Pitcher Jon Lester collected a $15 million signing bonus from the Chicago Cubs this spring. He will earn another $15 million this season in the first year of his six-year. $155 million contract.
His buddy John Lackey is earning the MLB minimum salary to pitch for the Cardinals this season, the residual "club option" year on his previous five-year, $82.5 million contract.
(Among the many Cardinals earning more than Lackey this season: Cuban shortstop Aledmys Diaz, who has shown no signs of advancing past the Double-A level in his injury-marred career.