Dumpster Diving Mariners

This morning I read Geoff Baker’s blog regarding the Mariners 2011 payroll situation. Chuck Armstrong states the M’s will not reduce payroll, and Baker does a nice job listing the projected payroll of the roster this coming year. Here it is:

Ichiro 17,000,000
Milton Bradley 12,000,000
Chone Figgins 9,500,000
Felix Hernandez 10,700,000
Jack Wilson 5,000,000
David Aardsma 4,500,000 est
Franklin Gutierrez 4,312,500
Miguel Olivo 3,500,000
Jack Cust 2,500,000
Brandon League 2,500,000 est
Dustin Ackley 1,500,000
Jason Vargas 1,200,000 est
Erik Bedard 1,000,000
Brendan Ryan 1,000,000 est
Josh Wilson 700,000 est
Michael Saunders 435,000
Shawn Kelley 435,000 est
Doug Fister 435,000 est
Adam Moore 430,000 est
Justin Smoak 430,000 est
Garrett Olson 424,000 est
Matt Tuiasosopo 424,000 est
Dan Cortes 414,000 est
Cesar Jimenez 414,000 est
Josh Lueke 414,000 est
Michael Pineda 414,000 est

Carlos Silva money to Cubs — 4,500,000
Yuniesky Betancourt salary — 1,000,000

Baker points out the M’s only have about $5m left to spend to round out the roster.

I’m not going to pretend I know more about baseball than my cohorts on this blog. They may have a different view than I do, but when I look at the roster above, I am not excited at all. The Ms will be forced to find some bargains to bring in, which isn’t great news. I like some of the young guys, but seeing the salaries for so many overpaid bums really puts things in perspective. This roster is a mess, and it’s going to take a couple years to clean it up.

Let’s hope Jack Z knows how to dumpster dive.

-Joe-