With the 2010-2011 offseason drawing closer, we're going to start hearing more and more about how much each team is able to spend on their 2011 roster. Some are obviously able to spend more than others, but every team will be impacted by how much money they already have tied up in existing contracts.
Below is a list of the guaranteed money that each team is responsible for next season. Players in their pre-arbitration or arbitration-eligible seasons do not count since they can simply be non-tendered. Buyouts are included, however, as is money owed to former players (like the Dodgers and Juan Pierre) as well as money received from other teams for current players (like the Cubs and Carlos Silva).
Obviously this data is unofficial, but it's a fine ballpark number to reference.
- Angels, $93.667MM: Torii Hunter, Scott Kazmir, and Dan Haren are the big obligations here.
- Astros, $41.25MM: Almost half belongs to Carlos Lee.
- Athletics, $11.48MM: Eric Chavez's $3MM buyout is the biggest commitment.
- Blue Jays, $43.243MM: Lots and lots of Vernon Wells here.
- Braves, $61.867MM: Derek Lowe, Chipper Jones, and Tim Hudson are the biggest obligations.
- Brewers, $32.371MM: Mostly Randy Wolf.
- Cardinals, $81.089MM: Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Chris Carpenter, and Kyle Lohse make up most of this.
- Cubs, $87.925MM: This will go up if/when Aramis Ramirez exercises his $14.6MM player option.
- Diamondbacks, $19.991MM: Chris Young and Mark Reynolds make up more than half of this.
- Dodgers, $61.833MM: This includes Ted Lilly's new deal.
- Giants, $76.933MM: A big chunk of this is going to Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand.
- Indians, $27.455MM: It's all for Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, and Fausto Carmona.
- Mariners, $69.596MM: Ichiro Suzuki is the big hit.
- Marlins, $19.75MM: Almost entirely Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson.
- Mets, $108.763MM: Both Johan Santana and Carlos Beltran are over $20MM.
- Nationals, $29.150MM: Ryan Zimmerman and Jason Marquis are the big earners.
- Orioles, $28.7MM: Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis make up the majority of this.
- Padres, $1.1MM: Just amazing. All of that money is tied up in buyouts for Jon Garland and Yorvit Torrealba, so they technically have no one under contract for next season.
- Phillies, $143.728MM: They owe six players eight-figure salaries next season.
- Pirates, $16.75MM: Ryan Doumit and Paul Maholm are the big commitments.
- Rangers, $32.1MM: Just about half goes to Michael Young.
- Rays, $17.674MM: Ben Zobrist and James Shields make up basically half of this.
- Reds, $42.733MM: Francisco Cordero, Brandon Phillips, and Scott Rolen are making the big bucks.
- Red Sox, $100.506MM: John Lackey, J.D. Drew, and Josh Beckett are almost half of this.
- Rockies, $50.841: Lots of Aaron Cook and Todd Helton in here.
- Royals, $45.53MM: Zack Greinke and Gil Meche will get most of this.
- Tigers, $61.025MM: This is less than half of their 2010 commitments.
- Twins, $72.35MM: Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, and Michael Cuddyer account for almost all of that.
- White Sox, $75.425MM: Most of this goes to Jake Peavy, Alexis Rios, and Mark Buehrle.
- Yankees, $144.612MM: Just wait until they re-sign Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.
Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the information used in this post.
All I know is the Yankees have $144m invested in only NINE PLAYERS that don’t include Jeter, Mo or Pettitte. I can’t wait to see what their 2011 payroll ends up being.
well, Pettitte, Jeter and Rivera’s salaries are only going to go down…
but Cliff Lee will obviously bring this up (or whatever pitchers they sign)
Yanks have money from Nick Johnson and Javier Vazquez coming off the books and should also be able to save a little from Jeter’s new deal. They are set at all 9 field positions. They might spend on bringing back Wood or adding another arm. Most of the other spots can be filled with cost-controled guys. Also, take whatever they paid Berkman, Kearsn and the money paid to the Braves for Melky ($500k), Randy Winn ($1.1 mil), Gadin and Mitre ($2 mil) and they should be able to hold the payroll where it is.
the yankees could actually end up with a pay roll similar or even lower than it is this year depending heavily on jeter and mo’s deal and if andy comes back.
