Because of some emails that were very convincing, I went ahead and completed the 2006 salary list so everyone can talk about it this weekend. When reviewing this list, please keep a couple things in mind:
- This is by no means an accurate depiction of the M's financial situation. The front office is very tight lipped about contracts and I have compiled this data cross checking a variety of different sources (thank you Google).
- Players that are bold and in italics are players who are under club control or eligible for arbitration. These salaries are approximations. For example, I don't know for sure how much Wee Willie Boom Boom is going to get from the club or an arbitrator (but I do know that it is going to be too much) and I don't know how much Soriano is going to fetch (due to the two years lost to injury). The other two year guys should fall somewhere in between $340-$360,000 so I figured $350,000 was a safe assumption. I did some research on what similar players to Mateo and Torrealba (etc.) received in their respective arbitration years and again guessed. (I'll update as we learn more).
- While I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night, I'm not going to guess at how much free agents are going to cost.
- Some of the salaries include performance bonuses (that I could find) and have been adjusted to include them. I also listed Guardado's salary as if the team picked up his option (plus his closer's bonus). If the team decline's his option and he accepts his option, subtract $2.5 million off the bottom line. If he declines his player bonus, well, you can subtract $8 million.
As I indicated above, this is a preliminary assessment of the possible 2006 salary figures. A lot can change over the next three weeks, let alone the next three months.
The team hasn't indicated what they are going to do with Eddie and there is a chance he won't be back in 2006...Jamie may or may not be back. He may comeback for one final tour of duty in Seattle, or he may take a one year contract elsewhere and try to earn a ring...Atchinson, Nageotte, Foppert, Harris (etc.) could all earn a spot on the roster following a trade or with a good spring...The club may credit the buyouts of Wiki, Reese, Hasegawa and Spiezio (plus his contract for '06) to the '05 budget, similar to what they did this past year...Mateo, Morse, Putz, Ojeda are all candidates to be dealt this offseason...They are going to try to unload Pineiro's contract, but will probably be unsuccessful...Meche is unlikely to return, although might be brought back in a different role.
I'll update this once new information becomes available.