Phillies Payroll in 2010

Below is the Phillies payroll for this upcoming season. Crazy what having a good team does to your situation financially.

C - Carlos Ruiz - $475K

C - Brian Schneider - $1.25MM

1B - Ryan Howard - $19MM

2B - Chase Utley - $15MM

SS - Jimmy Rollins - $7.5MM

3B - ? ($5-10MM)

IF - Juan Castro - $800K (estimated)

LF - Raul Ibanez - $11.5MM

CF - Shane Victorino - $3.125MM

RF - Jayson Werth - $7MM

OF - Ben Francisco - $421K

OF - John Mayberry Jr. - $400K

1B/3B/OF - Greg Dobbs - $1.35MM

SP - Cliff Lee - $9MM

SP - Cole Hamels - $6.65MM

SP - Joe Blanton - $5.475MM

SP - J.A. Happ - $405K

SP - Jamie Moyer - $8MM
RP - Brad Lidge - $11.5MM

RP - J.C. Romero - $4MM

RP - Ryan Madson - $4.5MM

RP - Chad Durbin - $1.635MM

RP - Clay Condrey - $650K

RP - Sergio Escalona - $400K

RP - Kyle Kendrick - $475K

Adam Eaton - $500K, Pedro Feliz - $500K, Geoff Jenkins - $1.25MM

(Stats from http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/)

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With $ being spent on players like Ruiz and Victorino in the off-season the total will rise somewhere near $125-130MM as a team. This allows the Phils plenty of space to sign a big player at 3rd base (Beltre, Polanco) and some bullpen heat (Betancourt, Putz, Gonzalez).

I really like the Brian Schneider deal - he's been a little banged up in the past year, but there are two things I see as the catalyst to a good year for him. 1) He'll now be a backup that will play sparingly, which will keep his back/knees nice and healthy. 2) He's from the Philly area and took a pay cut and backup role to play for his dream-team - that says a lot for the heart he will put in for this team.

Besides this, it is fair to say that this team's line-up is only going to be better than the last season - which is scary! Pitching is the main concern in my book, especially that we're losing Eyre and Park, but with the way Ruben Amaro Jr. has handled signings so far I am not too worried about picking up some quality guys.

Random team info: The Phillies each received over $265K for winning the NL this past season. In total, the team was awarded over $14MM to divide amongst players on a pro-rated basis.