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
Too many *. 37.5 million in rehab assignments.— PhillySportsFix.com- I think RAJ has done a nice job of balancing the lineup and salaries-next year will be the tough one with Shane, Hunter and Cole coming up for big pay raises. Probably can only keep two--performance this y;ear will determine which two......— IdahoMoose
- Looks like they have already decided on Shane's replacement. Just go to Reading and see if it's going to be Jiwan James or Tyson Gillies. One of them will cost them only $480,000 when they get the call to the Show.— Dull
- Imagine if we could cut bait with the two stiffs on this roster - Howard and Blanton's contracts would save $33M. We could shore up Hamels & Pence and have enough left over for a 1st baseman who could hit a breaking ball a throw to 2nd base.— Ticketpete
- After Papelbon, that is one cheap bullpen! We're going to need to see a few of those young guys step up into prominent roles this season, but to have 4 guys making less than a million shows the benefit of building a home grown bullpen.
- After Papelbon, that is one cheap bullpen! We're going to need to see a few of those young guys step up into prominent roles this season, but to have 4 guys making less than a million shows the benefit of building a home grown bullpen.
- Stutes is well???? And Herndon made it while some of the kids did not? Why not Aumont? Great to see Joe S. make the team . Too bad they gave a two yr. to Nix. As of now, he is not worth any of it.— Koons
- Herndon is 26 (same age as Savery), and had a good year last year. He's fine.— schmenkman
- Herndon is the mop up guy and he does his job pretty well in that role. His 3.2 ERA last year says so (1.9 something in the second half). Nix and Wiggy are cheap trade bait and teams will be willing to take those salaries on if need be. Hopefully yes, because my expectations for them are so low, that if they wind up being terrible then I might be content.— ESFjellin
- Surprised there was no talk of moving Kendrick. Salary is not bad as a #5 but just kills us as it is a huge overpay for a swing man.— Blue and White
- 3 elite starters, 3 to 5 decent players (Pence, Victorino, Papelbon, Rollins, Ruiz), and then about 13 over-the-hill, not-ready-for-prime time or useless garbage: Nix, Wigginton, Thome, Herndon, Qualls, Savery, Stutes, Bastardo, Orr, Schneider, Galvis, Mayberry, Pierre --amazing how a clueless rube can waste $170 mil. on 3 starters and then such a pathetic roster— warbiscuit
- An honest question with no malice. What is the reasoning for posting the same thing over and over hundreds of times. You made your position known. Some agree, some disagree. You have the right to post anything but what is the point? At most there is 50 regulars on here and maybe 100 part timers so I doubt because of your due diligence on the topic many if any have missed seeing it many times. I don't understand so maybe you could explain your thinking on this. Thanks.
— DUDESKINS - An honest question with no malice. What is the reasoning for posting the same thing over and over hundreds of times. You made your position known. Some agree, some disagree. You have the right to post anything but what is the point? At most there is 50 regulars on here and maybe 100 part timers so I doubt because of your due diligence on the topic many if any have missed seeing it many times. I don't understand so maybe you could explain your thinking on this. Thanks. — DUDESKINS
- Herndon is biggest piece of wasted roster spot in majors -- his era last yr is meaningless stats as he typically came into games with men on base (ask Chollie why) and let all the inherited runners score to put game out of reach ... he has zero value whatsoever past, present or future— warbiscuit
- This simply is not supported by the facts or any reasoned analysis. Behind Madson, Stutes and Bastardo, Herndon was overall best of the rest. — DUDESKINS
- 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
