Did McPhail just say...

[Chevytrckman3]

they exceeded the payroll budget by $20 million? Wow, so that means the budget was planned on being about $70 million. Seems kind of low, but kudos to Angelos for allowing the budget to be flexible.

[Goober Noodles]

Ownership was willing to move the payroll up $20 million to make it happen.

"We blew through one payroll number. Then we blew through the next one, too," said MacPhail

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/06/AR2011030603122.html

Yep.

[mrpennybags]

I guess the team better be good then, or we might go back to a poors man's budget quickly.

[thundercleetz]

Everyone keeps making a big deal about this, but it is only for one year. We did not sign anyone to a long-term deal. Next year the payroll could just as easily go back down to where it was. IMO, this might be a double edged sword. If the team does bad this year PA could say to the fans, "I spent $20 million more and it didn't do anything. Why spend more again?"

[wildcard]

Its somewhere between 84M and 95M depending on how deferred salary and incentives are counted.

1) 10.6 Nick
2) 10 BRob
3) 8 Vlad
4) 7.25 Lee (2.75 in incentives)
5) 6.4 Scott
6) 6 Gonzo
7) 5.85 Hardy
8) 5.75 Guthrie
9) 5.333 Reynolds
10) 5 Gregg
11) 3.25 Jones
12) 3 Koji (2 in incentives)
13) 1.75 Harris (starts the year in the minors but still gets ML salary)
14) 1.5 Izzy
15) 1.1 Duke (3.4 in incentives)
16) 1.08 Accardo
17) .985 Pie
18) .975 Johnson
19) .550 Matusz
20) .465 Wieters
21) .440 Bergy
22) .420 Arrieta
23) .420 Berken
24) .414 Tatum
25) .414 Fox
26) .414 VandenHurk

SubTotal 87.36
- .500 from Twins
Total 86.86

With incentives 95.01

3M of Vlad's salary is deferred the payroll could drop to:

83.86M
92.01M with incentives.

[Moose Milligan]

Everyone keeps making a big deal about this, but it is only for one year. We did not sign anyone to a long-term deal. Next year the payroll could just as easily go back down to where it was. IMO, this might be a double edged sword. If the team does bad this year PA could say to the fans, "I spent $20 million more and it didn't do anything. Why spend more again?"

Good call on all points. Yet Angelos should realize a difference between guys who aren't LT solutions and guys who are and the impact on payroll.

[wildcard]

Everyone keeps making a big deal about this, but it is only for one year. We did not sign anyone to a long-term deal. Next year the payroll could just as easily go back down to where it was. IMO, this might be a double edged sword. If the team does bad this year PA could say to the fans, "I spent $20 million more and it didn't do anything. Why spend more again?"

That's Buck's job. To make sure that the team progresses with the talent acquired for him. I don't think that Buck or AM expects the payroll to decrease next year. They might not keep the same players but they will probably get talent that will be paid as much or more next year.

[Lateralus]

Not to be a negative nancy, but if the original payroll budget was supposed to be at $70 Mil, that's pathetic.

Though hopefully that low of a payroll budget is another indicator that Angelos is really getting ready to sell soon.

[scOtt]

I think he just meant from last year's budget to this year's... :noidea:

[flashjordnk]

Not to be a negative nancy, but if the original payroll budget was supposed to be at $70 Mil, that's pathetic.

Though hopefully that low of a payroll budget is another indicator that Angelos is really getting ready to sell soon.

Meh...taking away 8 from Vlad seems to take it down pretty starkly. The difference really seems to be Lee + Vlad. I think that's a worthwhile gamble, and we all know Angelos can get on board for bringing in veteran guys. We saw that through the late 90's crash and the early 2000's. He's willing to spend to bring in veteran guys that he thinks can be good.

Also...don't worry no one will accuse you of being negative :)

[crowmst3k!]

Hard to have a high payroll if the ticket revenue isnt there. You can say "masn money" until you are blue in the face, but ticket revenue isa significant part of it, and Camden Yards is often deserted.

[scOtt]

Hard to have a high payroll if the ticket revenue isnt there. You can say "masn money" until you are blue in the face, but ticket revenue isa significant part of it, and Camden Yards is often deserted.
It's definitely the chicken and the egg... but I think you have to make the payroll bump first. Spend (even at a temporary loss) to get the players to win, to get the fans interested, to raise revenue, to get the money to raise payroll, to get players, to win etc.

[NewMarketSean]

This is like saying your parents are cool because they let you stay out until 10 when you should have been home at 8.

Yeah that's great that I was able to stay out until 10 -- but why was the original curfew so early?

Whatever, I am happy about it.

[wildcard]

No one has said that the budget was 70M. Just that last years was around 70 after they traded Miggy, and Ohman. I believe it was closer to 71 or 72 but that is close enough for baseball estimates.


We started to hear that the O's were at their budget limit before the Duke and Vlad signings. They were at some around 78M without incentive. Duke signing is 1.1M if he make the team and Vlad is 5M before deferred money. So that added about 6.1M. putting it around 84M without incentive

However if you add Duke incentive of 3.4M, 2.75 for Lee and 2M for Koji plus the 3M deferred for Vlad and the O's are around 95M.

[scOtt]

This is like saying your parents are cool because they let you stay out until 10 when you should have been home at 8.

Yeah that's great that I was able to stay out until 10 -- but why was the original curfew so early?

Whatever, I am happy about it.

I'll say this. We've had "plans" for years. Maybe not good or sound plans, but plans. None ever seemed close enough to fruition to spend the extra money and make the push. So you operate the team on a plus budget til things look better. This year things are falling into place.

[TonySoprano]

Everyone keeps making a big deal about this, but it is only for one year. We did not sign anyone to a long-term deal. Next year the payroll could just as easily go back down to where it was. IMO, this might be a double edged sword. If the team does bad this year PA could say to the fans, "I spent $20 million more and it didn't do anything. Why spend more again?"Good point. IMO, he did it before.