Trash

[McJoe]

Also, I'm certainly not rebuilding. I was a playoff team and intend to be one again.

[kyubi256]

I hope we can work out a deal for Bruce and Phillips. Get back to me with a counter of what the + you want is

[VRP723]

Oakland A's Get:

OF Hunter Pence- 4.75M
RP Wilton Lopez- 400K

Old Team Salary: 43.90M
New Team Salary: 44.15M

Houston Astros Get:

2B Mark Ellis- 6.00M
SP Vin Mazzaro- 400K
OF Michael Taylor- 400K
RP Travis Blackley- 400K
1.5M in cap

Old Team Salary: 64.70M
New Team Salary: 65.15M

[VRP723]

Brewers get:

Michael Young - 16,000,000
3,000,000

Rangers get:

Matt Gamel - 400,000
Zack Braddock - 400,000

Current - 45,700,000
Remaning - 29,300,000

[VRP723]

Tigers Get

Shin-Soo Choo $2,500,000

Old Payroll: $84,475,000
New Payroll: $85,775,000

Indians Get

Andy Oliver
Casey Crosby
Alex Avila $400,000
Scott Sizemore $400,000
Daniel Schlereth $400,000

Old Payroll: $41,543,300
New Payroll: $40,243,300

[VRP723]

Astros Get

Ryan Strieby
Casper Wells

Old Payroll: $62,450,000
New Payroll: $58,950,000

Tigers Get

Wandy Rodriguez
$3,500,000

Old Payroll: $85,775,000
New Payroll: $89,275,000

[VRP723]

Astros get:

Donald Veal-SP-400K

Astros Old Payroll-65,250,000
Astros New Payroll-62,450,000

Pirates get:

Michael Bourn-OF-3.2M

Pirates Old Payroll-29,950,000
Pirates New Payroll-32,750,000

[VRP723]

A's get

Zack Greinke - 13,500,000
5,000,000

A's new salary: 56,180,000
Cap: 55M + 5M: 60,000,000
Salary remaining: 3,820,000

Royals Get

Trevor Cahill - 400,000
Chris Carter - 400,000
Grant Green
Josh Outman - 400,000

Royals new salary: 34,830,000
Royals cap: 70M-5M: 65,000,000
Salary Remaining: 30,170,000

[DaSox_05]

Brewers get:

Michael Young (16M)
3 Million from Rangers for Young's salary (13M)

Rangers get:

Matt Gamel (400K)
Zack Braddock (400k)

[JDIsMyGod23]

E'erthang is all updated, B.

[nyyfan4life]

Ownership,

We feel that we have the right pieces to win the AL West this year. We have devastating pitching and a superb defensive squad. The thing is that we are very underwhelming offensively. We got Zach Greinke who can be the face of this franchise.

Our rivals all have a much higher payroll than ours yet I believe our team can own their team easily with proper funds. The Angels have a payroll of 130 million. The horrid Mariners have a payroll of 95M and last year’s AL pennant winners are at 75 million.

Our payroll was set for 55 mill for the 2011 season. The Royals were kind enough to give us 5 mill in cap space (taking our cap to 60 mill), allowing us to get Greinke. We can’t rely on other teams helping us out. We are on the verge of doing something great. We just need some offensive help. Our team is on the rise. The players can feel it. This can be a great year for us. Our payroll has averaged over 62 mill the past 5 seasons, yet we don’t have much to show for it. This time we will. Look at our rivals across the Bay. They showed that pitching can still win in this league and we have the best 1-5 in baseball. We just need to support it.

We have to put a better product out there for the fans. That starts by investing in the team right now. We had the worst home attendance numbers last year after the Indians and the worst TV ratings. Things need to change now. We have to bring excitement back to this once proud franchise. We have helped this situation by trading for Greinke. The guy can fill up a stadium. He can get this franchise jump-started but he needs help.

