David Banks - Getty Images
Matt Garza of the Chicago Cubs and Geovany Soto celebrate a Cubs victory against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Both players will get raises in 2012. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)
With the signings of all the Cubs' arb-eligible players except Matt Garza, we can now estimate what the 25-man roster payroll will be for this season.
I'm not usually into roster construction, but this is a useful exercise in trying to figure out what the major league payroll will be, how it relates to last year's, and how much might be left over for the draft and international signings.
According to USA Today, the Cubs' payroll for 2011 was $125,047,329; ESPN.com reports a slightly larger figure of $126,380,663, and Cot's Baseball Contracts says that the Opening Day 2011 figure was $134,004,000.
Follow me past the jump for what is, admittedly, a guess at a 25-man Opening Day roster and what it will cost. This assumes that no further trades or signings are made, which might not be the case. But at least it'll give us a ... um, ballpark figure. For the purposes of this exercise, I am assuming that Matt Garza will make the figure he asked for, $10,225,000; the Cubs offered $7,950,000. They'll probably settle somewhere in the middle.
Listed in order by salary. I have put most of the sub-arb players at the MLB minimum, except for Starlin Castro, who I assume will get a raise. The figure for Chris Volstad is the difference between Carlos Zambrano's 2012 salary ($18,000,000) and the amount Volstad was reported to have signed for. Jeff Samardzija's number is an estimate.
Alfonso Soriano: $18,000,000
Chris Volstad: $15,345,000
Ryan Dempster: $14,000,000
Matt Garza: $10,225,000
Carlos Marmol: $7,000,000
Marlon Byrd: $6,500,000
Geovany Soto: $4,300,000
Paul Maholm: $4,250,000
David DeJesus: $4,250,000
Kerry Wood: $3,000,000
Randy Wells: $2,705,000
Ian Stewart: $2,237,500
Jeff Samardzija: $2,000,000
Jeff Baker: $1,375,000
Reed Johnson: $1,150,000
Blake DeWitt: $1,100,000
Starlin Castro: $800,000
Tony Campana: $480,000
Travis Wood: $480,000
Bryan LaHair: $480,000
Darwin Barney: $480,000
Welington Castillo: $480,000
James Russell: $480,000
Chris Carpenter: $480,000
Rafael Dolis: $480,000
There's probably one too many starting pitchers on that list and one too few relievers; I'm assuming Castillo is the backup catcher, though it could be Steve Clevenger or someone else. Either way, the backup catcher salary is probably going to be the minimum. The 25-man roster might include a few different names than the ones I have listed here, but my guess is -- not many.
It doesn't seem likely that both DeWitt and Baker will make the Opening Day roster, but for now, since they have published salary figures, I included both.
Unless I added wrong, the total of these 25 salaries, along with the $5 million of Carlos Peña's 2011 deal that was deferred to this year, is $107,077,500 -- a significant decrease from the 2011 payroll, almost 25% lower. Some of the extra money clearly has gone for the hiring of Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, Jason McLeod and the rest of the expanded front office -- but that doesn't add up to over $20 million.
Now, I could be wrong about some of the renewal players -- they could get more, but that wouldn't make more than a couple million dollars worth of difference. On the other hand, Garza could (and probably will) get less that what he is asking for. But it would seem to me that the Cubs have room for another acquisition or two before spring training begins.
Have at it.
0 recs | 100 comments
Ill say it first
ADAM LIND!
scottydo - January 17, 2012
Why was this, or better yet, why is this still funny to some people?
AzCubfan24 - January 18, 2012
Yeah, the arbiters of funny should stop this
Arbusto - January 18, 2012
Yeah, where are the Funny Police when you need them?
willie mays hayes' gloves - January 18, 2012
I know where they ain't...
eths - January 18, 2012
Just wondering about that Volstad #
I thought we sent the Marlins 15.5 million. That, plus the 2.655 he got would make his liability 18.155
SouthWabashSoul - January 17, 2012
The way I understood it
… was that the Cubs would pay the difference between Zambrano’s $18 million and whatever Volstad eventually signed for.
Al Yellon - January 17, 2012
So the net cost of Volstad is then the equivalent of what Zambrano will make in 2012
that is, the Cubs sent Zambrano and $15+M to the Marlins and the Marlins sent the Cubs Volstad with the Cubs agreeing to pay whatever Volstad earns in arbitration. I remember reading that he is projected to make around $2.6M so the Cubs were supposedly going to be able to pocket a little bit less than $400K from Zambrano’s 2012 salary + the $600K (or so) Zambrano agreed to forfeit from his salary when he reached agreement with the Cubs regarding his salary during last year’s suspension.
