When the last out of the American League Championship Series was made in October, the Angels trimmed almost $51 million from their payroll, as Vladimir Guerrero, Kelvim Escobar, John Lackey, Bobby Abreu, Chone Figgins, Darren Oliver and Robb Quinlan headed for free agency.
Knowing his 2010 budget would be roughly the same as 2009 -- the Angels finished last season with a payroll of about $113 million -- the savings would seem to have given General Manager Tony Reagins all sorts of flexibility this winter.
He could look to retain some of the Angels' highly coveted free agents such as Lackey, Abreu and Figgins. He could aggressively pursue a marquee free agent such as Matt Holliday or Jason Bay.
He could look to trade for a high-priced ace such as Toronto's Roy Halladay, who will make $15.75 million in 2010. Heck, with the kind of money he had, Reagins could add a big bat and a front-of-the-rotation starter and have some left for another move or two.
Then again, maybe not.
"There was a nice chunk that came off the 2009 payroll," Reagins said, "but when you have young players who perform well, you're going to have increases to your payroll."
Big ones, sometimes.
The Angels have eight players eligible for salary arbitration this winter -- pitchers Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders, catchers Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis, infielders Erick Aybar, Maicer Izturis and Howie Kendrick and outfielder Reggie Willits -- and some were among the team's top performers in 2009.
Though the players are under club control, the considerable jumps in salaries for many of the eight probably will add $13 million to $15 million to the team's 2010 payroll.
Combined with raises to returning players such as Scott Kazmir, Ervin Santana and Juan Rivera, huge contracts of veterans such as Torii Hunter, Gary Matthews Jr. and Brian Fuentes, and the signing of Abreu to a two-year, $19-million deal in late October, and Reagins went from a GM with lots of wiggle room to one operating out of a phone booth.
A look at the team's payroll for 2010, with projections for raises to arbitration-eligible players and those with less than three years of big league service, shows that the Angels already have roughly $94 million committed to 21 players under contract or club control.
Throw in the $5.25 million the team owes released reliever Justin Speier, and salaries for another four players who will make at least the major league minimum of $400,000, and that pushes the payroll to almost $101 million.
