Yeah more contract notes, I'm thinking about making this into an every-other week notes column, perhaps calling it the Hit $how, or Hor$e$hit, I dunno give us some feedback on the idea.
First and foremost, I know some of you like checking the Rays' salaries on your own, and wish it would be a little easier info to find, well here you go, that info is up to date as of today.
- Carl Crawford got his second career All-Star selection this past July, he'll be rewarded with 25,000 to boot with his 4 million salary. Also if he's traded before the end of his deal he'll receive an extra 800K.
-Akinori Iwamura's 3 year / 7.7 million dollar deal looks cheap on paper, but note that 2010 he'll have a 4.25 salary, and potentially a 5.25 salary if he reaches a certain number of Plate Appearances between 2007 and 2009.
- Rocco Baldelli's contract called for a 4 million dollar escalator if he reached
600 PAs in 2006, he didn't, and therefore rather than 2.5 mil and 4 mil this year and next he's stuck at 1.75 and 2.25. By not doing so however Baldelli activated performance bonuses for both years, and although he's technically signed for 3 years / 9 million, his deal is really 5 years 28 million, with the potential of 32 million, not exactly a bad deal for Rocco considering the Rays withdrew 20,000 worth of incentives when Baldelli had second thoughts about a contract extension.
-Al Reyes has a 1.5 performance bonus in each 2007 and 2008, it's unsure what the bonus requires, but it's probably safe to say he's earned it.
-Shawn Camp is eligible for arbitration this off-season, if the team doesn't feel he's worth the money, likely 350K at the most, they could just non-tender him, turning him into a free agent.
-The Rays have made a number of trades the past two seasons, but did you know they've given out approximately three million dollars in cash as well, meanwhile receiving cash in the Cincinnati deal to bring it to a net of around 2 million.
-Scott Kazmir will enter arbitration this off-season unless the Rays re-sign him before hand. Jeff Francis got a four year, 13.25 contract extension this past off-season to avoid arbitration and take away a free agent year. The deal breaks down:
- 500,000
- 2.75 mil
- 3.75 mil
- 5.75 mil
- 7 mil club option