AA may have to get creative with payroll

[Chappy]

Didn't see this posted anywhere. Nothing we all don't already know, other than speculation that the payroll will be around $150M.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/tor/blue-jays-general-manager-alex-anthopoulos-may-have-to-get-creative-with-payroll?ymd=20131114&content_id=63924540&vkey=news_tor

[Chappy]

TORONTO -- Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos might have to be a little creative this offseason in order to get the most out of his projected payroll for the 2014 campaign.

 

Toronto is notoriously secretive about its annual budget, but various reports have suggested the club will be able to spend approximately $150 million next season. Anthopoulos has yet to comment on a specific figure, and he frequently talks about having certain parametres accompanied with an ability to approach ownership with various proposals.

 

If next year's payroll does hover around $150 million, it would be an increase of approximately $30 million from 2013 and almost $77 million more than the club spent in '12. Despite the added funds, there likely will be a certain limitation on what the Blue Jays can do this offseason.

 

The Blue Jays have 15 players under guaranteed contracts for 2014 and four who are eligible for arbitration. The current projected payroll appears to be $132.9 million, which would leave slightly more than $17 million on the estimated figure to spend in free agency or through trades.

 

However, there are ways that Anthopoulos could increase the amount of available funds even if he does get capped at $150 million. Here's a closer look at Toronto's current salary commitments and several ways the club could increase the available money:

 

Guaranteed contracts

Edwin Encarnacion ($9M), Maicer Izturis ($3M), Jose Reyes ($16M), Melky Cabrera ($8M), Jose Bautista ($14M), Adam Lind ($7M), Josh Thole ($1.25M), R.A. Dickey ($12M), Mark Buehrle ($18M), Brandon Morrow ($8M), J.A. Happ ($5.2M), Casey Janssen ($4M), Sergio Santos ($3.75M), Dustin McGowan ($1.5M), Ricky Romero ($7.5M).

 

Eligible for arbitration

Colby Rasmus, J.P. Arencibia, Esmil Rogers, Brett Cecil

 

Prominent pre-arbitration eligible players

Brett Lawrie, Steve Delabar, Aaron Loup, Ryan Goins, Anthony Gose, Moises Sierra, Drew Hutchison, Luis Perez, Kyle Drabek, Jeremy Jeffress, Chad Jenkins, Brad Lincoln, Kevin Pillar, Todd Redmond. Each player would receive in the range of $500,000 if they made the 25-man roster.

 

Total estimated payroll: $132,900,000

 

Areas for potential savings

Arencibia: The Blue Jays have been exploring the market for a potential upgrade behind the plate. If that happens, Toronto likely would deal Arencibia to another team and offset the salary of his replacement while acquiring an asset in return. Arencibia could stick around in a backup role, but that would seem unlikely considering Thole is already contract for next season.

 

Happ: The southpaw is owed $5.2 million in 2014, with a $6.7 million option for '15, which includes a $200,000 buyout. Happ is not the frontline starter the Blue Jays are currently in the market for, but he does provide some depth and is a relatively nice fit in the No. 5 spot. Toronto does have other back-end rotation options, though, and the club should have Hutchison, Drabek, Rogers, Redmond and prospect Marcus Stroman competing for that role next year. Trading Happ could remain a possibility, and his salary could then be allocated to other areas.

 

Romero: The left-hander likely could use a change of scenery following a pair of frustrating seasons in Toronto's organization. The former ace spent almost the entire 2013 season with Triple-A Buffalo and still has $15.6 million in guaranteed money remaining on his contract. Romero likely will be difficult to trade, but even if the Blue Jays eat a large portion of his contract, any type of savings could be used to help upgrade the overall roster.

 

Rasmus: This would seem like one of the more unlikely options, but the Blue Jays could open up some additional salary by trading the outfielder to fill another area of need. Gose is waiting in the wings and could be ready to take the next step on a permanent basis. That would result in a drop of production at the plate, but Gose does have plenty of upside in the field and on the basepaths. Still, it's hard to envision Toronto parting ways with Rasmus unless it receives a really enticing offer.

 

Lind: The first baseman is set to earn $7 million next season, and the club could look to trade him and search for a cheaper alternative. The chance of that happening, though, doesn't appear to be all that great considering the Blue Jays recently picked up the option on his contract for 2014 instead of using a $2 million buyout. There would be cheaper alternatives available through free agency, but Toronto would still have to use a rather large amount of cash to replace Lind's production against right-handed pitching out of the designated-hitter spot.

