The 2010 Winter Meetings saw the Pittsburgh Pirates sign three players: Scott Olsen, Kevin Correia, and Matt Diaz, along with making a Rule 5 selection, taking Josh Rodriguez from the Cleveland Indians. The only signing that has been made official so far has been Olsen, so there are technically two spots open on the 40-man roster. However, since Correia and Diaz should be added in the next week, I went ahead and updated the 2010 40-man roster/payroll projection.
The payroll projection currently sits at $36,383,000, after estimated arbitration raises to Joel Hanrahan and Ross Ohlendorf. There are two potential moves that could lower that projected payroll:
1. A Ryan Doumit Trade – The Pirates would most likely have to pick up a large portion of Doumit’s salary to get any value in return, although I can see a Doumit trade (if it happens) cutting $1-2 M off the payroll.
2. A Paul Maholm Trade – The Pirates seem to be shopping Maholm, who makes $5.75 M this year. Like Doumit, I could see the Pirates picking up some of Maholm’s salary to get a better return. They might shed some salary, although if Maholm is moved I think the salary they cut gets spent on Kenshin Kawakami.
For reference, the Pirates opened with a $39 M payroll in 2010. Prior to that, they started in the $48.6 M range the previous two seasons.