a number of people requested an updated roster matrix to reflect the mulder and franklin signings. it has been quite a while (more than a month) since i posted one; i am pretty sure this is completely current, but if i left anybody out you'll let me know. one explanatory note: it was pointed out a while back that i have not been consistent in accounting for deferred money. i've been listing edmonds' salary as $8m, ie without the $3m he's deferring (his official salary is $11m), but i have been listing rolen and pujols at their full official salaries ($12m and $15m, respectively) even though both of them, like edmonds, are deferring significant sums --- $2m by rolen, and $3m by albert. i've adjusted the matrix to include all the deferred money in the current-year salaries, because that seems to be standard practice; all the sources i've checked list salaries that way. at usa today, for example, rolen's salary for 2006 is listed as $12.4m, even though he deferred $2m last year. it's listed the same way at baseball-reference (which, for all i know, uses usa today as its source for salary info). i checked 3 or 4 other big-league contracts with significant deferred amounts in them, and the deferred money is always counted as part of the current-year salary; so that's how we'll do it here from now on.
2007 ROSTER MATRIX
MULDER/FRANKLIN UPDATE
| STARTING 8 | BENCH | ROTATION | PEN |
|---|---|---|---|
|
molina c $600K |
taguchi of $1m |
carpenter rhp $8.5m |
is'hausen rhp $9m |
|
pujols 1b $15m |
spiezio ut $2.3m |
reyes rhp $380K |
looper rhp $4.5m |
|
kennedy 2b $2.5m |
bennett c $900K |
k wells rhp $4m |
kinney rhp $380K |
|
rolen 3b $12m |
miles if $1m |
wainwright rhp $380K |
johnson lhp $380K |
|
eckstein ss $4.5m |
j-rod of $400K |
mulder lhp $5m |
flores lhp $800K |
|
duncan lf $380K |
schumaker of memphis |
franklin rhp $1m |
hancock rhp $380k |
|
edmonds cf $11m |
marrero ut memphis |
narveson lhp memphis |
thompson rhp $400k |
|
en'cion rf $5m |
e gonzalez if memphis |
kiesler lhp memphis |
springer rhp $1.8m |
|
--- --- |
ludwick of memphis |
hawksworth rhp sp'field |
rincon lhp $1.5m |
|
TOTAL $51.0m |
TOTAL $5.6m |
TOTAL $19.3m |
TOTAL $19.1m |
| OVERALL | PAYROLL: | $95.0 |
so there's $5m left in the budget, by my lights. note that taguchi is not officially under contract; i've assumed he'll be signed, based on statements by la russa and jocketty. but lately the team has been talking about re-signing preston wilson (more on that in a moment), which might drive the bottom line as high as $97m, very close to the now-legendary $100m cutoff. of course, there is still every chance that money (most likely looper's) will be dumped along the way; absent that, or an increase in the overall payroll, there doesn't appear to be any money left for another big acquisition.
where'd the money go? last time i ran this exercise, the bottom line stood at $82.5m. since then, the cards have added mulder ($5m), springer ($1.8m), and franklin ($1m), while raising miles to $1m (a $600K increase). so there's $8.8m in new spending. then there's the accounting change, ie the $3m deferred from edmonds' contract; with that added in, the increase is at $11.8. and the last $200K or so of the increase comes from the bump in the league minimum --- i had it at $350K in the last matrix, but somebody pointed out that the new CBA calls for a $380K minimum this year.
now, if we decide not to count the three deferrals (which total $8m), then the cardinals are only commited for $86.6m in current-year payroll --- and that makes the acquisition of another impact player well within reach. this, frankly, seems like the proper way to count it, but apparently it isn't done that way. there also are incentives, of course; mulder can earn a big chunk, and albert is seemingly good for $200,000 in bonuses every year. looper, franklin, and miles also have sizeable incentive clauses. i'm not counting those, but maybe the club is. i don't know.
in any case, that's the current state of the payroll.
walter jocketty made an appearance on bernie's radio show yesterday, the gist of which is summarized here. the interview in bullet-point form:
- no free-agent starters under consideration except weaver, and him only at the right price (ie, for cheap)
- izzy expected back by opening day, freeing wainwright to start
- jock has carp, reyes, wells, wainwright penciled in as the top 4 starters to open the season, with the 5th coming from among franklin, looper, thompson, and narveson
- they're considering "various options" for a rh-hitting outfielder, including preston wilson; waiting out the market, hoping to get a cheaper deal. taguchi is expected back, and schumaker might see some spot duty in cf.
- ankiel is ticketed for triple A
finally, here's an update on troy cate's exploits in the mexican pacific league: after going 3-1, 1.21 in 6 regular-season games (4 starts) for mazatlan, he drew the game 1 assignment in the opening round of the playoffs and turned in a scoreless 7-inning, 4-hit start (0 walks, 4 strikeouts) vs navojoa. his teammate (and fellow stl farmhand) edgar v gonzalez had a hot series with the bat --- 8 for 18 (.444) with a double, a homer, and 3 walks --- as mazatlan breezed to a 4 games to 1 win. the second round gets underway tonight: mazatlan vs culiacan. i haven't been able to locate the probables online, but i'm guessing cate has the game 1 assignment again. why the hell wouldn't he?
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