The following table shows what our payroll situation would be if we built a team from what we already have in-house. Some figures are exact, and others, such as those of the arbitration-eligibles, are approximations.
(Don't worry about things like, say, Jason Vargas showing up instead of Garret Olson. It doesn't matter.)
Right now we're looking at salary commitments totaling $65-70m. The 2009 Mariners cost about $99m, so assuming a fairly similar but slightly reduced budget going forward, that leaves us with $25-30m of room to play with, with a number of spots at which we could stand to improve.
Damn you, Carlos Silva.
0 recs | 59 comments
Its interesting to see how few players are actually getting paid very much
And how a handful of players take up the lion’s share of the payroll.
And tt would be nice if Silva wasnt one of those players.
ARock - November 14, 2009
Griffey's getting $3M?
The fuck?
Matthew - November 14, 2009
Yeah what?
Dewey N - November 14, 2009
I thought it was 2mil...
OlSalty - November 14, 2009
Maybe estimating the incentives in the overall payroll?
garett1210 - November 14, 2009
Larry said it was similar to last years.
Janic - November 14, 2009
I'm assuming certain incentives
Jeff Sullivan - November 15, 2009
Well, good thing Silva is here
and Branyon is not. I really hope they find a way to bring him back as I too have jumped on the Branyon love bus. If they don’t bring back Branyon, will the FO get after some power hitting first baseman or just roll with Carp?
garett1210 - November 14, 2009
They'll probably go for Nick Jahnsan.
lailaihei - November 14, 2009
Is he from Bahston?
garett1210 - November 14, 2009
(it's Branyan - You may need to repaint your love bus)
CapSea - November 14, 2009
It should be an easy fix.
Fin - November 15, 2009
Nice
moose_knuckle - November 15, 2009
So what I gather is...
We need to go after a third baseman likely not named Beltre, a LF who fields well, and at least one more starting pitcher. I vote to keep Langerhans and Hannahan, they do well filling in.
Hall seems to fit Z’s defensive philosophy (12.0 UZR/150 is a small sample size, I know), but does he have enough offensive capability to balance that out?
Also, if Lackey signs with us, I would like it to be for around $10m/yr. If he doesn’t, I’d like him to sign for upwards of $20m/yr.
perfectstrat - November 14, 2009
I would hope that Lackey doesn't sign with us at all
Neither a long term contract with low annual base pay nor a short term contract with high annual base pay. If we do sign Lackey, we need to consider that we’d be giving our division rivals our 1st round draft pick next season, and that requires Lackey coming at a significant discount to us, should we even be willing to make a risky investment in the first place.
I’d rather we try and trade for Roy Halladay or something.
JLC - November 14, 2009
Winning and cost should be considered
Before draft picks. While first round draft picks are important, it’s not like the NFL or the Nba. Just as many draft picks are Selling buicks as become valuble pieces. For Lackey (depending on price) it may be worth it.
Ballard Erik - November 15, 2009 via mobile
I want Lackey as long as we are paying him equal or less than the value of the wins we expect him to produce.
ARock - November 15, 2009
How would trading for Roy Halladay work?
We don’t have Chris Tillman, Adam Jones, and George Sherrill to trade.
chezbergrur - November 15, 2009
Felix!
Robert - November 16, 2009
I didn't realize
that there was such a disparity with the salary allocation. Ichiro is obviously taking up the largest chunk on an individual basis but man, think how happier I (assuming everyone else as well) would feel if we had an extra $10 mil to hand to Felix.
beastwarking - November 14, 2009
Damn you Carlos Silva
Slurvey - November 14, 2009
Troy Glaus?
Maybe?
perfectstrat - November 14, 2009
Oh, and Noah Lowry
perfectstrat - November 14, 2009
Nononononononononononononononononono
Noah Lowry is really bad. Really really really bad. I’d rather hear that Zduriencik was eating live kittens
Graham MacAree - November 14, 2009
Maybe he's magically gotten good in the two years since he last pitched in the majors
abender20 - November 14, 2009
I challenge your notion that Lowry is bad.
Yes, he’s certainly had injury problems and as a result has not pitched often in the past two years. Living in San Francisco, I got to watch him every 5th day throughout much of the 06 and 07 seasons. His mechanics, at least when he was healthy, were decent, and he had—Checks Fangraphs page—
…
…
…
GOD HE IS BAD.
I still think he wouldn’t be a bad option if we gave him a short term, low base salary. He’s not going to have many suitors after his injury debacle.
perfectstrat - November 14, 2009
I'd rather have talented injury risks (Harden/Sheets)
We need more than dumpster diving to improve this team. Lowry maybe (big maybe) could take Fister’s spot but if we go into the season with Fister penciled in as the #5 starter, the FO has just been lazy.
Edgar for Pres - November 14, 2009
My cat is Noah Lowry
CapSea - November 14, 2009
The one you Corey Lidled into the wall?
JLProck - November 15, 2009
I like Glaus, but I don't think he's a good fit for Safeco.
lailaihei - November 14, 2009
If a player dies under mysterious circumstances, is the team still on the hook for their salary?
I Lick Squirrels - November 14, 2009
If this offseason doesn't go well
I’m afraid next year might get pretty ugly.
