Yeah, actually, I was sorta surprised to hear that Lincoln wasn't going to change the payroll in a negative direction. I took that as about the only corn kernel in the heap of dung that this organization has force-fed all of us...
I mean, if it's their prerogative to throw millions of dollars into the palaces of crappy players rather than cram the wads into their own pockets, I'd much rather see the $$$ go to the players, since we all know they would never ever give it back to the fans, even in the form of free ticket comps or $1 BBQ Sandwich night.
Since Bavasi likes to buy out people's arbitration years, expect to see guys like Sherrill and Felix get more than they would normally. I expect a 3/$6 million for GS52, and probably 3/$15 for Felix, so that's $7 million-ish for those two. I believe they're both at the point where Putz and Lopez were last offseason. Either way, they're both going to get pretty decent raises for 2008.
I expect Richie to be gone, and we'll see how much salary they have to give away. It's possible that they may not have to send along more than $3-4 million, depending on who they get back. Broussard is a goner (too expensive).
I was chatting w/Churchill the other day, and I joked that we'll see Bartolo Colon given a 5/$100 deal to come here. I agree with him that we're likely to see a trade that we'll be OK with, and one where we'll want to gouge our eyes out. After all, that's what Bavasi's pretty much done every year since he's been here...
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