mitcho8’s 2023 Payroll Blueprint

[mitcho8]

So this one is inspired by the latest GATG episode. It's a bit over budget, but I think it's sellable to ownership as the time to splurge. If cuts are absolutely needed, there are some opportunities. I could swap out a different C (Barnhardt?), IF (Adrianza?) and OF (Celestino?) and reduce payroll by $3-5mil at each spot. Also, if the team rolled into spring training and all the SP looked healthy and effective, Mahle or Maeda could be traded to clear a spot and salary. Finally, I'm trading away Kepler and trading/non-tendering Urshela and Pagan. Urshela is tough for me. I think he should be worth $9mil to someone, but it's not this team, and probably no team, unfortunately.

Note: I based FA salary and Arb $ off Fangraphs and MLB Trade Rumors projections, and for the lesser FA I just kind of guessed.

• C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M)
• 1B: Luis Arraez ($5.0M)
• 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M)
• 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.7M)
• SS: Carlos Correa ($32M)
• LF: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M)
• CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M)
• RF: Wil Myers ($6.0M)
• DH: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M)
• 4th OF: Kyle Garlick ($0.8M)
• Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M)
• Utility: Adelmys Diaz ($6.0M)
• Backup C: Omar Narvaez ($7.0M)
• SP1: Sonny Gray ($12.00M)
• SP2: Tyler Mahle ($7.2M)
• SP3: Carlos Rodon ($28.0M)
• SP4: Joe Ryan ($0.70M)
• SP5: Bailey Ober ($0.70M)
• RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.70M)
• RP: Jorge Lopez ($3.7M)
• RP: Griffin Jax ($0.70M)
• RP: Jorge Alcala ($0.8M)
• RP: Caleb Thielbar ($2.4M)
• RP: Jovani Moran ($0.7M)
• RP: Trevor Megill ($0.7M)
• RP: Kenta Maeda ($5.0M)

Payroll is 4.18% over budget