Yankees payroll will absolutely go up quite a bit, and not just because of the assumption they will sign Cliff Lee.
Teixeira – $2.5M increase
Pettitte – with the year he had, expect a raise
Rivera – with the year he had, expect a raise
Cano – $1M increase
Swisher – $2.25M increase
Granderson – $2.75M increase
Joba – First year arb (big raise)
Hughes – First year arb (massive raise)
Funny how none of these increases were mentioned.
Look on the bright side though, next year will represent the final $4M paid to Igawa.
Is that Dodgers’ number with or without deferred pay to Manny and others?
I tried to post a link, but a mod has to approve it. Google Cot’s MLB contracts, click Dodgers and look at their 2010 spreadsheet–it’ll list all their contact commitments till 2014.
well, they used Cot’s for this article, it even says.
Yes. Manny, Andrus Jones, and Juan Pierre.
I thought the Dodgers were done with paying Manny after the waiver claim.
No, they’re still on the hook for the deferred portion of his 2009 salary.
They’re paying a little over $10 million in 2011, over $5.5 million in 2012, over $11.5 million in 2013, and $3.2 million in 2014.
Cool, thanks.
Curious how they’re gonna come out after the arb hearings (or non-tenderings) of six players.
Wow they just love to pay bad White Sox players.
Watch this post be all fans who are gonna blow up about how much the Yankees spend.
The yanks… they spend a lot.
Wow, you can say that again.
The yanks… they spend a lot.
Wait a second? The Yankees spend? Wha wha what?
11 million for the A’s. They could do so much but they won’t.
They need to move.
11 mil for the A’s? No wonder nobody goes to their games. Fans aren’t that stupid. Charge for nothing on the field. I know they’re building and have some good players, but that’s just a slap in the face.
No its not – this article is about guaranteed money, any player under 6years service time without a long term contract isn’t on a guaranteed contract. Once the A’s fill in their payroll signing there young players it will shape up at closer to 20million – and that is before any free agent spending. Whether or not you agree or not with their payroll figure, having less money committed long term is a great thing for a club.
Look at the Mets – 108million already committed, and they need a major overhaul. Look at the Phillies, 143 – yes they are good but you cannot really add anything to that team for many many years.
The Ryan Howard contract extension is already looking like it will be an albatross. Zero RBI in the postseason, are you kidding me?
Werth will likely be the first casualty for the Phillies overspending.on so many other guys.
I had no idea he had zero RBI. Not that you should solely use RBI, but that is amazing.
Last I checked, the Padres were one game away from the postseason and their number here is just a decimal point over $1MM. This list means nothing other than “how much flexibility do teams have this off-season?”
In other words, your comment is rather hollow.
I think you mean Mark Reynolds for the D-backs. Matt is a pitcher in the Rockies organization…
wow i thought the yankees had a payroll no one was even close to, turns out the phillies are 1$ million behind
That’s only 9 Yankees FYI. They have to fill out the rest of their team and deal with arbitration. Final numbers won’t even be close.
These dont have arbitration raises – or at least the players that are sure to be offered something… The dbacks 19M goes up fast with all of the Arb eligible guys they are sure to keep.
I don’t care if the Giants lose tonight but if they lose this series, I’m going to be so majorly pissed I’m not even gonna watch the world series
if they do win, Cody Ross should definitely be nlcs mvp
I am absolutely floored at the Padres. Whoever is running that front office deserves a raise. How can you possible only be tied to $1.1M of buyouts with the current state of baseball salaries? Talk about extreme flexibility.
It is incredible. Granted, you have to take raises into account, and Matt Latos will likely get an extension, but seeing that and then seeing the Mets paying 100 million for nothing, also not taking into account arbitration raises, and you see how to run a good franchise.
ummm…white sox have spent over 100 Million 5 out of the past 6 years….and have only made the post-season once. have finished below .500 twice.
thats like the yankees accusing the red sox of overspending. #FAIL
I’m not comparing them to the Sox at all. Plus, the Mets don’t have just a 100 million dollar payroll, they have 100 million in already guaranteed money, meaning they have minimal flexibility. Big difference between the two.
I thought Adrian Gonzalez had a guaranteed contract?
Nope. They have an option for him next year with zero buyout. They owe him absolutely nothing at the moment, but will as soon as they pick up the no-brainer contract.
