The Padres face four contractual options after the season:
- Starting pitcher Chris Young has an $8.5MM club option. This year he made his April 6th debut start before hitting the disabled list with a strain of his surgically-repaired shoulder. This DL stint appears minor, but looking at the bigger picture the Padres will likely decline Young's option.
- Adrian Gonzalez's $5.5MM club option for 2011 is a mere formality.
- The Padres have a pair of mutual options in Jon Garland and Yorvit Torrealba. It's rare to see both sides exercise such an option.
Four more players are up for free agency: Kevin Correia, David Eckstein, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Matt Stairs. The four make a combined $7.425MM in 2010. Young, Garland, and Torrealba make $11.7MM, bringing the total freed up to $19.125MM (minus a million or so in buyouts). So, about $18MM will come off the books if everyone but Gonzalez leaves.
Gonzalez will get a $750K bump; that's it for players under contract. First-time arbitration-eligibles include Tony Gwynn Jr., Edward Mujica, and Tim Stauffer. Mike Adams will go for a second time, while Heath Bell and Scott Hairston go for a third. Regarding Bell, we may have overestimated his potential raise in suggesting earlier that he could double his $4MM salary. Think $6-7MM instead.
Even holding payroll at $38MM and retaining all arbitration-eligible players, the Padres would have over $10MM to spend in the winter of 2010-11. A few midseason trades, a handful of non-tenders, and a higher payroll would increase the spending money.
