In 2017 we move to a new park.
Also in 2017, Freddie Freeman's salary jumps from 12M to 20.5M, Craig Kimbrel's jumps from 11M to 13M, Julio Teheran's from 3.3M to 6.3M, Andrelton Simmons' from 6M to 8M, Chris Johnson's from 7.5M to 9M, and Melvin Upton from 15.45M to 16.45M.
The total guaranteed increase for those six players is 18M. I'm not saying that any of these increases are undeserved or unwise. But collectively they represent a "structural" impediment toward building a team that will peak in 2017.
I point this out because much has been made of the idea that the team needs to be "palatable" (John Hart's word) in 2015 and I presume 2016 with the implication that this is a necessary sacrifice for reaching the promised land in 2017.
There are no contracts coming off the books between 2016 and 2017. Payroll would have to jump 18M just to tread water. Actually, it would probably have to jump by more than that just to tread water because some of our cheaper younger players (notably Alex Wood and new acquisition Shelby Miller among others) will be getting more expensive from 2016 to 2017.
It is smart marketing to ask the fans to stay the course until the new stadium and its additional revenues allow us to be more competitive. I'm afraid the reality is that we'll be lucky to see payroll rise enough to pay for the raises already baked into contracts players have already signed.
In a structural sense our best window for competing should have actually been in the years before those 18M of raises kick in. It would appear that the building of the new stadium has worked to distort the lens through which management should be viewing this. The turnover in the front office has added to that distortion.