 

Bautista: Make no mistake about it, the Blue Jays aren't going to trade the slugger just for the sake of lowering their payroll. Anthopoulos emphatically dismissed the Bautista for Philadelphia's Domonic Brown rumours earlier this week, which really never seemed to make much sense in the first place. There aren't really any untouchables on Toronto's roster, but the Blue Jays would undoubtedly need a high-end starter in return for one of their franchise players.

[Chappy]

Take JP out of the equation, assuming AA does either trade him or non tender him and that gets us to about $20M to work with as things currently stand. Happ and Janssen are obvious pieces that should be in play as well. I can envision Happ being moved as a salary dump and I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard considering what the FA market will be priced at. That gets us to ~$29M without losing anything significant. Definitely enough to get us another innings eater and catcher via FA and then AA probably looks to the trade front to get us that frontline SP.

[z3r0s]

Blow it up!

 

Jose Reyes to the Cards for Oscar + a pitcher (I sort of doubt it, but maybe that story was right)

 

Jose Bautista to the Rangers for Profar + prospect(s)

 

Edwin Encarnacion to the Nats for Anthony Rendon + Giolito (maybe?)

 

Cassey Jannssen+ to the Tigers for Rick Porcello

 

Signs Rasmus to a decent deal or trade him and play Gose

 

Trade JPA for ******** (even literally)

 

Sign a FA starter and Ruiz with the money we just saved

 

C - Ruiz

2B - Rendon

SS - Profar

3B - Lawrie

LF - Melky

CF - Rasmus

RF - Taveras

DH - Lind and Baker

 

SP's - Dickey, Shelby or Martinez (from Cards), FA starter, Morrow, Behurle, Porcello

SP depth - Stroman, Sanchez, Giolito

 

Pen still in shape. Still need a 1B. I'd love to expand the cards deal to get Adams too, but I don't think we have much other than Reyes they want.

 

Total for the year is quite a bit less than this year (~115M depending who the FA starter is). Much better long term outlook.

[Abomination]

Take JP out of the equation, assuming AA does either trade him or non tender him and that gets us to about $20M to work with as things currently stand. Happ and Janssen are obvious pieces that should be in play as well. I can envision Happ being moved as a salary dump and I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard considering what the FA market will be priced at. That gets us to ~$29M without losing anything significant. Definitely enough to get us another innings eater and catcher via FA and then AA probably looks to the trade front to get us that frontline SP.

 

Really no reason to keep Izzy either. I'm sure he'll bounce back some, but he never did look comfortable defensively on the carpet. Just sign Kawasaki again and save the extra 2M. I'm sure there's quite a few teams that would give us something for him.

[fireballW]

Take JP out of the equation, assuming AA does either trade him or non tender him and that gets us to about $20M to work with as things currently stand. Happ and Janssen are obvious pieces that should be in play as well. I can envision Happ being moved as a salary dump and I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard considering what the FA market will be priced at. That gets us to ~$29M without losing anything significant. Definitely enough to get us another innings eater and catcher via FA and then AA probably looks to the trade front to get us that frontline SP.

 

He can always backload contracts anyway. A lot of contracts coming off the books after 2015. Our farm should be pretty good by 2016 with all the talent in the low minors, so a couple backloaded contracts won't kill us.

[Chappy]

Really no reason to keep Izzy either. I'm sure he'll bounce back some, but he never did look comfortable defensively on the carpet. Just sign Kawasaki again and save the extra 2M. I'm sure there's quite a few teams that would give us something for him.

 

I'm expecting Izzy to bounce back somewhat, that being said, if Kawasaki can be brought back and someone wants to take Izzy off our hands I would do that. The real problem is that Izzy should be the primary backup not the starting 2B.

[Frenchsoup]

Really no reason to keep Izzy either. I'm sure he'll bounce back some, but he never did look comfortable defensively on the carpet. Just sign Kawasaki again and save the extra 2M. I'm sure there's quite a few teams that would give us something for him.

 

 

Izzy's got a couple more years left and isn't trade able unless you eat some salary may as well keep him, he's fine on the bench.

[Chappy]

He can always backload contracts anyway. A lot of contracts coming off the books after 2015. Our farm should be pretty good by 2016 with all the talent in the low minors, so a couple backloaded contracts won't kill us.

 

Yup lots of payroll flexibility after 2015, I just hope we don't end up with several bad contracts as a result. As it stands, the only major commitment this team has past 2015 is Reyes. I could certainly see AA extending Rasmus and allocating some of his projected 2014 salary to future years.

[Chappy]

Izzy's got a couple more years left and isn't trade able unless you eat some salary may as well keep him, he's fine on the bench.

 

Ken Rosenthal reporting today that Brandon Phillips will be moved.

