I think Haseley, Medina and Williams gets you a seat at the table for Boyd. I really like Boyd, but he's got a homer problem too. How much could that problem amplify in Philly?
I suspect many of us, myself included, believe the Phillies will avoid the luxury tax. What if that is not true? If they are willing to go into the tax, everything changes. Teams looking to move money often settle for way less in the way of prospects. Zack Greinke?
We could actually add Grienke this year and stay under if it was all we did.
Next year is another story of course.
Middleton has promised Boras and Harper that the phillies would be in the top 5 in payroll on a regular basis...I don't think there is an issue about spending.
Being in the Top 5 and busting the tax are two different things. Only Boston and Washington were in it last year, and I didn't see the Yankees or Dodgers or Cubs attempt to change that (at least not yet).
Greinke is an interesting one. The age is more concerning than the money, if he can actually keep pitching this way the money (assuming some pick-up by AZ and a low trade price) would be worth it.
Of course Arizona is only a game behind us in the standings. And Texas, for all the Mike Minor talk, is ahead of us.
Phillies currently have 58 million dollars under the luxury tax cap for this year. Greinke's number is 34 million dollars so it's more than enough room.
Phillies are currently at 116 million committed for 2020 so they have to room to add significant players to the roster if they chose.
That is not correct. We are about $16.9 million under according to Cot's:
Barely enough to fit the rest of Grienke's 2019 contract which is about $15 million now but goes down close to $200K a day.
It seems there are disparities with jay bruce and his salary...cots has 14 million and the other has it adjusted at 1 million.
Seattle seems it's on the hook for a big chunk.
We are paying $1 million this year and $1.75 million next year for Bruce. That is not what is affecting the AAV though.
So it's not 14 million against the luxury tax...its 1 million. So cots has those numbers wrong.
Sportac has each team with their available dollars...
Cot's is NOT wrong. They have a $13 million AAV salary and a negative $11.625 credit on the AAV tax on their spreadsheet. So our AAV for Bruce is $1.375 million this year.
They have updated to show us with a little over $17 million in room now. Every time someone goes up and down from the 40 to the 25 it changes a bit.
That Sportac site is just not even close to reality.
Because they include every line item like 40 man roster costs and the $14.5 million benefit costs and pro rate all contracts like even Brantley.
Your site does not even add up to the.components it lists much less include benefits and 40 man costs.
Ok... i see it now.
The more I read, the more it becomes clear the luxury tax is not really a big deal until you get over the number by a really big amount. it's not a concern until you get to 40 million dollars above the threshold.
A 10 spot drop in the first round.
It shouldn't be a big deal and yet most teams with money are scrambling to avoid it, it seems to be functioning as a de facto cap (if not something that's being colluded on).
I always thought they'd find a way to move on from Neshek, Hunter or Nicasio at the deadline to help take on more $ but that's no longer much of an option. If you really go after Greinke maybe you ask Arizona to take Franco. I'd also be looking hard for someone who might be willing to withstand the Herrera firestorm (a real longshot and he doesn't even make that much $ this year but it's something. Obviously the Phillies would be paying down future years).
I'm not a huge Cashner fan, but he is obviously better than sending out Velasquez and hoping your still in the game after 4 innings. Not pursuing that move because of a concern for causing ripples in the club house culture seems pretty blind to reality. There are probably 5 guys that need to be shipped out to improve that culture as it is. You can hardly spoil what they have at this point.
I'm going to speculate that this was because of the weather conditions at Reading. Game was in fact suspended in bottom 1st due to "wet grounds."
Granted the D-Backs have the misfortune of playing in the same division as the Dodgers, and they also have $ issues, but run differential says they are 8 wins (and 77 runs) better than the Phillies, we're supposed to buy from them?
The good news is there's truly no other second wild card team that looks any better than the Phillies do.
