Overbay, Downs Avoid Arbitration

Monday, January 16 2006 @ 05:40 PM EST

Contributed by: Pistol

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?

44 comments



https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060116170616434