Now that the Cubs have a 26-man roster that’s fairly stable, with the occasional recall from Triple-A Iowa, I thought this would be a good time to look again at the team’s payroll and where they stand on luxury tax calculations for 2023.
Taking into account the recent activations of Seiya Suzuki and Brandon Hughes from the injured list, here are all the payroll numbers and luxury tax hits. The Cubs aren’t over luxury tax level one ($233 million) but they’re getting close:
Cubs estimated salaries and luxury tax hits for 2023
| Player | Salary | Tax hit |
|---|---|---|
| Dansby Swanson | $21,000,000 | $25,285,714 |
| Marcus Stroman | $25,000,000 | $23,666,666 |
| Jason Heyward (released) | $21,280,000 | $22,280,000 |
| Cody Bellinger | $17,500,000 | $17,500,000 |
| Seiya Suzuki | $18,000,000 | $17,000,000 |
| Jameson Taillon | $14,000,000 | $17,000,000 |
| Kyle Hendricks (IL) | $14,000,000 | $13,875,000 |
| Ian Happ | $10,850,000 | $10,850,000 |
| Drew Smyly | $8,000,000 | $9,500,000 |
| Trey Mancini | $7,000,000 | $7,000,000 |
| Yan Gomes | $6,000,000 | $6,500,000 |
| Michael Fulmer | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
| Tucker Barnhart | $3,250,000 | $3,250,000 |
| David Bote | $4,010,000 | $3,000,000 |
| Brad Boxberger | $2,800,000 | $2,800,000 |
| Nico Hoerner | $2,525,000 | $2,525,000 |
| Adrian Sampson | $1,900,000 | $1,900,000 |
| Rowan Wick | $1,550,000 | $1,550,000 |
| Nick Madrigal | $1,225,000 | $1,225,000 |
| Luis Torrens | $1,200,000 | $1,200,000 |
| Edwin Rios | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Mark Leiter Jr. |