Phillies 2012 Opening Day Payroll
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Phillies 2012 Opening Day Payroll
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The Phillies will once again enter a season on the verge of the luxury tax threshold. In fact, they are so close that we probably will not know until the end of the year whether they have eclipsed it. Right now, the Phillies have a projected official payroll of around $170.63 million. But only $166.57 million of that is in the form of guaranteed contracts. Right now, the Phillies are essentially paying two second baseman, since Chase Utley doesn't stop getting paid because he is injured. But if Utley returns and Freddy Galvis heads back to the minors, the Phillies will only be charged for the big league salary that Galvis acrued during his time in the majors (conversely, Juan Pierre's contract is now guaranteed, meaning they will be charged $800,000 regardless of what happens from here on out).
The luxury tax threshold is $178 million, but keep in mind that each team is charged about $10 million for player benefits. So the Phillies are actually sitting at about $180.63 million right now. Again, that number could change. And as we've written many times here, the luxury tax is not a huge deterrent for first-time offenders. In a perfect world, the Phillies would like to stay under. But I don't think they would let the luxury tax prevent them from pursuing a player they covet.
Anyway, here is the breakdown, according to my figures. The first dollar figure is the player's 2012 salary, the second is the average annual value of the player's contract, which is the "official" number that the Phillies will be charged with against the luxury tax. If you want to know what a player will report to the IRS this year, look at the first number. If you want to know what the team will report to the league this year, look at the second number.
Rotation (5)
1. RHP Roy Halladay - $20.0/$20.0
2. LHP Cliff Lee - $21.4/$24.0
3. LHP Cole Hamels - $15.0/$15.0
4. RHP Joe Blanton - $8.5/$8.0
5. RHP Vance Worley - .50/.50
Regulars (8)
1. SS Jimmy Rollins - $11.0/$9.5
2. 3B Placido Polanco - $6.25/$6.0
3. *2B Chase Utley - $15.0/$12.14
4. *1B Ryan Howard - $20.0/$25.0
5. RF Hunter Pence - $10.4/$10.4
6. CF Shane Victorino - $9.5/$7.33
7. LF Laynce Nix - $1.150/$1.25
8. C Carlos Ruiz - $3.7/$2.95
Bullpen (7)
1. RHP Jonathan Papelbon - $11.0/$12.5
2. *RHP Jose Contreras - $2.5/$2.75
3. RHP Chad Qualls - $1.15/$1.15
4. LHP Antonio Bastardo - $.50/$.50
5. RHP David Herndon - $.50/$.50
6. LHP Joe Savery - $.48/$.48
7. RHP Mike Stutes - $.50/$.50
8. RHP Kyle Kendrick - $3.59/$3.75
Bench (7)
1. LHB/1B Jim Thome - $1.25
2. LHB/C Brian Schneider - $.8/$.8
3. RHB/1B/3B Ty Wigginton - $2.0/$2.0
4. LHB/UTIL Pete Orr - $.60/$.60
5. LHB/OF Juan Pierre - $.80/$.80
6. SHB/INF Freddy Galvis - $.48/$.48
7. RHB/OF/1B John Mayberry Jr. $.50/$.50
28 players, 25 active, 3 disabled list
$170.63 million official number, $166.57 million guaranteed
Rollins, Utley and Howard are 20% of the payroll. Howard and Rollins could have been prevented. They also overpaid for Lee but his number is within reason and at least he is playing at a high level.— AvoidSundanceVacations- The GM overpays like he is using Monopoly money. They will lose Hamels because of his spending.— wmontanez27
- is it me or after roy, cliff and cole, its a poor roster? granted papelbon is solid but hes a closer and even bad teams have good closers. high payroll, limited talent. wow..how far we have fallen since 2008. its been all downhill since gillick left.— tonybps1
- "is it me or after roy, cliff and cole, its a poor roster?"
