SB Nation User Blog: bbxxj

25 Man Roster: A Quick Reference

bbxxj — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:00:54 -0000

Many times reading through the blogosphere I see fans ask about how the Braves payroll stands or how much such and such player makes. Because of this I decided I would post a current projected 25 man roster with all the salary info included and all the numbers crunched.

Lineup
5.5	McCann	C
0.4	Freeman	1B
0.4	Prado	2B
0.4	Escobar	SS
13	Chipper	3B
4.5	McLouth	LF
0.4	Schafer	CF
0.4	Heyward	RF
25	TOTAL
Bench
2.55	Diaz	OF/PH
2.225	Infante	UTL
1.6	Ross	BUC
0.4	Hernandez	INF
0.4	Clevlen	OF/PR
7.175	TOTAL
Rotation
11.5	Vazquez	SP
0.4	Jurrjens	SP
15	Lowe	SP
0.4	Hanson	SP
9	Hudson	SP
36.3	TOTAL
Pen
6.75	Wagner	CL
3.2	Saito	SU
6.67	Kawakami	MR
(2)	Moylan	MR
0.4	Medlen	MR
0.4	Chavez	MR
0.4	O'Flaherty	LY
19.82	TOTAL
88.295	Grand Total
6.705	Remaining (95-GT)

Please note that this is in no way final. I do not expect there is any chance Freeman will be our starting firstbasemen and I do not expect all 6 starters to be on the starting roster. This is merely a guess of how the 25 man would look like if today was opening day. Things will change from now until the end of spring training and if people like this post I will keep it updated as things change.

*PS: Do not discuss players not currently in the Braves organization. This is a post to discuss our current roster and track the status of our payroll.

Keeping the Gang Together

bbxxj — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:38:42 -0000

As we are all aware our Braves have been on a little tear lately and are now an amazing 44-26 in the post Frenchy era. Wren has rebuilt this team into one that can win every single night with a legit frontline starter on the mound every night. With all of the 'rosterbation' flying around and ideas of who we should bring in getting thrown around, I thought it might be interesting to see how it would be financially possible to keep this winning core together.

I realize this may be a fruitless exercise as Wren will likely let one or both of Soriano and Gonzo leave for some picks but I wanted to crunch some numbers and see what would be needed to keep the key players from this run around. After the jump there will be a table with the current '09 salary and players with a list of players with the exact same total salary for '10. This comes with a few assumptions which I will get to later.

09 Braves			Change	10 Braves
C	McCann	3.5	-2	5.5	McCann	C
1B	LaRoche	7.05	-1.28	8.33	LaRoche	1B
2B	Prado	0.4	0	0.4	Prado	2B
SS	Escobar	0.4	0	0.4	Escobar	SS
3B	Chipper	11	-2	13	Chipper	3B
LF	Anderson	2.5	-2	4.5	McLouth	LF
CF	McLouth	2	1.6	0.4	Schafer	CF
RF	Diaz	1.238	0.838	0.4	Heyward	RF
	TOTAL	28.088	-4.842	32.93	TOTAL
BN	Johnson	2.825	2.425	0.4	Conrad	BN
BN	Church	2.8	0.8	2	Diaz	BN
BN	Infante	1.85	-0.375	2.225	Infante	BN
BN	Ross	1.4	-0.2	1.6	Ross	BN
BN	Norton	0.8	0.4	0.4	Hernandez	BN
	TOTAL	9.675	3.05	6.625	TOTAL
SP	Vazquez	11.5	1.5	10	Vazquez	SP
SP	Jurrjens	0.4	0	0.4	Jurrjens	SP
SP	Lowe	15	0	15	Lowe	SP
SP	Hanson	0.4	0	0.4	Hanson	SP
SP	Hudson	13	3	10	Hudson	SP
	TOTAL	40.3	4.5	35.8	TOTAL
CL	Soriano	6.1	-0.9	7	Soriano	CL
SU	Gonzalez	3.45	-1.15	4.6	Gonzalez	SU
MR	Moylan	0.4	-1.6	2	Moylan	MR
MR	Kawakami	7.66	0.99	6.67	Kawakami	MR
MR	Medlen	0.4	0	0.4	Medlen	MR
LY	O'Flaherty	0.4	0	0.4	O'Flaherty	LY
LR	Carlyle	0.4	0	0.4	Carlyle	LR
	TOTAL	18.81	-2.66	21.47	TOTAL
		TOTAL CHANGE
			0.048

Assumptions:

1. Hudson and Vazquez as indicated by both sides will be signed to longer term deals for less yearly money. For this exercise I set them both at ~10M/2-3yrs. Vazquez could get a bit more and Hudson a bit less but it should be about 20M per for both. This saves ~4.5M over this year's salaries.