I’m asking for 15 million in payroll to bring our total number up to 75 million. Its still less than all of our competitors (as much as the Rangers) but it is now competitive and respectable. We are going for the division and more. We are not rebuilding anymore. We are not trading players for prospects anymore. We have a foundation in place; a core group of guys that we can build around. Improving our entire team, specifically the offense is our goal. We need some more payroll flexibility and funds to do this.

Thank You,

A’s Management

Edit- Crap, I read over the 1 paragraph rule.

[McJoe]

Re-signed Ramon Hernandez for a 2 year 9 million dollar deal.

New Salary: 68.145

Re-signed Miguel Cairo for a 1 year 1 million dollar deal with 2 option years.

New Salary: 69.145

[VRP723]

Bank,

The Texas Rangers have shown the team and the fans that we are willing to compete for the AL Pennant, when we traded for Cliff Lee. We had a great 2010 regualr season as well as a great post season. We are asking for a team payroll increase from 75 Million to 90 Million.

Nolan Ryan.

Our payroll has been at 68 million for 5 years in a row. We made the World Series, and I thought that improving it to 75 million was fair, but after seeing the offer to Lee and the Victorino deal, I feel this franchise is moving in the right direction. I'll increase payroll to 82 million.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have needs we must fill this offseason. After being a cellar team for so many years, we are trying to turn this team in the right direction. We have some nice young players, but we need to bring in outside help to be able to stay competetive and start making some noise. We currently are by far the lowest capped team in baseball with $40,000,000. I feel a raise from $40,000,000 to $55,000,000 would be reasonable and necessary for our organazation's future direction. It's hard to compete with teams like the Cubs and Cardinals within the division when our cap is less than half of what they have to work with. If we are awarded a raise in payroll, the money will be used and monitored wisely and not spent just to spend it. Thanks you for your time and consideration of the Pittsburgh Pirates organazation.

Well to be honest, you're not going to compete this year, and we know that. However, you made some nice deals, so I'll approve 45 million for now.

The Cubs 2010 payroll sat at $144,359,000, I don't think we should be lowering our payroll 6.5%. I think the Cubs should have a limitation of 145 million if you expect us to get back to the playoffs again.

I'd be more inclined to improve payroll if I saw the franchise was moving in the right direction. So far the Cardinals have gotten better, and we've done nothing. I'll reconsider this in a few days.

The Houston Astros request a payroll raise from our current 80M payroll to a more reasonable 90M payroll. The Astros haven't spent less then 87.7M on payroll since the 2005 season, and went as high as 103M in 2009. With the Rangers in the WS in 2010, the entire state of Texas is more excited about baseball heading into 2011. Our attendance should improve over 2010 thanks to our counterparts in Arlington. The Astros also have payroll obligations to former players of almost 10M dollars, so this raise would make up that difference and help us to be more serious players in the FA market.

It appears that we're going through a rebuild, which is definitely the right move. However, rebuilds are generally not when you need a cap increase, so we'll stand pat for now. If your plan is to eat bad contracts along with getting good prospects, maybe we'll reconsider.

The Yankees current payroll is 195 million. Our team salary sits at around 145 million right now. We find it unrealistic that we will be able to re-sign Jeter,Mo and Andy P(apprx. 40 million to re-sign them) and then still sign other FA's that are obviously needed to improve this team. Therefore we request that, for the sake of winning, you increase our payroll to 230 Million. This is a 15 million increase from our payroll last year, we know this seems like a lot but we know this franchise wants to win, and our current budget just does not allow enough room for that.

230 million isn't going to happen. We can't afford to increase payroll 20 million every year we get knocked out in the ALCS. 200 million for now, make smart moves and we'll reconsider.

