We haven’t made much yet of Chris Antonetti’s proclamation last week that the Indians’ payroll would rise next season.  In his own somewhat tautegorical phrasing:

Our payroll is going to go up next year.  It’s going to increase.  The specific level of which, I’m not exactly sure. A big part of that increase is going to be absorbed by the raises inherently due to the players currently under contract or those eligible for arbitration. That will be a big portion of that increase.

This quote got some immediate attention, and for good reason.  Indians fans have been waiting since mid-2008 for the “contention window” to open and for the front office to be given more money to spend.  By the same token, Antonetti seems to place significant emphasis on the sort of money that he’s talking about spending—namely, increases due to players who are already on the roster.

So today, I thought we might look a bit at some of the early payroll obligations for 2012, to see just how much of the increase Antonetti is discussing might be of the internal sort. [Read more...]