Where Does Minnesota Twins Payroll Actually Stand Right Now?

[dxpavelka]

Been saying for weeks that there will be a late winter surprise.  Think about three years ago when an unsigned Scott Boras client signed a middle of the night contract with the Twins.  Could happen again.  Out of nowhere. 

[Fatbat]

9 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

I think this is an accurate accounting of the opening day payroll.  ($134.7M)

Starters	SALARY
Pablo Lopez	21,750,000
Joe Ryan	3,000,000
Bailey Ober	3,550,000
SWR	800,000
Chris Paddack	7,500,000
Relief Pitchers
Jhoan Duran	4,125,000
Griffin Jax	2,365,000
Cole Sands	800,000
Jorge Alcala	1,500,000
Brock Stewart	870,000
Justin Topa	1,225,000
Michael Tonkin	1,000,000
Eiberson Castellano	800,000
Catchers
Ryan Jeffers	4,550,000
Christian Vazquez	10,000,000
Infielders
Jose Miranda	800,000
Royce Lewis	1,625,000
Brooks Lee	800,000
Carlos Correa	37,333,000
Utility Players
Willi Castro   (SS/2B/OF)	6,400,000
Austin Martin  (2B/LF/CF)	800,000
?	800,000
?	800,000
Outfielders
Trevor Larnach	2,100,000
Byron Buxton	15,142,857
Matt Wallner	800,000
Randy Dobnak	3,000,000
Kyle Farmer	250,000
Jay Jackson	200,000
TOTAL PAYROLL	134,685,857

Fill in the 2 blanks with Julien and Erod/Kiersey

[Need4speed99]

Sorry, I have a hard time feeling  ANYTHING for billionaires when the fans paid for 70%+ for the stadium they make money on. Either sell it off and refund the taxpayers or don't get into a business where you need to pay to play. 

[karcherd]

8 hours ago, Need4speed99 said:

Sorry, I have a hard time feeling  ANYTHING for billionaires when the fans paid for 70%+ for the stadium they make money on. Either sell it off and refund the taxpayers or don't get into a business where you need to pay to play. 

Taxpayers have gotten value from both Target Field and Target Center.  There was no Warehouse District before Target Center was built.  That area of town was a dump, now it is thriving.  Whether all dollars needed to build the facilities has been recouped can be debated but they have brought value to the city and county.

[Major League Ready]

8 hours ago, Need4speed99 said:

Sorry, I have a hard time feeling  ANYTHING for billionaires when the fans paid for 70%+ for the stadium they make money on. Either sell it off and refund the taxpayers or don't get into a business where you need to pay to play. 

I agree to a point but there are other considerations as Karcherd points out.  We also should ask if business owners take money out of their pockets to cover the cost?  Of course not.  That’s not how businesses operate.  They either cut other expense or go out of business.  A $1.5B stadium funded by a low interest (4%) instrument would cost around $86M/year.  Where do you suppose the teams would cut that expense?  It would primarily be through reducing player salaries. 

What if they just shell out the $1.5B.  Do you suppose they would require a return on that extra billion dollars?  The average rate of return on capital is roughly 10%.  You could make an argument that half of the teams in the league would not exist because the ROI would be so low that nobody would want to buy a team outside the major markets.  The most likely scenario is that they would build much more modest stadiums and maintain a very low payroll.

[Original_JB]

Don't forget, Twins still haven't haven't monetized their jersey advertising option yet. (why is that, exactly?) I've seen overall league estimates as $400-500M a year. So, even if we only got $10M, that would cover a LOOGY at the very least.