An Updated Look At Twins Payroll

Here are the official 2016 salary numbers for the four players that reached agreement (in parentheses, their 2015 salaries):

Tommy Milone: $4.5M ($2.775M)

Casey Fien: $2.275M ($1.375M)

Eduardo Escobar: $2.15M ($533K)

Eduardo Nunez: $1.475M ($1.025M)

(Big ups to Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press for being first to report most of these figures on his must-follow Twitter account.)

Trevor Plouffe and Kevin Jepsen did not finalize deals with the team, which isn't surprising since they will be the two highest paid players of the bunch. As the arbitration process goes, both players submitted numbers, as did the team. In almost all cases where the difference is relatively modest, the two sides settle right around the halfway point.

How that would look here, with a little rounding for simplicity's sake:

Plouffe Proposal: $7.95M

Twins Proposal: $7M

Midpoint: $7.5M

Jepsen Proposal: $5.4M

Twins Proposal: $5.05M

Midpoint: $5.2M

With these specifics in hand, we now have a clearer picture of the team's projected payroll for the 2016 season. Here's how it shakes out (note: pre-arb numbers all rounded down to $500K, though most will likely be closer to $550K):

Joe Mauer: $23M

Ervin Santana: $13.5M

Ricky Nolasco: $12M

Phil Hughes: $9.2M

Trevor Plouffe: $7.5M

Glen Perkins: $6.3M

Kurt Suzuki: $6M

Kevin Jepsen: $5.2M

Tommy Milone: $4.5M

Brian Dozier: $3M

Byung Ho Park: $2.75M

Casey Fien: $2.275M

Eduardo Escobar: $2.15M

Eduardo Nunez: $1.475M

Fernando Abad: $1.25M

Ryan Sweeney: $750K

Eddie Rosario: $500K

Oswaldo Arcia: $500K

Miguel Sano: $500K

Danny Santana: $500K

John Ryan Murphy: $500K

Kyle Gibson: $500K

Trevor May: $500K

Ryan Pressly: $500K

Michael Tonkin: $500K

TOTAL: $105.35M

A couple notes: Fernando Abad and Ryan Sweeney are on minor-league deals but will get $1.25 million (per Darren Wolfson) and $750,000 (also per DW) if they make the Opening Day roster, which for now we'll assume they will. Several of the names toward the bottom of the list are obviously not locks to make the team, but barring further moves, they would be swapped out for other minimum-salary players.

That total of $105.35 million is a small drop-off from last year's Opening Day payroll of $108.26 million. However, if you factor in the entirety of Park's $12.85 million posting fee, which seems reasonable enough, the new figure rises to $118.2 million.