The Crusaders payroll is currently set at $23,547,425.
The salary cap is $65 million.
No real huge contracts on the squad, so we have a lot of room to work with here in terms of going out and trying to improve the team that was really in the thick of things until the last few weeks of the season last year.
The best player on the team is a 26-year old catcher by the name of
Greg Harris. (.284/17 HR/103 RBI/21.4 VORP) and last season, he came into his own. He's still on his minimum contract ($100,000) but he'll be arbitration eligible next year and is projected right now at about $2.1 million.
Another standout is 27-year old shortstop, Canadian
Kai-ge Yeh who hit .302 last year and had a 24.1 VORP. He's on the last year of his deal and will make $2.2 million next season.
LF Terry Ellis (.294/27/104) and
RF Tomas Valenzuela (.328/30/126) are two of the best outfielders in the league. Especially Valenzuela, who is 32 years old, but an off-the-charts talent player who anchors the team's offense. He's had three straight 100+ RBI seasons, too.
Really, what the ball club is missing is hurlers. We don't have strong starters in the rotation and I think that's our real problem, to be honest.
Our ace is 38-year old
Christian O'Halloran. He went 14-7 last year with 209 Ks and 105 walks in 33 starts. Part of that is just the offensive explosion that's hit the league the past decade and part of that is that he's old as hell.
27-year old
Tony Ibarra is solid (13-9, 6.12 ERA) but gets smacked for too many homers and never really reached the potential he had, to begin with. He's a leftie tho and as a result, he'll always be a commodity. Just shouldn't be at the top of anyone's rotation.
We'll explore free agency next and see if there is anyone worth having or whether we ought to stand pat, explore trades or something else.