Either way, still only $2-3M more max, so payroll is still significantly less than in 2011…..
magicblue - January 17, 2012
Volstad = 18 M
Most commenters are saying it right, but doing the math wrong.
Pre Trade:
Marlins pay Volstad 2.655 M to pitch
Cubs pay Zambrano 18 M to pitch
Post Trade:
Marlins pay Zambrano 2.655 M to pitch & 0 to Volstad
Cubs pay Zambrano 15.345 M to leave & 2.655 M to Volstad
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/?page_id=82
nick5253 - January 18, 2012
OK, fair enough.
Add $2.655 million to the figure above, then. Makes the total $109,732,500.
Al Yellon - January 18, 2012
I guarantee that money is going to the Cubans.
Cespedes, Soler, or both.
mic - January 17, 2012
You could be right.
Al Yellon - January 17, 2012
Real Cubans?
You wouldn’t be trying to pass off some Dominicans in a Cuban wrapper on me?
Fukudometer - January 17, 2012
you mean they are actuaaly Dominicans now
Ivy Walls - January 17, 2012
Castro's brother... Dennis.
Dennis Castro?
….Duane?
Mulhollandmania - January 17, 2012
You wouldn't be trying to sell old Earl Haffler
Dominicans in a Cuban wrapper now, would you?
AGC - January 18, 2012
Just a cigar made outta bisquik, huh, Guillermo?
AGC - January 18, 2012
Mark and his family?
Josh Timmers - January 17, 2012
sounds right, and I see some more cuts
Drop DeWitt ($520K savings) move Soriano ($2.5M adding $480K is $2M) and then Garza and you have $10.225M, (add another $480K) all told $12M bringing the payroll down to $92M with another $3M for late season pickup
It then leaves $5M to be added to minor league FA international pick ups and next year’s amateur draft.
Ivy Walls - January 17, 2012
Keep wishing.
I still don’t see Soriano being moved this off-season.
rlpete - January 17, 2012
If they move Garza
and replace Sori with Sappelt they won’t need the 3 mil. for a late season pick up.
More likely they’ll save another 3 mil.+ by moving Dempster and Byrd.
And I’m assuming your last sentence was sarcasm.
SouthWabashSoul - January 17, 2012
how did you guess
Ivy Walls - January 17, 2012
I see no need to spend for the sake of spending
Focus on saving money for future years when we have a chance, and otherwise invest in mining talent.
USCKB - January 17, 2012
OH GOD THE PAYROLL IS GOING DOWN FOREVER
RUN AWAY
jesus christos - January 17, 2012
It's over.
The Cubs are Pittsburgh West now and for the rest of eternity.
rlpete - January 17, 2012
ABANDON SHIP WHILE YOU STILL CAN
jesus christos - January 17, 2012
what
no spaceballs reference or pic by you or swl?
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
"We can't stop.....its too dangerous"
Hammer - January 17, 2012
ahhhh
that’s better.
I said shoot across his nose, not up it!
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
it was recently on a movie channel
and not on Comedy Central. The unedited version is great.
Hammer - January 17, 2012
im surrounded
By a-holes!
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via mobile
I'm a Mog
half man half dog…i’m my own best friend
dawease - January 19, 2012
Spaceballs the flame thrower
The kids love the flame thrower
Musicdude10 - January 19, 2012
soler soler soler soler
solar sole-her soul-ler
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
"Have we stopped?"
“Yes, sir, we’ve stopped.”
“Well…smoke if ya got ’em….”
CRASH
daver - January 18, 2012
We're gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed!
willie mays hayes' gloves - January 18, 2012
Only one man dares give me the raspberry...
LONESTAR!!!
dawease - January 19, 2012
oh god are those pterodactyls?!?!
HJSFDJFSDJHFDSGFDDFGDSSVFSD
jesus christos - January 17, 2012
I hope you do, jesus.
That just means more tickets for —wait, Hendry’s not the GM anymore?!?!? I’M OUT.
shoemile - January 17, 2012
garza's presence on this team is the last straw
jesus christos - January 17, 2012
your
strawman argument is futile
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
Abandon shop! Abandon shop!
Repeat, this is not a daffodil!
HalfWhitey - January 18, 2012
Let's be KC East instead.
shoemile - January 17, 2012
Should this month's $5 million payment to Pena be included?
And I believe the Cubs still owe Carlos Silva $2 million in 2012, but I could be wrong on that.
Lastly, I think you’ve got to count Volstad as $18 million (the Cubs are paying his salary AND the difference between his salary and Zambrano’s salary – the total of which is $18 million).
Together, that could be another $10 million right there.
