By Jack Magruder
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Diamondbacks 2003 salaries
A look at the players that could make the roster and the money they would earn. * if makes major-league roster
Randy Johnson $15M
Curt Schilling $10M
Matt Williams $10M
Matt Mantei $6.75M
Tony Womack $6M
Steve Finley $4M
Luis Gonzalez $4M
Miguel Batista $3.25M
Byung-Hyun Kim $3.25M
Danny Bautista $3M
Elmer Dessens $3M
Greg Swindell $2.75M
Craig Counsell $2.5M
Mark Grace $1.75M
Quinton McCracken $1.75M
Mike Myers $1.75M
David Dellucci $900,000
Carlos Baerga* $500,000
Mike Jackson* $500,000
Ron Villone* $500,000
Junior Spivey $432,500
Rod Barajas $300,000
Alex Cintron* $300,000
Mike Koplove* $300,000
Chad Moeller $300,000
Lyle Overbay $300,000
John Patterson $300,000
Bret Prinz* $300,000
Salary moves keep D'backs well below cap
The Diamondbacks will not have to pay this season, the first under major-league baseball's new luxury tax. Not even close.
The D'backs lopped about $20 million off their payroll for 2003, and will enter the year with about $82.58 million committed to sala-ries of players projected to make the 25-man roster.
The total outlay, which includes players on the 40-man roster and deferred payments scheduled to kick in for retired players such as Todd Stottlemyre, will be close to $95 million.
Early in the off-season, managing general partner Jerry Colangelo said he hoped to keep the budget in the $90 million-$95 million range.
The D'backs are nowhere near the $117 million threshold at which teams will begin to be taxed this year. The tax money goes into a pool to be distributed to the lower-spending teams.
"There was never any thought that we were going to be near the luxury tax threshold," D'backs general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. said after the D'backs shut out the Cubs 8-0 at HoHoKam Park on Friday.
The D'backs ensured wiggle room by trading arbitration-eligible players catcher Damian Miller and first baseman Erubiel Durazo in the off-season while staying out of the high end of the free agent market.
Miller, traded for two minor-leaguers, signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Cubs.
"We wanted to start taking the payroll in the other direction," Garagiola said. "It's always been the idea that in the year when the big deferred payments would start coming due, that's when we would look to the players in our system to come up who wouldn't make a lot of money."
The D'backs owe about $7 million in deferred payments this season. It is not until 2004 when the deferrals begin to ratchet up.
While the D'backs continue to discuss new contracts with Randy Johnson and Luis Gonzalez, those players will receive their current scheduled salaries in 2003 even if new deals are signed.
Johnson will earn a team-high $15 million this season, his salary increased by $3 million when he won the 2002 Cy Young Award.
Gonzalez is to make $4 million this season, among the biggest bargains in the league considering his production.
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Diamondbacks 2003 salaries
A look at the players that could make the roster and the money they would earn. * if makes major-league roster
Randy Johnson $15M
Curt Schilling $10M
Matt Williams $10M
Matt Mantei $6.75M
Tony Womack $6M
Steve Finley $4M
Luis Gonzalez $4M
Miguel Batista $3.25M
Byung-Hyun Kim $3.25M
Danny Bautista $3M
Elmer Dessens $3M
Greg Swindell $2.75M
Craig Counsell $2.5M
Mark Grace $1.75M
Quinton McCracken $1.75M
Mike Myers $1.75M
David Dellucci $900,000
Carlos Baerga* $500,000
Mike Jackson* $500,000
Ron Villone* $500,000
Junior Spivey $432,500
Rod Barajas $300,000
Alex Cintron* $300,000
Mike Koplove* $300,000
Chad Moeller $300,000
Lyle Overbay $300,000
John Patterson $300,000
Bret Prinz* $300,000
Salary moves keep D'backs well below cap
The Diamondbacks will not have to pay this season, the first under major-league baseball's new luxury tax. Not even close.
The D'backs lopped about $20 million off their payroll for 2003, and will enter the year with about $82.58 million committed to sala-ries of players projected to make the 25-man roster.
The total outlay, which includes players on the 40-man roster and deferred payments scheduled to kick in for retired players such as Todd Stottlemyre, will be close to $95 million.
Early in the off-season, managing general partner Jerry Colangelo said he hoped to keep the budget in the $90 million-$95 million range.
The D'backs are nowhere near the $117 million threshold at which teams will begin to be taxed this year. The tax money goes into a pool to be distributed to the lower-spending teams.
"There was never any thought that we were going to be near the luxury tax threshold," D'backs general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. said after the D'backs shut out the Cubs 8-0 at HoHoKam Park on Friday.
The D'backs ensured wiggle room by trading arbitration-eligible players catcher Damian Miller and first baseman Erubiel Durazo in the off-season while staying out of the high end of the free agent market.
Miller, traded for two minor-leaguers, signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Cubs.
"We wanted to start taking the payroll in the other direction," Garagiola said. "It's always been the idea that in the year when the big deferred payments would start coming due, that's when we would look to the players in our system to come up who wouldn't make a lot of money."
The D'backs owe about $7 million in deferred payments this season. It is not until 2004 when the deferrals begin to ratchet up.
While the D'backs continue to discuss new contracts with Randy Johnson and Luis Gonzalez, those players will receive their current scheduled salaries in 2003 even if new deals are signed.
Johnson will earn a team-high $15 million this season, his salary increased by $3 million when he won the 2002 Cy Young Award.
Gonzalez is to make $4 million this season, among the biggest bargains in the league considering his production.
