Arizona Diamondbacks to Keep Payroll Above $100 Million

Derrick Hall says the D’backs’ payroll will remain above $100 million dollars in 2015. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps you will view this as good news for the Arizona Diamondbacks. According to Jack Magruder at Fox Sports Arizona, the D’backs will be committed to keeping their payroll above the $100 million dollar mark in 2015. Team president Derrick Hall had this to say regarding next year’s dollar outlook:

"“It is safe to say it will be $100 million-plus,” Hall said of the payroll for next year. “We definitely want to be close to where we were. Will we get to $115 million? I don’t know. But I don’t know if that is necessary.”"

This year’s franchise-record $115 million dollar team has not gone according to plan, to say the least. In a perfect illustration as to why this season has been such a major disappointment, their big free agent acquisition, Bronson Arroyo has been out since June due to a torn elbow ligament. His status for 2015 remains iffy at best. The team did manage to flush out some dollars that were going to be committed for next season. Martin Prado‘s trade saves the club $11 million dollars for next year. Gerardo Parra would have commanded close to $6 million dollars in his last arbitration-eligible year. Brandon McCarthy and Joe Thatcher were to become free agents after the season and most likely would not have been signed. With those four trades, that’s roughly a $25-$27 million dollar difference between 2014 and 2015.

However, before you think the Snakes will be splurging in the offseason, keep in mind that several players will be heading into their arbitration years. Despite missing a healthy chunk of the season, Mark Trumbo should expect to command a salary of about $6.5 to $7 million dollars after earning $4.8 million this year. Addison Reed is entering his first season of arbitration so expect a hefty bump up from his $538,500 number. Like Reed, Wade Miley is getting ready for a huge raise from his $523,500 figure. Jordan Pacheco is also eligible for the first time. Cliff Pennington is in his final year of arbitration. When you add up all of these numbers, you realize that the difference specified in the previous paragraph becomes a lot smaller. Does it mean the D’backs won’t be active in free agency? No, but it probably means a big ticket guy such as Max Scherzer is off the table.

One more quote from Hall should ease any fears that the team will be in dump mode and start from scratch:

"“Someone could say we would have an $80 million payroll” and rebuild for the next several seasons, Hall said.  “I don’t think we are ever going to do that.”"

While we know money doesn’t guarantee success, at least we know that management is not ready to bail out after one bad season.