Texas Rangers 2016 payroll: Where things currently stand

Texas Rangers 2016 payroll:  With spring training not too terribly far off, and the Rangers likely having made their substantial moves, I felt it would be worthwhile to take a look at where things stand as far as the Rangers and their 2016 payroll situation.

Looking at Cot's Contracts, we have the following players under contract for 2016:

Prince Fielder -- $24 million

Josh Hamilton -- $26.41 million

Shin-Soo Choo -- $20 million

Adrian Beltre -- $18 million

Elvis Andrus -- $15 million

Cole Hamels -- $22.5 million

Yu Darvish -- $10 million

Derek Holland -- $10 million

Colby Lewis -- $6 million

Martin Perez -- $2.9 million

Justin Ruggiano -- $1.65 million

Tony Barnette -- $1.5 million

Chris Gimenez -- $975,000

The Tigers are paying $6 million of Prince's salary in 2016, while the Angels are paying all of what Josh Hamilton is owed for 2016.  The Phillies are supposedly paying $10M of what Hamels is owed over the life of his deal, and while we don't know exactly what is being paid in 2016, we can assume for discussion purposes it is being pro-rated, meaning the Rangers are getting $3 million from the Phillies this year.

That means the Rangers are currently on the hook for $123,525,000 for those 13 players.

Texas also has seven arbitration cases.  Those players, with the MLB Trade Rumors estimates of what they will get, are as follows:

Mitch Moreland -- $5.6 million

Tom Wilhelmsen -- $3 million

Shawn Tolleson -- $2.6 million

Tanner Scheppers -- $800,000

Robinson Chirinos -- $1.4 million

Jake Diekman -- $1 million

Jurickson Profar -- $508,000

That adds about $15 million, which puts the Rangers at around $138.5M for 20 players.  If we assume that the remainder of the roster will be minimum salary guys, plus taking into account Scheppers and Profar will be in the minors and you're likely to have a couple of guys on the d.l., you are likely looking at something in the $143-145M range at the start of the season.

There are a few possibilities for this to change.  First, the Rangers have been looking for options for bench help, and they could end up with a guy who will make more than the league minimum, if James Jones doesn't end up claiming the job.

Second, if A.J. Griffin ends up making the team, he probably will be making around $1-1.5 million, rather than the pro-rated minimum.

Finally, the Rangers have reportedly talked to teams about some of the Rangers' relievers, and it wouldn't be shocking of Shawn Tolleson were to get moved.  There's been talk about the D-Backs having interest in Tolleson, and the Rangers being interested in Archie Bradley, for example.  If Tolleson were to be moved, it would drop the Rangers' payroll commitment by a few million.

Opening Day payroll for the Rangers in 2015 was around $135-145M, depending on how you calculate it, who you include and what you do with the pro-rated signing bonuses.  It appears that, as things stand now, the Rangers will be about $5-7M over where they were at the start of 2015.  That will likely put them in the 8-10 range in all of MLB.