Arizona Diamondbacks 2015 Payroll wont exceed 100 million

Derrick Hall says the Dbacks 2015 payroll will likely be under 100 million dollars Photo Courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Last season was a huge disappointment for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Snakes nearly lost 100 games, and had their worst season since 2004 finishing 64-98, the worst record in the National League.

An expiring tv contract with Fox Sports Arizona, and terrible attendance won’t help the Diamondbacks revenue either.

Given all of those factors, Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall told azcentral sports that the teams 2015 payroll won’t exceed 100 million dollars. He said that 90 million is probably the most reasonable number.

However, it might be lower than that. The Diamondbacks pick no.1 in next June’s First Year Player Draft, and the cost of that will complicate payroll projections.  He simply says the team is going to have to get creative:

“It’s not only number one overall but number one in each round,” Hall said. “As that budget has gone up, I’ve got to shave a little off of major league payroll.”

“We’ve got a little bit to play with, but we’ll have to get creative. For us to do things, probably have to move a player or two here or there.”

As far as the tv contract goes, the Dbacks current deal with Fox Sports Arizona expires at the end of next season. The team is reportedly closing in on a big deal that will keep the Dbacks with Fox Sports for the next 15-20 years.

“I think it’ll be very similar,” Hall said when asked how it would compare with other recent deals. “It’s going to be a game changer.”

Don’t expect the Diamondbacks to make to many changes. General Manager Dave Stewart has already said that he wants to keep his teams farm system intact, and he doesn’t plan to spend a ton of money on big name free agents.

The Dbacks could go after a medium free agent starting pitcher, but don’t expect them to make to many changes.

As far as attendance goes, it wasn’t a great year on that front. The Dbacks drew just under 2 million fans in 2014, averaging 25,283 per game, that would be the lowest in franchise history.

The lack of consistency in recent years might help explain the low numbers, but it’s surprising considering the Dbacks have some of the lowest ticket prices in all of baseball, and they have one of the most loyal fan bases in the majors.

Hall said that it all comes down to marketing the affordability of Dbacks games to fans:

“I still don’t think fans realize how affordable the tickets are at Chase Field,” Hall said. “They assume it’s a major league team and they can’t afford to take their family there. We can do a better job of explaining to the fans that it’s affordable.”

We shall see what the Snakes do this offseason. Hopefully the product on the field is better in 2015, and attendance goes up.