Jim Crane told Brian McTaggart yesterday that payroll could approach $50-60m in 2014, with the possibility of it going higher if they get the CSN Houston issue resolved.
This is interesting, seeing as how the Astros have the following commitments to players in 2014:
Wandy Rodriguez: $5.5m (yeah, still paying $5.5m of his salary to Pittsburgh)
Jose Altuve: $1.25m
Arbitration-eligible players are:
Jason Castro
Raul Valdes
Obviously there are a lot of other players from 2013 who will be making around league minimum, should the Astros decide to keep them. Baseball-Reference puts the current construction of the 2014 roster at around $20.4m, which means that the Astros could spend $30-40m this winter.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