2. LaRoche will be signed to a 25M/3yr deal at ~8.33M per. John Heyman made some educated guesses on a few FA contracts and this was his for LaRoche and it seemed reasonable to me. Freeman is a fantastic prospect but isn't a freak like Heyward and could use a few years to develop. If in '12 we have two good 1B options we will deal with that 'problem' then.

3. Heyward and Schafer will be ready contribute next year. I think its safe to say Heyward will be in there at RF but if Schafer needs a month or two in AAA Diaz can handle left and Gorecki can handle the 4OF gig until Schafer is ready.

4. GA, Church and KJ will be not be offered contracts or arbi or will be traded. There are certainly valid arguments to bring back Church and KJ but in this scenario its hard to justify letting ~6M sit on the bench.

As you look at how the numbers fill out you can see that the salaries for Stare and Gonzo are raises but not by a ton. I had to keep the total numbers the same obviously but if you look at the closer market none of the big boys (NYY, BOS, NYM, CHC, LAA, LAD) are in the market for closers and there is a large crop of quality late inning arms in this FA class. Those salaries posted may not be so outrageously low. Also 2M for Diaz and Moylan in arbi may be low but its hard to know. If the FO is allowed to raise payroll by even 4-5M we could easily bring back the same/improved winning team from this year but if not it could be done but would be very tight as shown.

Forecast: Looks Good

bbxxj — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:31:57 -0000

In this thread I'd like to discuss what makes us the most excited about the Pirates future. For me I am really excited to see Morton get a full time shot at reaching his potential as a MLB frontline starter. I really, really think he is going to develop into/continue to be a very good starter.

As an aside I'd like to build on the thoughts of 'a random Mets fan' and give my view from a 'random Braves fan'. I grew up in central Indiana so obviously I didn't have a local team to root for but the Braves were on TV ALL THE TIME so I grew up saturated in loving the Braves. On the other hand my dad took me to regular baseball games so we would go see the Cubs, Reds, and Cards play each other and the rest of the NL Central. I know don't hate me but I like every team in the central but the Stros (don't know why)......

which brings me to my point: I really want the Pirates to succeed and I find myself watching/listening to more of their games since NH took over. As an informed baseball fan I really think NH is on the right path and I think there are more non-primary Pirate fans(like myself and 'mets fan') who think this way than it seems. We just aren't as vocal or local as your 'Yinzers'. I'm also really tired of all the national media bashing. Just this morning on my way to work, Erik Kuselias, whom I normally like, put Pit as his number #1 deadline loser and had a quote from a so-called 'baseball guy' saying "I don't know what they [Pirates] are doing anymore" Some top notch baseball source Erik... I was slightly relieved that Yahoo! had Pit as one of the deadline winners noting the Sanchez/Alderson trade.

We aren't all retarded Yinzers out there.

I know its very useless to post a three years from now lineup how could you not be excited about this potential?

1. McCutchen CF
2. Milledge LF
3. Tabata RF
4. Alverez 3B
5. Clement 1B
6. Sanchez C
7. Sano SS (I hope)
8. Young 2B ?

Duke
Morton
Alderson
Maholm
Lincoln

Chipper close to contract extension

bbxxj — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:21:12 -0000

Chipper close to contract extension

Oh sweet baseball gods let this be true. Chipper needs to stay a Brave until he hangs it up.

Sources: Braves, Glavine set to meet

bbxxj — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:50:22 -0000

Sources: Braves, Glavine set to meet

Looks like we may get some resolution on this matter pretty soon. I for one am in the 'bring him on back' camp.