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Payroll Update
2006-02-13 08:05
by Derek Smart

Now that everyone's signed, sealed, and delivered, it seems like an appropriate time to do a quick update of what the payroll looks like. Bear in mind this is an approximation cobbled together with the help of the ever useful Hardball Dollars, various press reports, and estimations based on the league minimum salary.

I am looking only at the most likely prospective members of the 25-man roster, although I've put 27 on this list due to uncertainty on the pitching staff and certain known monetary guarantees to players who won't join the team until later in the season. I'm also assuming that Mr. Grissom will make the roster, and have made a WAG about what his compensation will look like. So, then, the numbers.

Player
2006 Salary
Barrett, Michael
$4,000,000 
Blanco, Henry
$1,500,000 
Cedeno, Ronny
$330,000 
Dempster, Ryan
$5,000,000 
Eyre, Scott
$3,700,000 
Goodbody, Cleanliver
$500,000 
Hairston, Jerry
$2,300,000 
Howry, Bobby
$4,000,000 
Jones, Jacque
$4,250,000 
Lee, Derrek
$9,420,000 
Mabry, John
$1,080,000 
Maddux, Greg
$9,000,000 
Miller, Wade
$1,000,000 
Murton, Matt
$330,000 
Novoa, Roberto
$330,000 
Ohman, Will
$610,000 
Perez, Neifi
$2,500,000 
Pierre, Juan
$5,750,000 
Prior, Mark
$3,650,000 
Ramirez, Aramis
$10,500,000 
Rusch, Glendon
$3,000,000 
Walker, Todd
$2,500,000 
Williams, Jerome
$330,000 
Williamson, Scott
$2,000,000 
Wood, Kerry
$12,000,000 
Wuertz, Michael
$330,000 
Zambrano, Carlos
$6,500,000 
Total
$96,410,000 

Again, I don't know what the club's final payroll target is, and I've obviously not hit every detail, but if I had to guess I'd say there's actually some decent sized room left for a mid-season acquisition. Of course, to matter, there'd have to be cause for one...

UPDATE: Don't know how I missed this before, but CubsNet.com has this sort of chart already set up and is not only updating regularly, but doing so using more science than I would. In fact, I've already fixed an issue with Scott Williamson's salary. My suggestion? For Cubs payroll questions, check with CubsNet.com going forward.

Comments
2006-02-13 11:28:02
1.   steffens
I have a payroll list of the 40 man roster, here:
http://www.cubsnet.com/node/790

The minimum for players who are on the 40-man but not on the 25-man is approximately $100K.

Including those players, I come up with a total of approximately $95.8M.

Glendon Rusch will make $2.75M this year. Scott Eyre will make $3.2M this year.

Thanks for prompting me to correct figures for Derrek Lee and Kerry Wood to reflect pro-rated signing bonuses.

2006-02-13 11:31:32
2.   Sandus
The Cub bullpen is roughly the same dollar value as the entire Florida Marlins roster. I don't know who that's worse for...
2006-02-13 11:54:37
3.   Derek Smart
steffens,

Don't know why I'd never spotted that, but that's a helpful tool you've got up there.

I had Williamson wrong, by the way. Hardball Dollars had him at $3M, but I looked up on Rotowire and they had, as you did, that the option the Cubs exercised was for $2M. It's now fixed, which puts our respective totals close enough for me to call it a wash today, and to look to your chart in the future (I'm unwilling to defend mine, anyway, since all I'm doing is making calculations based primarily on other people's work which I have no way of vouching for).

2006-02-13 18:47:06
4.   The Real Neal
Perez, Neifi $2,500,000
Walker, Todd $2,500,000

Does that seem out of whack to anyone else?

2006-02-14 05:14:19
5.   rynox
I don't know how this figures in, but the Cubs also spent about $15M on bleacher rennovations. Will this affect the total payroll?

The Real Neal - Yes that's out of whack. What's even more out of whack is that the former will get more playing time than the latter.

Ryan

2006-02-14 05:15:59
6.   rynox
I don't know how this figures in, but the Cubs also spent about $15M on bleacher rennovations. Will this affect the total payroll?

The Real Neal - Yes that's out of whack. What'seven more out of whack is that the former will get more playing time than the latter.

Ryan

2006-02-14 09:15:56
7.   Derek Smart
If anything, it should make the payroll able to expand.

Doing a quick and dirty calculation based on the bleacher ticket prices for the various types of dates (6 X $15, 32 X $30, and 43 X $40), if one assumes there are approximately 2,000 extra bleacher seats (I've yet to see a firm number, so it might be a bit lower), that makes for around $5.5M in new ticket revenue. Add in concessions, which we'll conservatively estimate at $30 a head (which I think is probably low based on what I've seen as far as beer consumption goes for the folks who populate those seats), and you've got another $4.8M.

That's easily $10M in extra revenue, which means the renovations pay for themselves by mid-season 2007 at the absolute latest, if one is to believe my completely baseless work above.

In other words, I see no way those renovations have any negative effect on payroll, and if anything, they should have the opposite effect sooner rather than later, assuming the club is running things with any semblence of honesty, which isn't necessarily a sure thing.

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