First of all, Cott puts the 2010 Mets salaries at $126,498,096.
In that figure are players that already have gone away, meaning there already are 2011 savings for the removal of Jeff Francoeur ($5mil), Gary Mathews ($1mil left over on 2-year deal), Alex Cora (115K leftover similar to Mathews deal), Mike Jacobs (900K), Rod Barajas (500K), and Frank Catalanatto (650K). All these figures were included in the above 2011 salaries printed by Cott.
Next, I think it’s safe to save that John Maine ($3.3mil), Kelvim Escobar ($1.250), and Fernando Tatis (850K) are past Mets now.
Lastly, I’m going to assume that Sean Green (975K) sealed his fate this week, and that the Mets will make a lame offer to Pedro Feliciano, designed to secure two draft picks ($2.9mil).
So, if all that happens, that’s a projected savings on $17,450,000, which gets the Mets real close to a $100mil 2011 existing payroll.
Heck, maybe there is some money to spend here.
Well… let’ play game number two.
Let’s put together a 2011 25-man squad with what the team has left, and salary commitments etched in stone.
A few dreams and desires:
1, I’m going to off all the bad guys. Sure, the Mets have to pay Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, and K-Rod in 2011, but let’s just dump them… we can use the savings listed above to offset much of that cost.
2. Next, let’s build a 25-man squad with 15 minimal salary players… yup, 15 out of 25 players.
3. We need to build in some conservative salary increases for guys like R.A. Dickey, Hisanori Takahashi, Angel Pagan, and Mike Pelfrey, who have earned them.
4. Lastly, the $126+mil salaries that Cott estimated for 2010 have only Reyes’ out option. We need to assume he will be resigned at a conservative, but decent level.
So, how does that look?
1. 1B Ike Davis: 400,000
2. 2B: Ruben Tejada: 400,000
3. SS: Jose Reyes: 15,000,000 (projected)
4. 3B: David Wright: 14,250,000
5. LF: Jason Bay: 18,125,000
6. CF: Carlos Beltran: 20,071,000
7. RF: Angel Pagan: 1,750,000 (projected)
8. C: Josh Thole: 400,000
9. SP: Johan Santana: 24,000,000
10. SP: Mike Pelfrey: 5,000,000 (projected)
11. SP: Jon Niese: 400,000
12. SP: Jenrry Mejia: 400,000
13. SP: R.A. Dickey: 1,500,000 (projected)
14. P Dillon Gee: 400,000
15. P Bobby Parnell: 400,000
16. P Hisanori Takahashi: 1,250,000 (projected)
17. P Ryota Igarashi: 1,750,000
18. P Manny Acosta: 400,000
19. P (new) 400,000
20. P (new) 400,000
21. C Omir Santos 400,000
22. U Nick Evans: 400,000
23. U Chris Carter: 400,000
24. U Justin Turner: 400,000
25. U Lucas Duda: 400,000
26. Bad Oliver Perez: 12,000,000
27. Bad Luis Castillo: 6,250,000
28. Bad F. Rodriquez: 12,167,000
$ 139,113,000
So, we start off with a $126mil salary in 2010… we save $17mil… build a team with 15 minimal salary guys, plus the current contracts, and proper raises, and we’re now up to $139mil without added a single new player.
Crazy Eddie managed their money better in the 80s before either going to jail or running away to hidie somewhere in Israel.
Hi Mack, love the site. I've done some math with this team, exactly as you constructed, except in my scenario, I offered arb to Pedro, and he accepted and received $4M, and I play K-rod and Castillo -- raising the total to 140M.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if the Mets aren't allowed to drop K-Rod, why not try to repair that relationship and let the guy pitch? He might not be the guy he once was or even a decent human being, but he's still a very good reliever. Also, I really don't understand why Castillo wasn't playing every day when Ruben Tejada, (who is not great defensively at 2nd yet either) is struggling to get on base and probably should be at Buffalo learning how to do it? For much of the season the Mets were playing with two nearly automatic outs in their lineup. That's almost like playing with a pitcher and we're giving our opponent a DH.
Anyways, as much as I dread 2011 (unless we somehow get Yu and Bobby V) I'm still excited by all the possibilities in 2012. Keep up the good work (and try to hype our prospects a little more I'm sure a lot of baseball's interns keep up to date for their bosses)!