this team had a pretty solid season taking into account their payroll. Even with a limited Drew, they still managed to outperform the rest of the NL West. They even outperformed their Pythagorean record, 88-74 against 94-68. The Pythagorean record is calculated with the runs scored and runs allowed and gives you an estimate of wins a team’s is slated to get.

Their three best offensive players (OBP-wise) were Upton, Gerardo Parra and Miguel Montero, in that exact same order. The last two are not among the top-five players, Montero made $3,200,000 and Parra only $426,000, and Parra will now be the team’s fourth outfielder. On the 25-man roster only 15 players earned more than $1 million, and their two aces Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson weren’t among them.

If this group of young players can stay healthy and perform the way they did in 2011 this team is going to be tough to beat for years to come. The Diamondbacks will have to evaluate which players to lock-up to long-term deals, which of them will get traded for good young prospects and which of them will become free agents and sign with another team as many of them will hit free agency around the same time.

Image by SD Dirk under the Creative Commons License.