In 1980, Nolan Ryan was the first ballplayer to make $1 Mil. That salary quadrupled his previous. 4 years = $4 Mil
1970 $135,000 Willie Mays (SF NL)
1971 $167,000 Carl Yastrzemski (Bos AL)
1972 $167,000 Carl Yastrzemski (Bos AL)
1973 $200,000 Dick Allen (Chi AL)
1974 $250,000 Dick Allen (Chi AL)
1975 $240,000 Hank Aaron (Mil AL)
1976 $240,000 Hank Aaron (Mil AL)
1977 $560,000 Mike Schmidt (Ph NL)
1978 $560,000 Mike Schmidt (Ph NL)
1979 $800,000 Rod Carew (Cal AL)
1980 $1,000,000 Nolan Ryan (Hou NL)
1981 $1,400,000 Dave Winfield (NY AL)
1982 $1,500,000 Mike Schmidt (Ph NL)
1983 $1,652,333 Mike Schmidt (Ph NL)
1984 $1,989,875 Mike Schmidt (Ph NL)
1985 $2,096,967 Mike Schmidt (Ph NL)
1986 $1,964,423 Jim Rice (Bos AL)
1987 $2,412,500 Jim Rice (Bos AL)
1988 $2,340,000 Ozzie Smith (StL NL)
1989 $2,766,667 Orel Hershiser (LA NL)
Frank Viola (Min/NY AL/NL)
1990 $3,200,000 Robin Yount (Mil AL)
1991 $3,800,000 Darryl Stawberry (LA NL)
1992 $6,100,000 Bobby Bonilla (NY NL)
1993 $6,200,000 Bobby Bonilla (NY NL)
1994 $6,300,000 Bobby Bonilla (NY NL)
1995 $9,237,500
Cecil Fielder (Det AL)
1996 $9,237,500
Cecil Fielder (Det AL)
1997 $10,000,000 Albert Belle (Chi AL)
1998 $14,936,667 Gary Sheffield (Fla/LA NL)
1999 $11,949,794 Albert Belle (Bal AL)
2000 $15,714,286 Kevin Brown (LA NL)
2001 $22,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (Tex AL)
2002 $22,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (Tex AL)
2003 $22,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (Tex AL)
2004 $21,726,881 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2005 $26,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2006 $21,680,727 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2007 $23,428,571 Jason Giambi (NY AL)
2008 $28,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2009 $33,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2010 $33,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2011 $32,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2012 $30,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2013 $29,000,000 Alex Rodriguez (NY AL)
2014 $26,000,000 Zach Greinke (LAD NL)
2015 $32,571,000 Clayton Kershaw (LAD NL)
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mlb/salaries/
Contract salaries had been tripling on average once every 8 years until 2012. I doubt seriously if Verlander ever makes $30 Mil in a season. Relative to other big name pitchers, his $28 Mil is not out of line. Same with Cabrera. The best hitter in baseball was not even in the top 10 in salaries for 2015. He jumped up to #3 in 2016, only because of the incentives that kicked in.
Now that said, the payroll issue with DET isn't about signing Cabrera or Verlander to their contracts. It isn't even about Zimmermann. Any team in baseball, if they had the chance and the money, would have given them like contracts. Cabrera's and Verlander's merchandising value alone is worth their contracts, at least so far.
No other team was going to pay Mike Pelfrey $8 Mil a season, let alone two. Same with Mark Lowe. DET was outbidding themselves for Upton's service. DET probably "overpaid" for an aging Victor Martinez.
DET's 2014 Rotation and what they made in 2016
$30.0 Mil D. Price (7 yrs/$217 Mil = $31 Mil avg)
$28.0 Mil J. Verlander (10 yrs/$219.5 Mil = $22 Mil avg)
$22.1 Mil M. Scherzer (7 yrs/$210 Mil = $30 Mil avg)
$20.1 Mil R. Porcello (4 yrs/$82.5 Mil = $20.6 Mil avg)
$16.8 Mil A. Sanchez (5 yrs/$80 Mil = $16 Mil avg)
Total = $117 Mil