Colorado Rockies: Why first base should be the real free agent focus

To fully understand the financials, we take a look at Spotrac.com Rockies Payroll Calculator, here we’ll see in 2017 the Colorado Rockies paid:

• Active Roster: $115,494,571
• Dead Money: $40,945,991
• Buried Money: $2,152,000

Here is some insight into the terminology, Colorado paid out $115,494,571 to its current players on the “active” roster. This total includes the rosters base salary, signing bonus, and performance incentives.

The “dead money” is referenced to those players the organization has dealt away, bought out, or retired. In many cases, back-loaded signing bonuses are also included in the “dead money” term as well.

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In total, the Colorado Rockies paid $40,945,991 in dead money to players like Jordan Lyles (designated for assignment, signed with the Padres), Jason Motte (released, signed with the Braves), Jose Reyes (team buyout, signed with Mets in 2016), and Chad Qualls (released by Rockies), Stephen Cardullo (released by Rockies, signed to a minor league deal), and Dustin Garneau (designated for assignment, picked up off waivers by Oakland).

Additionally, dead money includes the signing bonuses of this year’s amateur draft picks.

Finally, the last piece in deciding an organization’s total payroll, the organization must include the players moving through the minor leagues and major league rosters. In total, Colorado had eight different players spending time back and forth between the major league roster and their minor league system. In total, these players accrued a base payroll hit of $2,152,000.

Now, that we understand what the team make-up look liked last year in terms of payroll, lets take a quick look into what is leaving.