With all the talk from Brian Cashman this off season about him having “a number” when dealing with various free agents and his firm stance of sticking to it, I wanted to take a moment to figure out where that number currently stands. The Randy Winn signing appears to be the final move of any significance this off-season, Brian repeatedly has stated he “had 2 mil left” and that was it. He said on last night’s YES Yankee Hot Stove show that at this point he’s just looking at non-roster invitees for Spring Training. While he certainly let some expensive veterans go in Matsui and Damon, he also added some relatively expensive pieces in Vasquez, Granderson and Johnson. I’m using Opening Day payroll, for what I hope are obvious reasons. Before we begin, here are the prior annual figures to put the current number into some sort of context.
- Opening Day payrolls for 25-man roster
(salaries plus pro-rated signing bonuses):- 2009: $201,449,189
- 2008: $209,081,577
- 2007: $189,639,045
- 2006: $194,663,079
- 2005: $208,306,817
- 2004: $184,193,950
- 2003: $152,749,814
- 2002: $125,928,583
- 2001: $112,287,143
- 2000: $107,588,459
It never ceases to amaze me how the payroll exploded when George took back control from Cashman after the disappointing 02 season. Brian resumed control of Baseball ops after the 05 season, and payroll has been relatively flat since then, except for the A-Rod contract after the 07 season that was worked out directly with the Steinbrenner brothers, which Brian has said on the record that he was opposed to.
Next, I’ll make up a mock 25 man roster with 2010 salaries. Pre-arb guys haven’t had their contracts done yet, but they rarely get big raises so I’m just using the 09 figures. Phil Hughes getting an extra 5 grand isn’t worth waiting for. Don’t get too hung up on the last few guys in the bullpen or on the bench. If they go with Jon Albaladejo over Mark Melancon, both will earn roughly the MLB minimum, so payroll-wise it’s a wash. Even the difference between Sergio Mitre and Player X from AAA is only a few hundred thousand, which won’t affect the final number all that much.
Here goes, from top to bottom:
Alex Rodriguez-32 mil
CC Sabathia-23 mil
Derek Jeter-21 mil
Mark Teixeira-20 mil
AJ Burnett-16.5 mil
Mariano Rivera-15 mil
Jorge Posada 13.1 mil
Andy Pettitte-11.75 mil
Javier Vasquez-11.5 mil
Robinson Cano-9 mil
Nick Swisher-6.75 mil
Curtis Granderson 5.5 mil
Nick Johnson-5.5 mil
Damaso Marte-4 mil
Chad Gaudin-2.95 mil
Randy Winn-2 mil
(pre-arb)
Boone Logan $590,000
Brett Gardner-$414,000
Joba Chamberlain-$432,575
Phil Hughes-$407,650
Dave Robertson-$406,825
Alfredo Aceves-$406,750
Mark Melancon-$403,075
Ramiro Pena-$400,000
Francisco Cervelli-$400,700
TOTAL-$203,411,575
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have our number. Bringing Johnny Damon back for 6-7 mil would have set a new all time payroll record, which the Yanks are loathe to do. It’s also worth noting that Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Javier Vasquez, Andy Pettitte, Randy Winn and Chad Gaudin all have expiring contracts. Nick Johnson has a mutual option for 2011, so the Yanks will have 65-70 mil coming off the books for next year’s free agent class. Some of which will undoubtedly go to the aforementioned players.
Related posts:
Great job putting this together. I was just thinking last night, “I wonder what the payroll is for 2010″ and viola, you guys post the story. With regards to clearing $65-70M assuming:
Jeter’s new deal – $18-19M
Vazquez has solid season and resigns for the same – $12M
Mo gets – $12
Andy retires (clear $12M), NJohnson leaves and slot in Montero at DH (clear $5M), Winn/Gaudin (clear $5M). Obviously we will need to sign additional players to fill in those slots, but this will give Cashman and co. $28-30M to play around with and stay at 2010 budget level for 2011. If we decided to go after CLee, then could also let Vazquez go to offset that cost and then bring in $5-7M SP for the 4th slot. But let me stop thinking around 2011, when 2010 sets up to be another great year.
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MJ Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 9:35 am
I don’t see Vazquez being retained after this year, nor do I see Rivera getting a paycut of $3M.
For this very reason, I’m reasonably certain that the Yanks won’t be in on any major free agents next year. I just don’t see how they can add a pitcher and one of Crawford/Mauer and still come in at $200M when Jeter and Rivera will come back at close to their present number.
That’s why all this talk of letting Damon go for Crawford in ‘11 never rang true to me. And, quite frankly, Damon for 1Y/$10M always made more sense than Crawford for 4Y/$60M.
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Why are your numbers and those on the Cot’s spreadsheet a little different for the guys at the top? Also, I’m fairly certain that MLB counts payroll as being based on the 40-man, not the 25 (this is not a question to you really as much as it is on Cots, who’s list is of 25-man payroll).
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There’s a zillion ways to calculate these things. I went player by player on the team page I linked and used the 2010 salary Cots has listed.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Gotcha. I think those dont include the prorated bonuses, so they might be slightly low across the board.
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