NASHVILLE – After the Braves dumped the final three seasons and more than $46 million of Melvin Upton Jr.'s contract on the Padres as part of the Craig Kimbrel trade, and paid off Dan Uggla's contract in 2015, and traded away Cameron Maybin and others, it was generally understood among Braves fans and those who cover the team that there might be at least $30 million to spend on payroll additions this winter.
Enough to add a few significant salaries and perhaps even a big-ticket free agent, additions that might help assure the 2016 Braves were a lot better than the 95-loss Braves of 2015.
But the amount hasn’t been and won’t be nearly as high as many expected. The Braves signed veteran pitchers Bud Norris and Jim Johnson for a modest $2.5 million apiece and re-signed veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynksi for $3 million, and now it’s believed they have only about $13-14 million left for additions to next year’s opening-day payroll. It could end up below $100 million for the second consecutive season and rank among the bottom third in baseball.
So, what happened?
There has been speculation by some in the industry that reduced revenues – including a drop in attendance — in 2015 must’ve led to an edict from ownership that payroll be reduced for 2016. Braves officials quashed that when asked Monday about the payroll and why it’s not as high as many had expected.
Braves general manager John Coppolella and president of baseball operations John Hart said payroll was affected by the increased spending or planned spending on foreign free agents and the June 2016 draft, when the Braves have the third overall pick — much higher than they picked in recent years and thus a higher signing bonus.
“First of all, what we have done — when we first began this, our objective was to clear the decks as much as possible for 2017,” Hart said of the teams’ rebuilding project. “The Chris Johnson deal was made with the idea that we’re going to clear the decks for ’17, where we didn’t want that $10 million sitting on our books. But in the short terms for 2016, we feel like we have enough to operate for where we are and what it is we want to do.”
Johnson was traded to Cleveland in exchange for aging outfielders Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher, whose combined $29 million salaries in 2016 — the final year of their contracts — were offset by a $15 million payment from the Indians to cover the difference in what was owed to them and to Johnson, who was signed through 2017.
“We’ve had the ability to spend money,” Hart said. “We’re certainly not going to give away what our payroll number (2016 limit) is; we don’t want clubs and agents and everybody to know what’s going on out there. But we don’t feel we’re restricted. When we look at our payroll there’s an overall bucket that you look at, and part of it is other things – we’re going to have a number of early draft picks; we traded for one and we have the 3-hole pick. We want to be able to be big players internationally.
“We are not being restricted, if you will, to be able to go and do all the things it takes to build an organization.”
Hart reiterated that the Braves plan a big payroll increase in 2017 when they move into their new ballpark, with what they project to be significantly increased revenue streams.
“(The 2016 season) is going to be a little more challenging because there are some other things that we might like to do with the money that we have,” he said. “(But) ‘17 is a completely different story. That’s about as accurate a portrayal as I can give of how we look at the dollars we’ve been given.”
Coppolella said restrictions on foreign free-agent spending and other regulations changed how teams can utilize that avenue of roster construction.
“This isn’t like five or 10 years back where you could just add and add and add,” Coppolella said. “Now there are different rules in place to where it’s harder to add. That’s why you’ve seen us make trades for draft picks, for foreign-pool slots. And Pick 3 (in the June draft) is a big pick for us. I mean we have a chance through these trades, through these moves, to keep adding talent to what might be the best farm system in all of baseball right now.”
Hart added, “I don’t think we feel that we’re being short-shrifted here, that we’re going to have obviously more money to spend than we had last year. Look, I can tell you this – one of the reasons we got all of these pitchers is so we don’t have to go out into the market that is the most volatile, unpredictable, and a market that generally doesn’t end well, which is going after (free-agent) starting pitchers. And what have you seen signed coming down the line here? You’ve seen $200 million value contracts. We’re not — we don’t want to go there.”