---
They still have top players in CF, RF, SS, and Catcher.
Polanco has been very solid, with his defense making up for a below-average bat, and has the 9th most innings at 3rd the last two years.
— schmenkman 
A few years ago everyone complained that the Phils weren't spending money. Now that they do, people complain that they're spending too much. We should just let Seabiscuit be the GM, as he has all the answers.— verve- All that money with guaranteed amounts, Unbelievable for a team that could falter again.— eaglesman1
- 08 (with gillick) - win world series
09 (with amaro) - lose world series
10 (with amaro) - lose nlcs
11 (with amaro) - lose nlds
all this money and farm talent gone for quicker exits from the playoffs.— tonybps1 - A few points: (1) The Phillies have increased their win total 5 years running, and have had the most wins in MLB the last two seasons -- for the first two times in their history. SOME things are being done right, don't you think? (2) The Phils have lost to the World Champion three years running. In 2009 to, I believe, a better Yankees team. In 2010, narrowly, to a very hot Giants team that then dominated in the World Series. In 2011, by the smallest of margins, to a red-hot Cardinals team. So these are not abysmal post-season performances. They JUST missed. (3) Most of the key players added by Amaro, costing all that money and farm talent -- Halladay, Lee, Pence, and Oswalt to an extent -- have made huge contributions towards winning. But the farm talent hasn't been leading any major league teams to the post-season in recent years. Drabek, Taylor, Gose, etc. So if the Phillies didn't give them up, they would have most likely not even MADE the playoffs the last 3 years. Yes, with more hope for the future right now, but no guarantees of anything. Is that what you would have preferred from 2009, 2010 & 2011? (4) Finally, I'm not sold on Amaro as a great GM. Howard's contract was not wise. But Amaro couldn't have foreseen Utley's premature decline. And the simple truth, nearly 100% of the time in baseball history, is that great teams simply decline with age, then have to rebuild. It's beyond the control of almost any GM, unless he was left with a superlative farm system and/or bottomless pockets (which has fueled the Yankees' run, clearly a unique case). Amaro has, in fact, extended the window in which the Phillies are World Series contenders from 2008 through to 2012 -- a window which basically never, ever existed in the franchise's history. There's plenty to criticize about Amaro's choices, but the perspective that he himself has caused only regression so thoroughly misses the big picture that it's tantamount to dishonesty. — PhilaLogic
- tonybps, playoffs = crapshoot.
If there is one way to improve your chances, it's by having a strong starting rotation. Regardless of what happened last year, the Phillies are built to win in the postseason.
Amaro has a lot of faults, but failing to build a team that can win now is by no stretch of the imagination one of them.— schmenkman - To "PhilaLogic"....BRAVO my fine friend! Some talented reasoning behind all of your comments. It is a real PLEASURE to read someone's post without wanting to grab them by the ear! The younger fans seem to think it is their birthright to have a GOOD Major League team performing for them EVERY season. I have a feeling that you are a more mature sort, and that you have been witness to some of the seasons that would best be forgotten. Except that some of those seasons were so bad that on occasion you would wake up screaming.— TBear
- PhilaLogic!! Logical and right on point. How nice.— Smoothellc
Comment removed.- Just curious how other teams allocate funds in their payroll. About 85% of the $$ is going to regulars (46%) and starters (39%), 12% to the pen, the couch change to the bench. Looked at another way, 8 guys over $10 mil per, collectively 73% of the payroll. Of that, we don't know when/if 28% of that (45% of regulars bucks) will get on the field this year. Yes, the fan support is great and the past 5 years have been better than all but about 5 of the previous 50, but I have to wonder if both the support and payroll are sustainable if they "just miss" another couple of times. Not complaining, just observing. Sure as hell beats the tightwad approach of 10 years ago.— ijj
- Tye Wittington makes to much for a bench player.— Andrew Grier
- isnt Blanton off the books after this year?
— pr0f3ss0r
