Brewers Projected 2012 Payroll

[ramssuperbowl99]

Current Payroll:

C – Jonathan Lucroy ($400k)

C - George Kottaras (estimated $800k)

1B – Mat Gamel ($400k)

2B – Rickie Weeks ($10M)

SS – Alex Gonzalez (estimated $3M)

3B – Aramis Ramirez ($12 M)

LF – Ryan Braun ($6M)

CF – Carlos Gomez (estimated $2M)

CF - Nyjer Morgan (estimated $2M)

RF – Corey Hart ($9M)

UTIL OF - Logan Schafer ($400k)

UTIL IF - Taylor Green ($400k)

UTIL SS - ? ($400k)

Total - $45.8 M

Fairly reasonable total for what I think is a solid lineup. No blatant overpays - in fact, there aren't any really bad contracts for 2012 at all here.

SP – Zack Greinke ($13.5M)

SP – Yovani Gallardo ($5.5M)

SP – Shaun Marcum (estimated $6M)

SP – Randy Wolf ($9.5 M)

SP – Chris Narveson ($400k)

SP - Wily Peralta ($400k)

Total - $35.8 M

Wolf is the only real overpay here. Greinke is expensive, but you get what you get. Gallardo and Marcum are bargains. Narveson and Peralta couldn't be cheaper.

CL – John Axford ($400k)

SU – Francisco Rodriguez ($13 M)

RP – Jose Veras ($2.5 M)

RP – Kameron Loe ($2.8 M)

RP - Marco Estrada ($400k)

RP - ? ($400k)

RP - ? ($400k)

Total - $19.9 M

K-Rod is the blatant "ZOMG" here. Without his contract out bullpen takes up a mere $7M of our payroll (and Axford provides more value than that on his own!). This is why K-Rod needs to be traded and the Brewers need to hope that Zack Braddock and Mark DeFilice come back to form.

Grand Total - $101.5 M

Wow. Big number here. Bullpen is partially responsible, but what it really is are the extensions from the young guys we kept around (Weeks, Braun, Hart, Yovani) combined with a couple free agents or trade acquisitions (Wolf, Greinke, Marcum, Ramirez).

Pretty shocking, no? Big ups to Mark A for biting the bullet on the $100 M mark.

EDIT: And, as if to laugh at me, Tom Haudricourt invalidates my calculations:

Haudricourt Tom

Ramirez's 3-year, $36 million deal will have some deferred money in it to try to help #[/s]Brewers[/b] with payroll in 2012.

EDIT #2: So does Doug Melvin, apparently.

Haudricourt Tom

Melvin, on where #[/s]Brewers[/b] already are with 2012 payroll: "We've stretched it well beyond where we wanted to go."

[TooLiveBrew]

RP - ? ($400k)

RP - ? ($400k)

 

I think these two spots will be manned by Fiers, Parra, Braddock, & Kintzler over the course of the season.

 

 

Wow. Big number here.

 

Maybe it's corny to say, but this is something fans should feel really proud about. The support, especially financial, has really freed up the Brewers to not have to keep an undersized payroll.

[The Truth]

I think we should get rid of Kameron Loe and his $$$, especially because we have a manager who won't use him correctly

[TheCrew07]

Gah we had to defer money for Ramirez? The last thing I want to do is be paying him a couple of mil per year while he's no longer on the club.

[DHonks]

I expect Shafer and Green to open in AAA, with Farris and Gindl on the opening day roster (Gindl in LF, Farris as Utility).

[ramssuperbowl99]

Gah we had to defer money for Ramirez? The last thing I want to do is paying him a couple of mil per year while he's no longer on the club.

Disagree if the deferred money is without interest. I'd much rather pay Ramirez that money when a dollar is worth less.

[jjkoestler]

Let's bump that number up to $120m and sign the big man.

[logan82]

When does Wolf's deferred money start to kick in? I don't like the idea of paying players after they are no longer playing for us.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Scarpetta is out of options. He has to be in the pen.

[TooLiveBrew]

I believe he was awarded a 4th option year by MLB

EDIT: McCalvy tweet from 11/15/11 -- Scarpetta/Rogers awarded 4th options.

[craigharmann]

Scarpetta is out of options. He has to be in the pen.

Rogers too, I believe.

