Grant Cohn: A's-Tigers a payroll mismatch but those numbers
don't count on scoreboard    • Yoenis Cespedes'S $8.5 million
salary is by far the A's biggest but not nearly in the same
league as the Tigers' biggest investments. (Kent Porter / The
Press Democrat)  Do you ever go to Cot's Baseball Contracts?
It's a website that lists every player's contract in Major
League Baseball. Whenever the A's make the playoffs, it's fun to
go to Cot's and compare the A's salaries to their opponent's.
This year, the A's play the Tigers in the first round. Cot's
tells us the Tigers spent $148,693,600 million on its roster
this season – fifth-most in the Majors. The A's spent just
$61,964,500 – fourth-lowest in the Majors and less than half of
what the Tigers spent. It's the difference between a corporation
and a mom-and-pop grocery store, General Motors and a skateboard
shop.  Let's compare the A's and Tigers' salaries position-by-
position where it really gets interesting. Start with the
starting pitchers.  The Tigers' ace i