Yesterday the news came out that the Cubs agreed to terms with with 5 of their 8 arbitration eligible players.
Here is the list:
Mike Fontenot-$1 million
Jeff Baker-$975,000
Angel Guzman-$825,000
Tom Gorzelanny-$800,000
Koyie Hill-$700,000 (personally, I think Koyie got screwed here)
These players exchanged numbers with the Cubs for arbitration:
Ryan Theriot-$3.4 million...Cubs offered $2.6 million
Carlos Marmol-$2.5 million....Cubs offered $1.75 million
Sean Marshall-$1.175 million...Cubs offered $800,000
Now one thing to realize here is that the Cubs have not had to go to abitration with a player since 1993. So...we should expect the Cubs to make deals with these players. Traditionally, under Jim Hendry, the Cubs have met players in the middle, and I expect that to be the case here too.
If that ends happening, the Cubs will end up spending $10.375 on these 8 players....and that's not too bad for a group which includes 2 starting position players (Baker and Fontenot count as 1 position players), their closer and their 5th starter (Gorzelanny or Marshall).
The Cubs already have committed $122.875 million on contracts to this point...add the arbitration numbers to that and it puts them at $133.25 million. But they still have to give non-arbitration eligible players their contracts. That would likely push the Cubs up to the $140 million territory. The Cubs also owe money to Aaron Miles and Luis Vizcaino totaling $1.5 million. That pushes the current payroll up to approximately $142 million. That pretty much taps out the Cubs financial resources.
But don't forget the $9 million the Cubs received from the Mariners in the Bradley trade. The Cubs get $5.5 million of that for this season so you can add that to the payroll target. I'm not sure if the Cubs payroll target ($140 to $145 million) is including the $5.5 million or not. If it isn't, then the Cubs have $5 to $8 million more to spend.
So there may still be some wiggle room to sign another player or two.
