Feb 05
Two years ago on Rays Index we learned that Willy Aybar had been jailed in the Dominican Republic on Domestic Abuse charges. Of course, those charges disappeared about as fast as a pizza in the same room as Dioner Navarro and Pat Burrell.
Willy Aybar Jailed In D.R.; Longoria’s Fate Should Not Be Affected [Rays Index]
Feb 05
Let’s take a moment and update the 40-man roster and the opening day payroll.
40-Man Roster Projection (notes and explanations on the projection can be found following the roster)…
Notes on the 40-man roster projection
- Ages are as of today. Shaded players are projected to be on the 40-man roster, but not on the 25-man roster. Italicized players are currently on the 40-man roster but are not projected to be on the roster in ’10.
- The Rays now have 38 players on the 40-man roster. Elliot Johnson is out of minor league options and we don’t see a spot on the big league roster for him. Barring an injury to one of the big leaguers, we expect Johnson to be removed from the 40-man roster at some point.
- The Rays had 10 players that were arbitration-eligible this off-season. The Rays non-tendered Gabe Gross and avoided arbitration with all of the rest except BJ Upton. His salary will be determined by an arbitrator and will either be $3.0 million or $3.3 million.
- Last season, the opening day payroll was $63.3 million, which was 25th out of 30 teams. With the addition of Rafael Soriano and the decision to keep Dioner Navarro (for now) the opening day payroll projects to be $72.1 million. That would have ranked 20th last year.
- Of the $72.1 million, more than half ($36.4m) is tied up in four players (Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Pat Burrell, Rafael Soriano).
(1) Based only on players currently within the organization and will be updated when trades are consumated and free agents are signed.
(2) Once a player is added to the 40-man roster, the team can ‘option’ the player to the minors 3 times. A team cannot be charged with using more than one option in a given season even if a player is demoted to the minors several times that year. An option is not used if a player is added to the 40-man roster midseason unless he is sent back to the minors at some point. An option is only used if a player spends more than 20 days in the minors while on the 40-man roster. A player with more than 5 years experience can refuse a minor league assignment, so we list those players as having no options.
(3) Years remaining under control of franchise before free agency eligibility. A player can become a free agent after 6 years of Major League service time.
(4) First, second and third year players will have their salaries determined by the team, but will fall close to the major league minimum which is $400K in ’10. Minor leaguers on the 40-man for the first time make $33,750 and second-year players (or players with at least 1 day of major league experience) make twice that amount. We are not including signing bonuses or incentives.
* Players with at least 3 years since their big league debut. These players must clear optional waivers in order to be demoted to the minors even if they have options remaining.