Brett Taylor - January 17, 2012
Yes, Pena's $5 million should have been included.
I’m really not sure about Volstad. That essentially means the Marlins are getting Zambrano for free — I don’t think that was the intention of the deal.
If you can find a specific cite that clears this up, I’ll change it.
But I will add the Pena info.
Al Yellon - January 17, 2012
guarantee Z will have add on's for Marlins
Ivy Walls - January 17, 2012
No, the way you explained it
The Marlins would be paying Z the same as the Cubs are paying Volstad: 2.655 mil.
SouthWabashSoul - January 17, 2012
This is correct.
We are paying all but 2.655 million of Z’s salary, and we’re paying 2.655 million for Volstad. It’s effectively the same as paying Z to transform into Volstad.
bdlugz - January 17, 2012
No, they're getting him for the cost of Volstad
Z makes $18 million. Volstad makes $2.655 million. According to the explanation, we’re paying $15.345 million of Zambrano’s salary. The Marlins are paying the rest.
It’s effectively a swap of players with each team paying exactly what they would have before the swap.
SouthernCub - January 18, 2012
That was my understanding of the deal.
Until someone posts a link with more info, that’s what I’m going with.
Al Yellon - January 18, 2012
Right, but that means you're underreporting Volstad's cost to the Cubs
He’s $2.655 million + the $15.345 million for Zambrano, or $18 million. There is $20.655 million being paid to Zambrano and Volstad this year. The Marlins are paying $2.655 million of it. We are paying the other $18 million of it.
SouthernCub - January 18, 2012
if anyone can get a hold of azjazzman
…. just ask him!!! He knows everything about this kind of stuff and more!
chit0wn - January 18, 2012
Yes, but then I'd have to google it.
Al Yellon - January 18, 2012
He only appears...
…when someone on the Internet is wrong!
daver - January 18, 2012
You knew this was coming.
Al Yellon - January 18, 2012
Yes
Marlins are paying Z 2.655 M and we are paying the remainder of Z’s salary 15.345 PLUS we are paying Volstad 2.655 M TOTALLING 18M..
nick5253 - January 18, 2012
Z and Volstad, together, make $20.655mm
We’re paying $18mm of that and getting Volstad. They are paying $2.655 of that and getting Z.
The way you have it figured, they are making $18mm combined.
D98 - January 18, 2012
It's only a few million either way.
Who are we to haggle over a few million? I’ve got that in my sock drawer don’t all of you?
mrcubsfan - January 17, 2012 via mobile
I just found $500,000 under my sofa cushions.
Julio Zuleta's Voodoo - January 17, 2012 via mobile
soler soler
Solar soul-er sole-her
Bring him in!
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via mobile
okay
Ivy Walls - January 17, 2012
wat
dtpollitt - January 17, 2012
"watt" would be more accurate...
ballhawk - January 17, 2012
If he was hired by a certain ex-manager that would be megawatt
eths - January 18, 2012
If that ex-manager had Fielder, he would probably be called the Gigawatt.
Flatley - January 19, 2012
iswydt
sol-hair.
hybrid 1BOF?
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
astros signed jack cust to a 2 year deal
ALWP
jesus christos - January 17, 2012
NL central
champs ’12
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
They are now a 30+ win team.
jpeters407 - January 17, 2012
they way this division
has regressed that might be the best record.
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
There are still three good teams in this division.
St. Louis, Cincy, and Milwaukee will battle it out this summer, hopefully we can “hang in” the race, but I just don’t see it. We will fight it out for fourth with the Bucs. Houston will be the worst team in baseball again.
jpeters407 - January 17, 2012
does this mean
we can sign fielder for a $30 mill 10 year contract and let him roam LF splitting ABs with Sorryano?
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
and AL West champs in '13
See? See??? This is how a team makes strategic moves to help them now and in the future. I hope Theo’s taking notes…
ballhawk - January 17, 2012
but
they don’t have a Budweiser led board
they haven’t figured EVERYTHING out
RIP Slim - January 17, 2012 via Android app
Thinking a little more in depth about the Baker and DeWitt situation:
Last year the cubs infield was: Pena, Barney, Castro, Ramirez, Baker, and DeWitt. This year all we would be doing would be replacing Pena with LaHair and Ramirez with Stewart so Baker and DeWitt would both be on the roster. Additionally, I don’t see how Baker wouldn’t be on the roster, as he is the only backup 1B listed.
mdcubsfan - January 17, 2012
Would this mean that maybe Clevenger is the backup catcher then?
I’ve noticed he’s got 91 games at 1B. I don’t know if it’ll do any good hitting from the left side when LaHair/Rizzo are also. He won’t be a high power guy, but looks to not K so much and takes some walks.
ubercubsfan - January 18, 2012
I actually posted this link in one of the other articles...
