DP sent over an article about how the Sox payroll is looking going into the 2011 season. The article is from MLBTradeRumors.com:
- Designated hitter David Ortiz has a $12.5MM club option. This will be declined.
- Third baseman Adrian Beltre has a $5MM player option that increases to $10MM with 640 plate appearances. It'll be tough to reach that plate appearance benchmark, and if the option remains at $5MM it'll be an easier choice for Beltre to decline. He gets a $1MM buyout for reaching 575 PAs.
- Bill Hall has a $9.25MM club option with a $500K buyout. Doug Melvin signed Hall to this extension in February of '07. Here in 2010, Theo Epstein won't be considering the option.
- Reliever Scott Atchison has a $440K club option with a $10K buyout. He's currently with Pawtucket.
- The Sox have four additional free agents: Mike Lowell, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek, and Scott Schoeneweis. They earn a total of $23.2MM this year. Around $46MM will come off the books if everyone leaves. There are also a few decreases to consider - $2MM for Tim Wakefield if he fails to reach 130 innings, and $6.25MM for John Lackey assuming his signing bonus was paid up front. 2010 obligations to former players total $10.5MM (Julio Lugo, Billy Wagner, and Alex Gonzalez). If everyone leaves, and we add in the decreases and money to former players, the Red Sox free up around $64.75MM. I assume things look different for luxury tax purposes, but we're keeping it simple.
- The Red Sox have five players under contract getting raises: Kevin Youkilis, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, Dustin Pedroia, and Josh Beckett. Those raises total $10.525MM. Boston also has Jacoby Ellsbury going to arbitration for the first time, Hideki Okajima, Ramon Ramirez, Manny Delcarmen, and Boof Bonser in the second-time group, and Jonathan Papelbon and Jeremy Hermida as third-timers. We'll assume this results in $10MM worth of raises.
If all of that is true it would leave the Sox about $40MM without expanding their payroll. I would hope that they are going to try to bring V-Mart back, so that will tie up some of the money, but also there are a lot of rumors that this could be Papelbon's last year. I think that will be decided on how Bard preforms throughout this season.
Looking at all that money the Sox will have to play with you have to wonder if they will make a run at a guy like Carl Crawford. Everyone has made it a forgone conclusion that Crawford will be in pinstripes next year, but with all this money you would have to think the Sox will make a run at him (they also could use a good defensive catcher). Anyways, the season is young, but with the way this team is shaping up and all the money that will be lying around it could be a very busy offseason for your Boston Red Sox.
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