Ah. Thanks
If I’m not mistaken, it’s a club option.
biggest loser: Cubs. $103M in the hole and no chance of being a playoff team in 2011. lol.
I’d argue the Mets are in worse position. The Cubs have a great young SS in Starlin Castro, Geo Soto is really good, and the pitching rotation and the late bullpen are good. No they aren’t likely to contend, but there in NL Central, which is the worst division in baseball.
I’d have to agree, but mostly because it’s the NL Central. I’d still say on paper the Cards and Reds and probably the Brewers are better teams, but if the Cubs were contending for the NL Central spot next season it wouldn’t be the biggest shocker I’ve seen. Whereas the Mets… yeah I don’t see how they slip by the Braves and Phillies.
the cubs are in a six team division. mathematically, regargless, of the relative strength of teams in the division, they still have to meet about a 90 win threshold. the rotation looks like Dempster, Zambrano, Wells, Gorzellany, Cashner….not exactly imposing (and Zambrano’s days are numbered on the Northside).
I’d say its more of a 5 team division that also has the Pirates.
the Pirates were 10-5 against the Cubs, don’t you feel silly.
I’ve been zinged…
LOLI’d argue that white sox fans should keep their mouth shut on teams that overspend and dont get anywhere. The Mets have young controllable talent at 1B, SS, 3B, C, 3 SP, about 56 million coming off the books soon. ( Hopefully Sandy Alderson coming aboard soon ). Sandy>>>>>Hendry 7 days a week and 2x on Sunday
I never brought up the Sox. Obviously, they have not made great roster choices, but it did get them a World Series. My comment had nothing to do with the Sox though, so there is no reason for me to argue that. Anyway, I think Alderson is the right man for the job, its just the Minaya regime got almost nothing off terrible spending.
Great idea for a list. It would be great to see these payroll commitments next to their previous season’s total payroll numbers. It would give a sense of how close they already are to their final 2011 figure.
Yanks were at $213. Add Jeter, Rivera and Lee to the $144 and you are darn close.
Braves were around $85. Cards around $95.
Wait, Braves have $61.876 million, not $61.867 million.
i felt like the Zobrist deal was a bit out of character and they may regret it. Then again Burrell was out of character and they did regret it. Trading Kazmir and his bloated contract for 6 years of control of Sean Rodriguez was brilliant though!
Dislike (I’m an Angels fan…)
Congrats to the SF Giants. The fans knew they had the pitching and were just waiting for a bat. Good luck in the WS. Sucks that the “Beast’s of the East” are both going to be spectators this year but it is what it is.
PS-Leave the field immediately and go straight to the hotel. Phillies fans don’t play that celebrating on our field stuff.
Giant win the pennant! Best of luck to the Rangers and Giants in the World Series!
LET’S GO GIANTS
It’s very impressive that the Pads have such little money committed and they played very well this season, but honestly, other than Adrian Gonzalez, no one in their lineup should be starting on a major league ballclub. I hope they bring in a quality hitter or two because it seems like the pitching is there every year.
The Rangers’ total is roughly $3M too low as Darren Oliver’s option for 2011 has vested.
That said, the Rangers going to the World Series with only $35ish million committed for 2011 is pretty impressive. Of course, they were bankrupt 2 months ago and were headed that way during last off season, so it’s not surprising that their total committed for 2011 is on the low side.
That the Padres committed to $1.1 mil in 2011 is incredible. Regarding Bochy’s “boneheaded” move with Lincecum, he did retire Werth. And Werth was, IMO, the Phillies’ biggest threat. A win for a trip to the WS. Can’t argue with that.
At just under $17M in guaranteed contracts for 2011 and a stay of execution from the front office, Neal Huntington better make it happen this offseason for the Pirates. His offseason laundry list is steep. The Pirates need a credible and fiery manager and upgrades in the rotation, SS, and 1B and/or RF. Neal should interview Tony Pena to see if he is the right fit for the Bucs, acquire a starter like Matt Garza even if it means giving up some prospects, and bring in guys like Jason Bartlett or J.J. Hardy and James Loney to see if they can upgrade the SS and 1B positions.
I am a Mets fan, and I am depressed. Maybe Sandy Alderson (or Josh Byrnes) will turn things around.