 

http://www.redlegsreview.com/2013/11/ken-rosenthal-brandon-phillips-is-goner.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRedlegsReview+%28Redlegs+Review%29

 

I expect AA to be in on this.

[Chappy]

Unfortunately he probably is. Dem RBI's Dat OPS

 

Yup. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that happened.

[Dick_Pole]

I don't really see the point of trading Happ just to free up salary. I'd rather have him under his contract than say, Santana, at whatever insane contract he is going to get.

[TheHurl]

What a waste of $5 mil on Lind

 

Absolutely pathetic

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

Out of all our payroll mess....Lind's $5M is what you comment on. Essentially we've become the Cubs

[G-Snarls]

Out of all our payroll mess....Lind's $5M is what you comment on. Essentially we've become the Cubs

 

Any team would give Adam Lind 5 million dollars to DH/1B if they didn't already have 2 good players there

[Abomination]

Izzy's got a couple more years left and isn't trade able unless you eat some salary may as well keep him, he's fine on the bench.

 

Izzy should be easy to trade at 3M. He's basically a 1 to 2 WAR player with average to slightly above average defense when not on the carpet. We shouldn't have to eat any salary.

[jaysblue]

Izturis is f***ing horrendous. The 3-year deal made zero sense. Hes the kind of guy you go year to year with. I can see them realistically moving Lind but I doubt any team would give anything valuable so it might be better off just keeping him if they really don't plan on improving the position. Honestly how creative can they get. We can't possibly head into next year with the mindset of bargain hunting to try to improve a team that finished in last place. Teams rarely undervalue players the same way they did a decade ago. Even Oakland learned they need to spend some money even if its just for one year.

 

The only 2 options are blowing the thing up which will probably cause a massive backlash from the fan base after being promised a consistent contender. Or keep throwing money at guys until something works. It still absolutely blows my mind that AA commits to trading top prospects for guys he could have signed. Will he learn from his mistakes it remains to be seen. The only way I see this team is competitive is some kind of bold move. But pitching is not the only problem. Bautista lost the rest of his season 2-years in a row. Our offense drops dramatically with him out of the lineup. We are going to need a huge back season from Melky. And Lawrie to start being the player hes capable of being. Rasmus looks to have turned a corner and Encarnacion is becoming a new breed of power hitter but man so many question marks outside of Bautista and Encarnacion. I can't believe in this group. We really have no reason to.

 

I liked Macier, though never understood why the Jays had to sign him for 3 years which is just absurd for a backup infielder. Players like Maicer, Punto, Nix, Aviles, etc could be had on one-year deals and can be acquired every offseason.

[jaysblue]

I don't really see the point of trading Happ just to free up salary. I'd rather have him under his contract than say, Santana, at whatever insane contract he is going to get.

 

The Jays have Hutch, Drabek, Nolin, Stroman, Redmond, Rogers, McGowan etc who could all step into the rotation if needed and basically provide similar value Happ would or even more. Plus I'm sure the Jays sign some arms to minor league deals with invites to ST like Marcum, Wolf etc.

[eastcoastjaysfan]

Izturis is f***ing horrendous. The 3-year deal made zero sense. Hes the kind of guy you go year to year with. I can see them realistically moving Lind but I doubt any team would give anything valuable so it might be better off just keeping him if they really don't plan on improving the position. Honestly how creative can they get. We can't possibly head into next year with the mindset of bargain hunting to try to improve a team that finished in last place. Teams rarely undervalue players the same way they did a decade ago. Even Oakland learned they need to spend some money even if its just for one year.

 

The only 2 options are blowing the thing up which will probably cause a massive backlash from the fan base after being promised a consistent contender. Or keep throwing money at guys until something works. It still absolutely blows my mind that AA commits to trading top prospects for guys he could have signed. Will he learn from his mistakes it remains to be seen. The only way I see this team is competitive is some kind of bold move. But pitching is not the only problem. Bautista lost the rest of his season 2-years in a row. Our offense drops dramatically with him out of the lineup. We are going to need a huge back season from Melky. And Lawrie to start being the player hes capable of being. Rasmus looks to have turned a corner and Encarnacion is becoming a new breed of power hitter but man so many question marks outside of Bautista and Encarnacion. I can't believe in this group. We really have no reason to.

 

Macier's salary is so small it's not even worth discussing. I have no idea why you're so angry about it.

[Sammy225]

If we can get Happ, JPA, Bau (Should be dealt) off the books that frees up a lot of salary. Not very hard to figure out

[z3r0s]

Macier's salary is so small it's not even worth discussing. I have no idea why you're so angry about it.

