The Blue Jays agreed to terms with Lyle Overbay and Scott Downs for one year contracts, avoiding arbitration.
Overbay's salary for 2006 will be $2.525 million and Down's salary will be $705,000.
This leaves the Jays with three arbitration eligible players - Lilly, Walker and Hillenbrand. The deadline to exchange arbitration figures is tomorrow so it's possible that the remaining players will agree to terms by then.
Here's where the Jays payroll currently stands.
PLAYER Rotation Halladay 12.750 Burnett 1.000 Lilly 5.000 * Towers 2.300 Chacin 0.375 Bullpen BJ Ryan 2.000 Chulk 0.400 Frasor 0.400 Downs 0.705 Walker 1.000 * Schoeneweis 2.750 Speier 2.250 Catchers Quiroz 0.327 Zaun 1.000 Infield Glaus 9.000 Hillenbrand 5.500 * Hill 0.375 Overbay 2.525 Adams 0.375 Hinske 4.300 MacDonald 0.500 Outfield Wells 4.300 Rios 0.375 Cat 2.700 Johnson 1.425 Other Burnett Bonus 1.200 Ryan Bonus 1.200 Koskie Bonus 1.000 Koskie Salary 3.250 Total 70.282 ML Contracts 25* Arbitration eligible - salary is an estimate.
The announced budget from the team has been $75 million for this season so there's approximately $5 million remaining.
Personally, I would sit on that remaining $5 million right now. Any player that the Jays were to acquire - like a Molina or Craig Wilson - wouldn't necessarily make them that much stronger of a team. And I think the Jays need to see how Rios looks in RF for at least half a season. The positional prospects in the organization are thin right now and Rios' low salary over the next few years will come in handy if he can play well.
The other benefit to sitting on the remaining money in the budget is that it becomes more powerful as the season goes on. As each month of the season goes on a player's future commitment is 1/6th less.
Hypothetically, say a Bobby Abreu type player is in the last year of his contract and makes $15 million. When the trading deadline comes around at the end of July two-thirds of his salary will already be paid so there will just be one-third of his salary left - or $5 million. While you would only get this player for the remaining two months of the season (as opposed to a $5 million player for the entire season) I think there'd be a greater impact. Additionally, the player pool at the end of July will be greater than it is now as teams fall out of contention. Right now all 30 teams are tied for first place, have some hope of success and aren't looking to shed salaries. Waiting also allows the team to identify their needs during the season, whether those needs arise by poor performance or injuries.
You can always spend money on players - why not wait until the best opportunity arises instead of settling for a limited pool of players?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060116170616434