Edgar for Pres - November 14, 2009
Only if GMZ suddenly gets invaded by Bavasi brain spiders would it not go well, or at least, passably well
And he’s built up a good amount of love capital with the fans, the press, and I’d imagine his bosses from this last season, so it would take a significant step backwards that could really only happen if he started making hilariously boneheaded moves. Which there’s no reason to think he would given that he hasn’t yet.
OlSalty - November 14, 2009
With Griffdawg coming back the only way I see their being negative backlash against him is if they struggle after trading Felix.
Robert - November 14, 2009
I like the FO now too
but they have/will do moves that don’t work out and even are stupid. There is nobody in baseball who’d look at our roster right now and think that we have a playoff team. It is difficult even to see this being the core of a playoff team.
Basically the upside of this team is maybe a couple games over .500 and the average outcome of a couple games under .500 with quite a bit of downside. With the FA budget we have, it should be possible to build a .500 team with some upside however I just don’t see enough talent there to be a force in the AL West next year.
Edgar for Pres - November 14, 2009
Considering the available funds after the Felix 'situation' is calculated into the mix
We have enough money to at least try to take some value risks in free agency, particularly because of the unique trio of megatalented injury-prone arms available.
I’m almost positive we won’t be penciled in as the AL West favorites at the beginning of next season, but we can put together a roster that has enough upside to feel good about our chances. And, at this point, that’s the goal.
cwel87 - November 14, 2009
Wait so you think the majority of people expect them to field a playoff team in their second year in charge
While still saddled with such an awful contract as Silva’s?
Don’t get me wrong, I think Z might just be able to do that despite it, if he continues to do what he’s done so far. But that is a pretty unrealistic expectation from any fan and I don’t think people are going to be calling for his head in such a short span of time even if we don’t, especially if we continue to show at least some improvement. If the team still fails to make the playoffs in 2011 (or come close) then we can talk, but this seems like awfully premature panicking to me.
OlSalty - November 14, 2009
I'm trying to say
I think it might be tough for this team to repeat last year’s record with something resembling the above roster and I think it will be difficult to make the playoffs in a 2011 if they don’t add significant talent. Hopefully they make some nice moves this offseason that pay off with big returns otherwise we are gonna have a tough time in our division this year (which should be fairly strong).
Edgar for Pres - November 14, 2009
I'm not panicking
I just don’t think people realize how bad this team MIGHT be next year. They could be good but I think there is some major downside almost everywhere on the roster.
Edgar for Pres - November 14, 2009
While that's not outside the realm of possibility, I just don't think everyone is going to turn on Z based on a moderate decline in team performance as the worst case scenario
There is a lot of value potentially leaving this team this offseason but, it’s still going to be an awfully better product that Bavasi ever produced just through the pieces we know we are keeping for sure.
OlSalty - November 14, 2009
The downside on last year's roster mostly hit and the team was over .500
Graham MacAree - November 14, 2009
The 2010 roster isn't close to being constructed
Being able to come to such a conclusion this early in regards to the entire roster is impossible.
cwel87 - November 15, 2009
Every player in baseball has major downside
Jeff Sullivan - November 15, 2009
We saw what Nick Adenhart's downside was.
ThundaPC - November 15, 2009
With the 2009 AL West within reach toward the end of the season
and the Angels possibly losing Figgins, Vlad, Lackey, et al. It is possible that if the M’s get some high risk high reward pitcher(s) like Sheets or Harden along with more bat like Nick Johnson; it looks like the AL West is within reach.
I’d like to see them upgrade LF and resign Branyan for another year with an option year.
moose_knuckle - November 15, 2009
Damn you, Bill Bavasi.
You just had to sign one more overpriced four-year contract didn’t you?
ThundaPC - November 14, 2009
We didn't sign Guillen to that extension that he wanted!
Robert - November 14, 2009
Had to leave with a bang.
But hey, just two more seasons of this Silva nonsense!
Fin - November 15, 2009
I cant believe there are STILL two freaking Silva seasons left.
Why cant this year be the last year? Why did he have to be signed for four years!? WHY BAVASI WHY?
ARock - November 15, 2009
Carlos Silva is fat and ugly.
What a motherfucker.
Kirk - November 14, 2009 via mobile
Not to mention
He’s fat.
Fin - November 15, 2009
And he eats a lot!
ARock - November 15, 2009
So your saying we can afford to sign Holliday?
Poochie - November 14, 2009
I keep reading this as
Where We Stand With Regard To The Monkeys
msb - November 15, 2009
Well, where do we stand?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Goose - November 15, 2009
As I recall, they were never liked much around these parts.
Mostly Kansas City’s problem now, though.
I Lick Squirrels - November 15, 2009
I can't believe no one has commented
on what a strange font Jeff chose for his table. I keep getting distracted by the faux-Roman stylings.
I don’t know if the data would back me up, but I feel like this Stars/Scrubs approach (at least in terms of compensation, not claiming Silva is a “Star”) is materially different from Bavasi’s approach, and having $30M to spend over the off-season, in the hands of Jack Z, seems like a good start.
el generico - November 16, 2009
A man's font is his own business.
If someone had the gall to tell me I shouldn’t use Comic Sans on my resume, I would be offended.
Teej - November 16, 2009
But if you were walking around
with your font visible for everyone to see, wouldn’t you want someone to say “Hey dude, you’re font’s showing!”?
el generico - November 16, 2009
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