2015 payroll/roster

cajunrevenge

cajunrevenge

Well-known member
I see some people complaining about the lack of moves and I wanted to show them why that is. Its because they have 0 money to spend beyond 2014. We may not even be able to afford to keep the same team together.

This is what I have projected for 2015

Kris Medlen 09.0

Mike Minor 07.0

Julio Teheran 00.5

Brandon Beachy 02.0

Alex Wood 00.5

Craig Kimbrel 11.0

Jordan Walden 03.0

Johnny Venters 02.0

David Carpenter 01.0

Luis Avilan 00.5

Anthony Varvaro 00.5

David Hale 00.5

Evan Gattis 00.5

Christian Bethancourt 00.5

Freddie Freeman 09.0

Dan Struggla 13.2

Andrelton Simmons 00.5

Chris Johnson 07.5

Tyler Pastornicky 00.5

Ramiro Pena 01.0

Terd Burglar 00.5

Jason Heyward 09.0

Justin Upton 14.7

Bad Job Upton 15.0

Obviously no way to tell 100% on the arbitration figures but they shouldnt be far off. This roster would come out to 110.9 million. Now after this year Heyward/Medlen/JUpton/Uggla/Venters are free agents which would be 51.9 million off the books which should be enough to re-sign Heyward and JUpton. I assume they let Medlen/Venters leave because we have cheaper alternatives.

So as you can see we would likely need to raise payroll to 110 million just to keep the roster we have now. If the payroll doesnt go up from 100 million which is the supposed payroll right now then they could trade one or more of Kimbrel/Medlen/Johnson/Walden before the 2015 season.
 
That's right. We have some wiggle room for 2014, but little or none for 2015. This is why I expect Wren to focus mainly on players whose contracts expire after 2014 in any remaining off-season and mid-season acquisitions. Or players who will be very cheap in 2015.
 
Thank you. Can we make this thread mandatory reading for all of the fans complaining that Wren isn't making free agent signings just for the sake up keeping up with other teams?
 
NYCBrave said:
Thank you. Can we make this thread mandatory reading for all of the fans complaining that Wren isn't making free agent signings just for the sake up keeping up with other teams?
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I read it, but I complain that he makes awful signings.
 
I still hold out some hope Wren can do something "creative" to move Uggla. Last year the Yankees took on Vernon Wells and Alfonso Soriano.

It is worth looking at how those deals were structured. In the case of Wells his salary was split this way: 2013 (Yankees pay 11.5M, Angels pay 9.5M), 2014 (Yankees pay 2.4M, Angels pay 18.6M). See what's going on there. I believe getting under the 2014 luxury tax threshold had a lot to do with this split.

With Soriano there wasn't a skew between how the 2013 and 2014 salaries were split. But the Cubs do end up paying 13M of the 18M owed to him in 2014.

The Yankees have missed on Infante and other second base options have gone off the board. They may be ok with going with Kelly Johnson in 2014. But if they want another option, with the idea of playing KJ at third, there is scope for a creative solution involving Uggla. The basic idea would be for the Braves to pick up virbually all of his 2014 salary and the Yankees a substantial part of his 2015 salary. This helps both teams with financial issues. It helps the Yankees stay under the luxury tax threshold in 2014 and helps us with our own payroll crunch in 2015. All this assumes that the Yankees see some remaining value in Uggla. They saw some value in Wells (and were willing to pick up a total of almost 14M of his salary spread over two years). So I have some hope.
 
White Sox just traded their closer and also have a 2nd baseman they are less than satisfied with. See a trade there??????
 
PawPawMaxwell said:
White Sox just traded their closer and also have a 2nd baseman they are less than satisfied with. See a trade there??????
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They also have Marcus Semien, a pretty highly regarded second base prospect, and some other strong middle infield prospects. Plus they are in a quasi rebuilding mode. But you never know.
 
One of the little appreciated aspects of the Freeman and Heyward deals is that it gives the team some cost certainty at very reasonable rates (8M for Freeman and 8.6M for Heyward) for 2015. Makes me wonder if Wren might concede a bit to Kimbrel in 2014 in exchange for controlling the 2015 number.

A corollary to cajunrevenge's fine opening post is that a tremendous amount of flexibility opens up after the 2015 season. Over the course of 2015 and 2016, the following players will all have their contracts run out or hit free agency: Uggla, Justin Upton, Heyward, Medlen, Venters, Kimbrel, Beachy, Johnson. This is both good and bad. The good is the front office will have a ton of flexibility in terms of where they allocate funds. The bad is that some very good players will have to be replaced.
 
Medlen is a possible one to get dealt depending which pitchers will be ready by then.

Hard to say with Kimbrel.
 
A lot can change between now and next offseason. Pitching depth can often be an illusion. You never know when a starter is going to have the inevitable TJ surgery and be out 1+ year. If everything goes according to plan(not likely with pitchers) then yeah I could see Medlen traded before 2015.
 
cajunrevenge said:
A lot can change between now and next offseason. Pitching depth can often be an illusion. You never know when a starter is going to have the inevitable TJ surgery and be out 1+ year. If everything goes according to plan(not likely with pitchers) then yeah I could see Medlen traded before 2015.
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I think Medlen will be traded regardless of what happens. Medlen is making $5.8M this season. If he has another year like the one he just had he would command $10M or there abouts in his final arb year of 2015. That's why I think the Braves trade him. Also Medlen will be going into his age 29 season in 2015 as well. It would be unwise for the Braves to invest to keep him long-term after 2015 for his age 30 plus seasons. I'd rather trade him and get something for him than to let him walk in free agency after the 2015 season and just get a draft pick for him.
 
AUTiger7222 said:
I would be pretty surprised if Medlen isn't traded next offseason.
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You never know, but I think there's a good chance of it. Medlen or Kimbrel is likely to be traded, Medlen is more valuable than Kimbrel by a bit but his return is way higher. That said if Kimbrel wins arb he's gone next year.
 
Kimbrel is probably gone unless we get lucky and he'd sign a team-friendly extension (not happening)

I would guess he'll make 13-15 next year.

Meds depends which pitchers are ready on the farm.
 
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