MLB Payroll 101

Adam Rubin of Surfing the Mets, points out the MLB salary cap stands at $162 million this season, with virtually zero chance of the Mets exceeding the luxury-tax threshold. The total Mets payroll should be in the neighborhood of $143M, if his calculations are correct, and I see nothing that looks too far out of line. On second thought, Ollie at $14M is a bit excessive. I’m thinking, hoping and praying Ollie averages out to $11M per season. For arguments sake, let’s just knock down the Amazins payroll to say, $140M on the books for 2009. That's a lot of Benjamins!!!

Let me think about this for a second…that leaves roughly $22M in cap room. Is there a free agent out on the market just waiting to be plucked from the ranks of unemployment in that $20M-$22M range the Met Nation has been clamoring for; perhaps a guy that goes by the name Manny?

Here’s Adam’s logic? The Mets had four major contracts, totaling $31 million, coming off the books: from Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez and Perez. But, right away, raises for Johan Santana, David Wright and Jose Reyes ate away $5 million of that sum.

Add in the contracts for Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz totaling $14 million in 2009, and you're roughly left with $12 million to sign Perez and be at last year's payroll.

Of course, it's not quite that simple. Aaron Heilman and Endy Chavez's contracts are off, while John Maine gets a $2 million raise and Tim Redding is on board with a major-league deal. Scott Schoeneweis will make $3.6 million as a Diamondback, but the Mets are paying a portion, which isn't reflected below. Then there's a variable like Freddy Garcia, who can earn anywhere from zero to $8 million. Mike Pelfrey's salary isn't simple to figure out, either, since his original signing bonus is contingent upon how much major-league duty he logs.

Regardless, the payroll computation for luxury-tax purposes is different than actual '09 expenditures. For luxury-tax purposes, the average value of a contract is used. So if a player has a two-year, $10 million deal, making $3 million and then $7 million, the club is still charged $5 million each year for the luxury-tax computation. Or, for instance, K-Rod makes $8.5 million this year. But because it's a three-year, $37 million deal, the luxury-tax number is the average value: $12.33 million

Head over to Surfing the Mets to see Adam’s estimate of 2009 Mets salaries in millions: