2017 Texas Rangers payroll update

With spring training just around the corner, it seems like a good time to take a look at where things stand with the Rangers’ current payroll.

Via Cots Contracts, they had the Rangers with $110,400,000 committed to the following ten players heading into the 2016-17 offseason:

Prince Fielder -- $9 million ($24M less $6M from Detroit less $9M from insurance)

Cole Hamels — $23.5 million (of which $1M is a signing bonus already paid)

Shin-Soo Choo -- $20 million

Adrian Beltre — $18 million

Elvis Andrus — $15.25 million (of which $250K is a signing bonus already paid)

Yu Darvish — $11 million

Jonathan Lucroy — $5.25 million

Martin Perez — $4.65 million (of which $250K is a signing bonus already paid)

Tony Barnette -- $1.75 million

Josh Hamilton — $2 million ($28.41M less $26.41M from LAA)

If we deduct the pro-rated portion of the signing bonuses (since those have already been paid, but are amortized over the life of the contracts by Cots), that drops us to $108.9M for those ten players. There may also be a little bit of money coming to Texas from the Phillies on Cole Hamels this season, though that is unclear -- the structure of the subsidy hasn’t been reported, and it may be that the Phillies kicked in most of the subsidy last season.

The Rangers have signed three major league free agents this offseason — Carlos Gomez ($11.5 million), Andrew Cashner ($10 million), and Tyson Ross ($6 million). Adding those three to the existing obligations at $136.4 million.

The Rangers had seven arbitration-eligible players, and they have agreed to contracts on all seven. They are:

Sam Dyson — $3.52 million

Jake Diekman -- $2.55 million

Jeremy Jeffress -- $2.1 million

A.J. Griffin — $2 million

Robinson Chirinos — $1.95 million

Jurickson Profar — $1.005 million

Tanner Scheppers — $975,000

Adding that septet puts the Rangers at $150.5 million. Add in your handful of minimum wage guys, and right now, the Rangers’ payroll is somewhere around $155 million.

Cot’s had the Rangers’ payroll at $159 million to start the 2016 season.

However, it does appear another move is likely. Mike Napoli, you may have heard, is a player of interest to the Rangers. Napoli wants to come back to Texas. They’ve engaged in discussions, but haven’t consummated a deal.

It appears, however, that there’s a good chance Napoli gets signed. If not, there’s a good chance Chris Carter or one of the other remaining free agents gets signed, joining the 1B/DH/COF mix.

The final payroll amount will depend on whether that last signing takes place, and if it does, how much it is for. However, I’d wager a Napoli deal would be along the lines of $10 million for the 2017. That would put the Opening Day payroll at around $165 million — a little more than 2016.