…but here is the breakdown for the Cubs (brown numbers are estimated salaries for auto-renewal/Garza).
Cubs Salaries
A couple notes.
Can’t Samardzija only get 80% of his previous salary as a basement? That would be about $2.7M. I put Gaub in there instead of Carpenter but both will be near minimum. I figure we have to have at least two LHPs in the bullpen?
Silva is owed $2M, Pena $5M and I’m not 100% about the Zambrano thing, but I only read $15.5M so that’s what I have here.
IOftenPanic - January 17, 2012
Can anyone explain espn's report on Cubs payroll
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=7381589
They say that the Cubs filed 140 million.
Mitchener - January 17, 2012
It's for the 40-man roster and signing bonuses
This note may explain it.
RiskyBusiness - January 18, 2012
ok must be a lot of signing bonuses
Mitchener - January 18, 2012
Considering the circumstances...
….I don’t see why they would want to spend more than 110 mil on salaries and maybe even less if possible.
Going back to the end of 2011, I figured they would drop the payroll between 15-20mil and that was before they spent all the dough on Theo and the boys
MPH73 - January 18, 2012
The non-payroll part of baseball expenses would be interesting to know
Obviously they won’t spend the whole “missing” $20 million on the FO, but there’s still A LOT of stuff that needs to paid this yr:
many new FO guys, newly strucctured scouting dept and this new technology stuff, new facilities , several minor league additions and I’d guess there’s some money earmarked for further optimization of scouting and minor league operations to adjust to the new CBA.
I have no idea how much more expensive all this stuff is compared to years before, but I could see it piling up to 5-10 million.
DamageControlFreak - January 18, 2012
There will likely be $6-8 million less spent on amateurs this year under the new CBA
That likely takes care of any new FO expenses quite easily.
RynoRooter - January 18, 2012
I think that is much less then they spent in 2011, so unless something happens total spending on baseball ops may go down
ClarkFan - January 18, 2012
Cubs spent about $20 million on amateurs in 2011
Draft cap is estimated to about around $10-11 million for the team in 2012
IFA budget is $2.9 million for all teams in 2012
My guess is that extra $6-7 million goes to Soler/Cespedes/Concepcion/Garcia or any other Cuban the Cubs think would be a nice addition to the organization.
RynoRooter - January 18, 2012
A billionaire who wants to invest in the development of his team?
I must have slipped into an alternate universe.
subtle - January 18, 2012 via mobile
It seems
like forever we have been waiting for the payroll to come down. Finally it is happening. With new leadership I trust than if and when it increases, the money will be spent on the right guys that will perform through the entire length of their contract.
wild bill - January 18, 2012
Yikes...
Thats not a lot of talent for a lot of Digits…..
epsilon - January 18, 2012
Well, $50M is for Soriano, Zambrano (by proxy) and Dempster....
ClarkFan - January 18, 2012
point stands.
epsilon - January 18, 2012
Alfonseca
probably had the best talent/digit ratio.
sanshokubento - January 18, 2012
actually I did the math wrong. his was lower than average
sanshokubento - January 18, 2012
Jim Abbott
had the best
sanshokubento - January 18, 2012
Nice
Bobudabi - January 18, 2012
Volstad's "number" should really be
$15.5M (Z’s $18M – the $2.5M the fish are paying) + $2.655M (Volstad’s actual deal) = $18.155M.
blackhawk24 - January 18, 2012
The 2.5 was a guestimate of what Volstad would make in arb... Marlins are paying 100% of Volstad's salary, not precisely 2.5m
bdlugz - January 18, 2012
By the way, is anyone taking bets on whether Lincecum will get $21 mil?
willie mays hayes' gloves - January 18, 2012
Hmmm...
With Garza, Cubs offer about 8mil, he wants 10mil+. Al thinks they’ll “probably settle in the middle”. Is that pre-arb? Because I thought in Arb it is one figure or the other…no “middle-ground”…
jeffstorm2 - January 18, 2012
If it goes to a hearing, an arbiter decides one number or the other.
Cubs can negotiate with Garza any time until the trial starts and any figure is fair game.
bdlugz - January 18, 2012
Under Jim Hendry
… the Cubs had just one arb hearing in nine years, two years ago with Ryan Theriot, which the Cubs won.
The last Cubs arb hearing before that was in 1993, with Mark Grace.
I don’t know what Theo or Jed’s record in arb hearings is, but I’d assume they’d prefer to settle. They’ve got a couple of weeks, at least.
Al Yellon - January 18, 2012
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