Aaron Rodgers is a pauper by baseball's standards

First and foremost, I'm all for the free enterprise system. It seems to beat the alternatives, like whatever it is they're using in North Korea.

But major-league baseball players pretty much have it made.

On Friday, USA Today published all the 2011 major-league baseball salaries. I got lost in that list, amazed at the tens of millions going to players who I'm not sure have ever been responsible for tickets sold, since their own families get comped.

Where to begin? Well, how about here:

The quarterback of the world-champion Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers, signed a six-year, $65 million contract extension in 2008. That isn't chicken feed.

But at about $11 million per year over the life of that contract, it's less than over 70 MLB players.

Matt Kuchar was the 2010 leader in PGA Tour earnings in 2010 with $4,910,477. And the word "earnings," is appropriate. The Tour pays on performance. You miss the 36-hole cut on Friday afternoon, you don't make a dime at Tour events.

The Chicago Cubs' average salary in 2011 is $5.001,893, according to USA Today, which got its numbers from MLB Players Association and the MLB office. Some MLB players who are making more this year than Kuchar earned in 2010: Luke Scott, Edwin Jackson, Scott Downs, Kelly Johnson ... you get the idea.

Ryan Dempster, who took the Cubs' opening-day loss against the mighty Pittsburgh Pirates Friday, has a career record of 102-103. His 2011 salary: $13.5 million.

Isn't that amazing?

J.D. Drew of the Boston Red Sox is 34, has had one 100-RBI season (five years ago for the Dodgers), and hit .255 over 139 games last season. His salary this year is a nifty $14 million.

When have you ever heard someone say "I'm going to drive four hours to see the Red Sox play (somewhere in the Midwest) because that J.D. Drew is a compelling player."

Not to single out Drew. He's just a somewhat-random example. Like the Cubs' (again, the Cubs) Kosuke Fukadome. He's a career .259 hitter over his three full years with the Cubs. Salary: $13.5 million. Nice work if you can get it.

Jorge de la Rosa of the Colorado Rockies makes a paltry $10 million this year. He has 75 career starts for the Rockies (No. 76 is Saturday night) and has zero complete games. His career record is 49-47.

Vernon Wells is in his first year with the Los Angeles Angels. He'll have a nice breaking-in year, since his salary is $26,187,500. And why not? He's a career .280 hitter who has averaged 15.5 home runs over the last four years.

Here's another: Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants is 40-57 since crossing the bay and leaving the Oakland A's behind. Zito was 23-5 and won the American League's Cy Young Award for Oakland in 2002, and was 16-10 in his last year with the A's, 2006. He has had four straight losing seasons for San Francisco.

Zito, according to USA Today, will earn $18.5 million this year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are my adopted team since, oh, months ago. We have a payroll of just $45 million, which is $80 million less than the Cubs', and higher than only one other MLB team, the Kansas City Royals.

We gave the Cubs a 6-3 beating Friday at Wrigley Field thanks largely to Neil Walker's grand slam off Dempster. Walker is making $437,000 this year. He's earning his money so far.