2010 Payroll Information

[McCarroll21]

Inspired by this post by vnod, I decided to look at what was there to spend for 2010 to fill our holes.

The problem is he had a ton of money to use to fix our rotation, he won't have that same luxury to fix our hitting.

vnod and I did this pretty quickly. We started with the current 40-man roster and removed the free agents in 2010. After that we looked at the pre-arbitration players we didn't expect to open 2010 on the Braves 25-man roster. After that we looked at the arbitration eligible players and removed those we thought would be non-tendered or traded and did the same for those under contract in 2010.

I assigned everyone that was pre-arbitration with a $450,000 salary except Jair because that was his current salary.

Braves 2010 Payroll
Player	2010 Salary
Acosta, Manny	$450,000 *
Canizares, Barbaro	$450,000 *
Campillo, Jorge	$450,000 *
Escobar, Yunel	$450,000 *
Hanson, Tommy	$450,000 *
Hernandez, Diory	$450,000 *
Hudson, Tim #	$12,000,000
Infante, Omar #	$2,225,000
Jones, Brandon	$450,000 *
Jones, Chipper #	$13,000,000
Jurrjens, Jair	$500,000 *
Kawakami, Kenshin #	$7,334,000
Kotchman, Casey ^	$4,250,000 *
Lowe, Derek #	$15,000,000
McCann, Brian #	$5,667,000
McLouth, Nate #	$4,500,000
Medlen, Kris	$450,000 *
Moylan, Peter ^	$750,000 *
O'Flaherty, Eric	$450,000 *
Prado, Martin	$450,000 *
Ross, David #	$1,600,000
Schafer, Jordan	$450,000 *
Total	$71,776,000

* - Projected salary
^ - Arbitration eligible
# - Under contract


Projecting the following players to be non-tendered or traded:

• Jeff Bennett (Arb 1)
• Buddy Carlyle (Arb 1)
• Matt Diaz (Arb 3)
• Jeff Francoeur (Arb 2)
• Kelly Johnson (Arb 2)
• Javier Vazquez ($11,500,000)

They opened 2009 with a $96,726,166 payroll and 2008 with a $102,365,683 payroll according to Cots, which leaves us with about $25 to $30 million to spend (assuming the above players are traded/non-tendered).

Starters
McCann, Brian #
Kotchman, Casey ^
Prado, Martin
Jones, Chipper #
Escobar, Yunel
McLouth, Nate #
Schafer, Jordan
-- CORNER OUTFIELD --

Bench
Ross, David #
Canizares, Barbaro
Hernandez, Diory
Infante, Omar #
Jones, Brandon



Starting Rotation
Jurrjens, Jair
Lowe, Derek #
Hudson, Tim #
Hanson, Tommy
Kawakami, Kenshin #

Bullpen
-- CLOSER --
-- SETUP MAN --
Moylan, Peter ^
O'Flaherty, Eric
Medlen, Kris
Acosta, Manny
Campillo, Jorge

I guess some of those last bullpen guys and some of the bench guys may be wrong, but that'd still be looking at players that'd be projected at $450K taking their place.

So it looks like we'll have in the neighborhood of $25 to $30 million to spend with three major holes to fill? Just further proof that we could be ready to compete in 2010 if things are done the correct way.

Here's to hoping they go all in on the bat first, then use what's left on a closer (it'd be nice to just get Soriano back) and then find a cheap fill-in to complete the bullpen (Luis Valdez isn't listed and he could be a good option for the bullpen at league minimum).

[Andrew]

Great news. That's more than enough money to fill the holes throughout our lineup.

The question now is where do we spend the money?
My Priorities:
1. Right Field (Power bat)
2. Second Base (Anyone that can bat .280+ and add stability to the lineup)
3. Left Field (Schafer is a possibility, but I'd rather sign a proven vet)
4. Bullpen

I took a look at the UFAs for 2010 on MLBTradeRumors.com and didn't see a great list. If we could miraculously land Holliday, I would be ecstatic. Brian Roberts would be a nice replacement for Kelly. The good thing is we have a deep enough farm to make some deals if need be.

[McCarroll21]

They don't need to sign anyone to play second base. They have a starter in Martin Prado.

They only need a power bat on a corner outfield spot (Nate and Schafer could play all three spots so it could be either corner) on the lineup. I think we'll be fine, as long as they make the trades/non-tender moves that one with any kind of reason would expect.

The bullpen could work itself out by only spending money on one guy and then filling in the rest with high quality, cheap production (Medlen, Valdez, EOF).

They just need to be smart with how they line themselves up to go after the 2010 off-season and they'll have the money to make things happen and fill in the holes.

[lilsnatch07]

There are a few bats that we could look at. Melvin Mora, though old, could provide a bat or Brian Roberts. The outfield doesn't look too bad with Xavier Nady, Jason Bay (doubtful), Carl Crawford or Rick Ankiel.

[lilsnatch07]

They don't need to sign anyone to play second base. They have a starter in Martin Prado.

They only need a power bat on a corner outfield spot (Nate and Schafer could play all three spots so it could be either corner) on the lineup. I think we'll be fine, as long as they make the trades/non-tender moves that one with any kind of reason would expect.

The bullpen could work itself out by only spending money on one guy and then filling in the rest with high quality, cheap production (Medlen, Valdez, EOF).

They just need to be smart with how they line themselves up to go after the 2010 off-season and they'll have the money to make things happen and fill in the holes.

I hope we do sign Soriano or Gonzo. Great teams need a quality closer or else it could all fall apart.

[Andrew]

They don't need to sign anyone to play second base. They have a starter in Martin Prado.

They only need a power bat on a corner outfield spot (Nate and Schafer could play all three spots so it could be either corner) on the lineup. I think we'll be fine, as long as they make the trades/non-tender moves that one with any kind of reason would expect.

The bullpen could work itself out by only spending money on one guy and then filling in the rest with high quality, cheap production (Medlen, Valdez, EOF).

They just need to be smart with how they line themselves up to go after the 2010 off-season and they'll have the money to make things happen and fill in the holes.

I love Prado, but I just don't see the Braves giving him a starting job. I may be wrong, and we'll find out over the course of the summer. I just feel like if they wanted Martin to start, it would already have happened/will happen soon.

I agree that they need to throw money to at least one strong bullpen arm. The Braves have never really had a great bullpen (at least in my lifetime) so I'm not holding my breath, but if we add a good arm to Gonzo or Soriano, we'll be in good shape.

[vnodnarb]

I wonder how little it would take to get Burrell from the Rays. Even if this is something we wait until the offseason for, he'd only be under contract for 2010 at 8M which won't block Heyward for years. He'd be back in the NL, he was very good bat in last 3 years here. His outfield defense has to match Gandy's.

[HaRdCoReBrAvEsFaN]

I'd put him at 1st, and ship Kotch in a deal for an OF...

[BravesNC]

I took a quick look at some of the free agents this upcoming offseason and came up with a few ideas that might fit. Some guys we might consider for a year or two would be Bobby Abreu (My first offer 1 year 5M), Aubrey Huff (My first offer 1 year 3.5M), and Nick Johnson (Though he likely will require more than a two year offer he will provide solid production at first (My first offer 3 years 21M)). Hopefully next winter's free agent market will be as bad for players as this offseason was.

Just my 2 cents.

[THK09]

Thanks McC, 2010 could end up being great if all works out.