 

Agreed. Certainly not necessary to give him 3 years, but there is something to be said for not having to scrounge for bench players every year. The salary makes it a non issue.

[saskjayfan]

Any team would give Adam Lind 5 million dollars to DH/1B if they didn't already have 2 good players there

 

I don't get the Lind hate. He's a dh and his job is to hit. Given the league declining bop and power numbers he had a great season last year. What's wrong with a .357 bop and an .854 ops

[saskjayfan]

So happ is the 5th starter then

 

Night as well close the books on the season now

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

I just puked in my mouth a bit. Happ better not be in the rotation

[ElNik2013]

I say sign Ruiz and a FA pitcher with the money available. If the Tigers will take Janssen+ for Porcello, then great. Maybe the + would be Nolin, but I think we'd take that since the Jays would be getting a young starter for a AAA starter and a reliever with a year left on his contract. Trading Happ and his 5M would be awsome, I wonder if the 'Stros would give AA back a bit of the package he gave them...lol, definitely not. If there's enough money to sign Infante or another option at 2B, then great.

 

I do have a problem with the idea that the team needs to trade for a top of the rotation starter. AA already made this move when he overpaid for Dickey and JJ, he knew quite well that JJ was a FA to be and should've known that he was overpaying for a 38-year old CY winner. AA made his bed and he needs to be made to lie in it. No matter how you slice it, this team will need big bounce-back years from Cabrera and Morrow as well as healthy seasons from Reyes, Lawrie, Bautista. They'll need Dickey to pitch close to how he pitched in 2010-12 and Rasmus and Lind to have similar years as well. Adding Ruiz would help, but so much has to go the Blue Jays' way that trading Sanchez and/or Stroman as centre pieces for a #2 or 1 starter makes no sense to me. Unless you're getting a Chris Sale, but that's a pipe dream.

[oakville69]

I don't get the Lind hate. He's a dh and his job is to hit. Given the league declining bop and power numbers he had a great season last year. What's wrong with a .357 bop and an .854 ops

 

Very good point. In today's MLB, Lind at $7 million or $5 million net is good value.

[kgm1]

Well, the Dogg's a f***ing moron, he can't help himself but Derp all over the forum.

 

Most have moved on past the Lind hate. Even ECJF has quieted on his hate but the Dogg is too stupid . He thinks he,ll still get approval for hating on Lind

 

The hate has moved on to JPA and AA .

[Chappy]

It was a poor April/May for Dickey, but he was actually quite good the following four months. Buehrle settled in as well as the season progressed. If Morrow can give this team 150 solid innings, this team takes a big step forward, the problem is counting on Morrow isn't enough.

[ElNik2013]

It was a poor April/May for Dickey, but he was actually quite good the following four months. Buehrle settled in as well as the season progressed. If Morrow can give this team 150 solid innings, this team takes a big step forward, the problem is counting on Morrow isn't enough.

 

 

I agree. However, Dickey was acquired as a #1-2 starter not as a 3. The same can be said about JJ. What I would say is that AA already paid for #1-2 starters, his moves quite simply didn't work out the way he expected them to. I just cringe at the thought of AA addressing a need that he already paid dearly to address last off season as this has dire consequences for the franchise.

 

This rotation has been overpaid for both in terms of $ and prospects. One big problem with this rotation is that the 2 guys the team was counting on to be building blocks have either been injured or imploded. Arguably, without Romero's implosion in 2012, Happ and Buehrle wouldn't be on this team. That's 20M right there. As it stands, they'll be paying 30M for Buehrle, Happ and Romero next year and this doesn't look worse only because Buehrle is almost a lock to pitch 200 innings as a #4.

[jaysblue]

It was a poor April/May for Dickey, but he was actually quite good the following four months. Buehrle settled in as well as the season progressed. If Morrow can give this team 150 solid innings, this team takes a big step forward, the problem is counting on Morrow isn't enough.

 

That's why Morrow needs to open the season as the No. 5 starter. The Jays can't rely on him being a No. 2 next season.

[Angrioter]

"AA may have to get creative with payroll" It's not a good title, bad things can happen.

 

Bautista for Mid-Rotation guy + Bust MLB young OF

Sanchez/Stroman ++ for Mid-Rotation guy 2 years controllable.

[ElNik2013]

That's why Morrow needs to open the season as the No. 5 starter. The Jays can't rely on him being a No. 2 next season.

 

 

Point well taken regarding Morrow, I don't think anyone would disagree although coming into 2013 a good number of people thought he would be the real ace of the staff. Having said this, the amount of money and/or prospects it would take for Morrow to be considered the #5 starter is way too high.