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This morning, before the Kevin Brown news broke, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register quoted Dodger general manager Dan Evans as saying that the team's budget for 2004 salaries will again be "right around where we were last year."
This contradicts those who have suspected that Evans was under orders to reduce the budget amid the pending sale of the team. The 2004 budget projects to be about $120 million.
With that in mind, in case there is any doubt about the spending room trading Brown would create, take a look at this:
Dodger 2004 Salary Commitments
| Player | Salary |
|---|---|
| Shawn Green | $16.0 million |
| Darren Dreifort | $11.0 million |
| Hideo Nomo | $8.0 million |
| Todd Hundley | $6.5 million |
| Jeff Weaver | *$4.75 million |
| Paul Lo Duca | $3.9 million |
| Paul Shuey | $3.8 million |
| Kazuhisa Ishii | $2.6 million |
| Brian Jordan | **$2.5 million |
| Tom Martin | $1.65 million |
| Robin Ventura | $1.2 million |
| Total | $61.9 million |
*$6.25 million minus Yankee contribution of $1.5 million
**Buyout of 2004 option
Additional Dodger 2004 Salary Estimates
| Player | Salary |
|---|---|
| Eric Gagne | $6.0 million |
| Adrian Beltre | $4.5 million |
| Odalis Perez | $4.0 million |
| Guillermo Mota | $1.0 million |
| Jolbert Cabrera | $0.5 million |
| Dave Roberts | $0.5 million |
| Cesar Izturis | $0.5 million |
| Dave Ross | $0.4 million |
| Total | $17.4 million |
That gives the Dodgers 18 players at a cost of $79.3 million, leaving the team about $40 million to spend. (There would actually be a fraction more, but because the Dodgers will use more than 25 players in 2004, we'll leave that fraction for the in-season replacements.
What slots are vacant on the 25-man roster?
That leaves $35 million for the two starting infielders and the starting outfielder - an average of $11.7 million per slot. If they want to replace Dave Roberts too, they can still spend an average of $8.75 million per slot.
And that doesn't even factor in what the Dodgers can still do in trade.
That, my friends, is a lot to work with.
You can pursue everyone, from Nomar Garciaparra, to Miguel Tejada, to ... Vladimir Guerrero.
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