Dear Bank,

We at the Baltimore Orioles organization are asking for a 15 million dollar payroll raise. At the current budget of 60 million, we feel that we aren't given a fair shake for an opportunity to take down the Goliaths of the Yankees and Red Sox. The Orioles are one of the most storied franchises in the MLB and we feel that once we are able to compete with the big boys, the AL East will truly be a 5 team division. Could you imagine the Yankees and Sox, competing with each other, AND competing with the up-and coming O's and Blue Jays with the dangerous Rays lurking in the wings. That would be one hell of a division.

On another note, we believe the 60 million that was initially given to us was on the relatively low end because in the past decade we've only had a payroll lower than that once which was in 2004. From 2005-2010, our average payroll was about 74.67M which is why we feel that increasing our payroll to 75M would be sensible.

Thanks,
Baltimore Orioles' Organization

To be honest, trading the face of the franchise isn't the best way to convince ownership to increase payroll. We're clearly a rebuilding team, spend like it.

Ownership,

We feel that we have the right pieces to win the AL West this year. We have devastating pitching and a superb defensive squad. The thing is that we are very underwhelming offensively. We got Zach Greinke who can be the face of this franchise.

Our rivals all have a much higher payroll than ours yet I believe our team can own their team easily with proper funds. The Angels have a payroll of 130 million. The horrid Mariners have a payroll of 95M and last year’s AL pennant winners are at 75 million.

Our payroll was set for 55 mill for the 2011 season. The Royals were kind enough to give us 5 mill in cap space (taking our cap to 60 mill), allowing us to get Greinke. We can’t rely on other teams helping us out. We are on the verge of doing something great. We just need some offensive help. Our team is on the rise. The players can feel it. This can be a great year for us. Our payroll has averaged over 62 mill the past 5 seasons, yet we don’t have much to show for it. This time we will. Look at our rivals across the Bay. They showed that pitching can still win in this league and we have the best 1-5 in baseball. We just need to support it.

We have to put a better product out there for the fans. That starts by investing in the team right now. We had the worst home attendance numbers last year after the Indians and the worst TV ratings. Things need to change now. We have to bring excitement back to this once proud franchise. We have helped this situation by trading for Greinke. The guy can fill up a stadium. He can get this franchise jump-started but he needs help.

I’m asking for 15 million in payroll to bring our total number up to 75 million. Its still less than all of our competitors (as much as the Rangers) but it is now competitive and respectable. We are going for the division and more. We are not rebuilding anymore. We are not trading players for prospects anymore. We have a foundation in place; a core group of guys that we can build around. Improving our entire team, specifically the offense is our goal. We need some more payroll flexibility and funds to do this.

Thank You,

A’s Management

We love the Greinke deal, not only because it improves the team, but it brings people to the ballpark. We'll approve a 10 million dollar increase to boost the payroll to 70 million, make more smart moves and it could increase even more.

[DaSox_05]

Our payroll has been at 68 million for 5 years in a row. We made the World Series, and I thought that improving it to 75 million was fair, but after seeing the offer to Lee and the Victorino deal, I feel this franchise is moving in the right direction. I'll increase payroll to 82 million.

Bank increased payroll to 82 million

[VRP723]

Well here it goes...

Free Agency is going to begin tonight at 11 EST. Here are the rules.


Rule 1, you are only going to be allowed to offer contracts to 5 Free Agents on the first day, and 3 every day after that. If you offer more than that your offers won't count.

Rule 2, three offers per free agent, seems pretty simple. The only exception to this will be if you're talking to a player at the Winter Meetings, where I might ask for 1 last "Final Offer"

Rule 3, in order to stop the prices of free agents being shot up, the free agents will narrow their bidders down after receiving a few bids. For example, Carl Crawford will say "I've narrowed my choices down to Teams A, B and C"

If you're not one of those teams, don't even bother. Your offers won't be looked at.

For the first few days I'll take offers, then I'll respond to some. There will be a Winter Meetings like last year, where some of the bigger free agents will sign. I'm thinking this weekend will probably be the best time for those.

If I left anything out, feel free to ask in the Questions thread.