Playing With the Numbers

With Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado seemingly closing in on signing with their new teams and Omar stating to Beltran that getting him does not preclude him from looking at a guy like Delgado, let's look at the numbers to see if it is really possible.
Carlos Delgado___$14,000,000.00
Jose Reyes_______$500,000.00
Kazuo Matsui_____$7,000,000.00
David Wright_____$320,000.00
Mike Piazza______$15,000,000.00
Carlos Beltran____$18,000,000.00
Cliff Floyd_______$6,500,000.00
Mike Cameron____$6,000,000.00
Tom Glavine_____$10,500,000.00
Kris Benson______$7,500,000.00
Steve Trachsel____$5,000,000.00 ($1M bonus with 160 IP)
Pedro Martinez___$10,500,000.00 ($10.5M in '05 & '08. $14.5M in '06 & '07)
Victor Zambrano__$3,000,000.00
Braden Looper____$3,500,000.00
Felix Heredia_____$2,800,000.00
Mike DeJean_____$1,500,000.00
Scott Strickland___$1,000,000.00
Orber Moreno____$300,000.00
Heath Bell_______$300,000.00 (could be someone else)
Andres Galaraga __$500,000.00
Gerald Williams __$500,000.00 (obviously could be someone else)
Miguel Cairo_____$900,000.00
Eric Valent______$400,000.00
Jason Phillips____$500,000.00
McEwing, Joe____$500,000.00 (obviously could be someone else)
Total Payroll____ $116,520,000.00

With buyouts added:
Ricky Gutierrez___$750,000.00
Richard Hidalgo__ $2,000,000.00
Al Leiter_________$2,000,000.00
Total w/boyouts___$121,270,000.00

I'm sure the buyouts are not getting factored in here, but I just wanted to add that in to prove that it is possible in terms of the financial aspect to bring in both Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado even with that buyout money that was dished out. About $116,520,000 committed to very strong lineup with Piazza's $15,000,000 coming off the books after this season and Tom Glavine's salary either coming off at end of the season or reducing to $6,500,000. That is $19,000,000 coming off with potentially no starting positions to backfill if Tommy returns and Phillips is given the starting in 2006. That means the Mets will be at about $101,520,000 with Pedro's salary going up to $14,500,000 and only some bullpen and bench tinkering to do. Wilpon will undoubtedly take a one year hit, but in 2003 he lost $17 million with a team that went nowhere with a comparable payroll. He has the network to think of and with new talent he will receive a boon in attendance that should help fray the costs if not level them altogether if they can translate that into wins (and it certainly looks like that lineup would put some wins up).

This is 100% completely feasible right now. Forget the fact the network is coming along, but with cheap help on the way as well in pitching and in Victor Diaz as soon as the 2nd half of 2005 and the beginning of 2006, Wilpon can keep the payroll manageable for long time while raking in the money and putting a winning product on the field. It's time for them to step up to the plate and get both Carlos y Carlos on the phone and give the Mets a formidable offense.

For the record, I one of those people not feeling too optimistic about Carlos Beltran coming to the Mets but I have faith Omar will try his best to get it done.

** Does anyone know how to do tables in Blogger? The ones I try do not work and come out pretty messed up.