[TheCrew07]

Scarpeta is out of options. He has to be in the pen.

I'm pretty sure the Brewers think they'll be awarded an extra option for Scarpetta and a couple of other players. It was on the minor league forum someplace.

[fondybrewfan]

Krod and Loe do seem to be the worst 2012 salaries of the bunch. Loe is a dime a dozen reliever and his spot could be filled for less than a $1 Million. Krod wll fanastic has a horrible salary that is just begging to be traded. Really if they can trade K-rod while picking up $4 Million or so of the salary the Brewers would have some cash to fill out the bench and bullpen while getting that payroll down to $95M or so. (Absent the deferred money to ARam).

[chadomac]

I really wish they would non-tender Loe tonight. Seems like you could find someone else and get similar results for less than 2.8

[Oldcity]

Ugh, so now on top of it all Ramirez will be getting deferred money?

[kilgore37]

Well you get to knock 2 mil off Braun while he sits for 50 games.

[Funketown]

Well you get to knock 2 mil off Braun while he sits for 50 games.

Well that makes this whole thing so much more palatable.

[Ennder]

Ugh, so now on top of it all Ramirez will be getting deferred money?

This is a good thing, it is team friendly to defer money, not player friendly. The Ramirez deal is extremely reasonable all around so other than not liking him as an ex Cub or not liking that it was 3 years there is very little to complain about.

[reillymcshane]

The payroll is pretty well laid out. It's $100 million. If we can sustain that, awesome. I never expected over $90 million.

 

I'd keep Loe. When used properly, he's effective. When he was 'the 8th inning guy' it was a disaster. But once that went away, he was great.

 

With the potential return of Braddock and Parra, the bullpen can be a real strength. Axford, Krod, Loe, Veras, Estrada - plus the two lefties - make a nice core of players. With the inevitable injuries (and someone is bound to implode), you have guys like McClendon, Kintzler and Fiers to turn to when needed.

 

I am not thrilled with the deferred money thing - live within your means is usually the wisest choice.

[fondybrewfan]

As long as it isn't a Bobby Bonilla type deferral I am OK with it

[JohnBriggs12]

Scarpetta is out of options. He has to be in the pen.

No he doesn't. He'll easily clear waivers.

[RightFieldCoder]

The Bonilla deal was fine if the Mets could have kept making 9% interest with that money. Or if they hadn't invested the money in a Ponsi scheme. They took a risk that interest rates wouldn't crash. I can't imagine interest rates going lower than what they are today.

 

To be fair, most of the time Loe was used early in the season was when we didn't have KRod, Saito, or Hawkins available. I'm not sure the other options were better. Once we had better options Loe started staying in the pen.

[JohnBriggs12]

All kinds of candidates for the last 2 reliever spots: De la Cruz, Kintzler, Dillard, McClendon, Fiers, Meadows, Parra, Rivas. Braddock. Parra is more than minimum wage though if he's kept.

 

Am I correct in assuming Loe and Parra can be cut in ST and only owed 1/6th of their salary?

 

DiFelice is gone.

 

Call me nuts, but Weeks is a guy I'd consider moving if they want to save money. He's getting a huge raise and while it's still not outrageous, it's still a very substantial commitment ($42.5 million over the next 4 seasons) to a guy who frankly has never quite reached his full potential and at 29 probably never will. Taylor Green's natural position is 2B, not 3B.

With Ramirez taking over at 3B, maybe they should move Weeks.

[PrinceFielderx1]

A. Ramirez deal with #[/s]Brewers: $6M in 12, $10M in 13, $16M in 14, $4M buyout on mutual option for 15. $6M deferred in third year. #[/s]MLBhttp://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23MLB

Per Ken Rosenthal

 

so he's only costing the Brewers 6 million in 2012, not 12 million.

http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23MLB

[JohnBriggs12]

A. Ramirez deal with #[/s]Brewers: $6M in 12, $10M in 13, $16M in 14, $4M buyout on mutual option for 15. $6M deferred in third year. #[/s]MLBhttp://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23MLB

Per Ken Rosenthal

 

so he's only costing the Brewers 6 million in 2012, not 12 million.

http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23MLB

Terrible deal from Brewer perspective. They will be paying $16 million for him when he's 36?