It was believed that the club had enough money to keep Jones once Corey Koskie signed a three-year, $17 million deal with Toronto that includes a fourth-year option for $6.5 million if Koskie gets 1,200 at-bats over three seasons.But a closer look reveals how tough it will be for Ryan to keep the payroll at around $55 million, a number ordered unchanged from last season by owner Carl Pohlad.
The Twins have seven players under contract (Brad Radke, Torii Hunter, Joe Mays, Shannon Stewart, Joe Nathan, Juan Castro and Mike Redmond) at around $34.15 million. Terry Mulholland, who is expected to sign shortly, could make around $750,000 next season, pushing the total to $34.9 million.
That leaves Ryan about $20 million to sign 17 players, including arbitration-eligible players Jones, Rivas, Johan Santana, Kyle Lohse, Carlos Silva, J.C. Romero, Matthew LeCroy and Augie Ojeda.
So consider: Jones could get $6 million through arbitration, and Santana, coming off a Cy Young season, also could get $6 million.
That would leave around $8 million to sign 15 players. And keep in mind that Lohse, Silva, Rivas and maybe Romero could make between $1 million and $1.7 million next season.