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Ken Kendrick's comments in the Republic and Tribune -- "We have an opportunity, if the circumstances would present themselves, that we could spend some more money at the midseason mark if that made sense" -- reminded me that I needed to close the loop on the Diamondbacks payroll situation.

I tackled this most recently last month. Since then, the biggest move has been the Fossum-Cruz trade.

When I put together the numbers I get a total major league payroll of $62 million, or a couple million more than what Kendrick reportedly said. How do I get to that number? Well, I take the salaries of the 20 players who'll make the 25-man roster barring injury or stunning collapse in fundamentals and get $60,240,000. (Remember I use $350,000 as a blanket salary for non-arb-eligible or minor-league-contract players in the major leagues.) Add to that 5 players at that $350,000 yearly salary, and you get $61,990,000. Keep in mind that these numbers don't adjust for the $19.5 million in cash the D-Backs got in the Johnson, Green, and Cruz deals.

So, can anyone resolve the mystery? It's not an academic question, since Kendrick implied that there was about $3 million to play with at mid-season if we're lucky enough to still be in contention, the difference being the amount between the payroll now and their $63 million budget. If the actual budget is $2 million higher, that would seem to make the amount of money to play with next to useless. Of course, if the answer is to trade away Carlos Quentin, perhaps we want management to feel restricted...

Pitchers (Total = $21,940,000 for 7)
* Greg Aquino -- 350,000
* Randy Choate -- 550,000
* Shawn Estes -- 2,500,000
* Mike Koplove -- 825,000
* Russ Ortiz -- 6,500,000
* Brandon Webb -- 715,000
* Javier Vazquez -- 10,500,000

Catchers (Total = $700,000 for 2)
* Chris Snyder -- 350,000 (note: could easily be Hill here)
* Kelly Stinnett -- 350,000

Infielders (Total = $12,750,000 for 7)
* Alex Cintron -- 350,000
* Royce Clayton -- 1,350,000
* Craig Counsell -- 1,350,000
* Troy Glaus -- 8,250,000
* Tony Clark -- 750,000
* Matt Kata -- 350,000
* Chad Tracy -- 350,000

Outfielders (Total = $24,850,000 for 4)
* Shawn Green -- 10,500,000
* Luis Gonzalez -- 10,000,000
* Luis Terrero -- 350,000
* Jose Cruz, Jr. -- 4,000,000

Remaining Players (22; obviously 2 will be left off 40-man)
P Brian Bruney -- 350,000
P Jason Bulger -- 50,000
P Lance Cormier -- 350,000
P Edgar Gonzalez -- 350,000
P Enrique Gonzalez -- 50,000
P Mike Gosling -- 350,000
P Brad Halsey -- 350,000
P Brandon Lyon -- 330,000
P Bill Murphy -- 50,000
P Dustin Nippert -- 50,000
P Tony (Ramon) Pena -- 50,000
P Adam Peterson -- 350,000
P Jose Valverde -- 350,000
P Oscar Villarreal -- 350,000
P Justin Wechsler -- 50,000
IF Koyie Hill -- 350,000 (see Snyder)
IF Jerry Gil -- 350,000
IF/OF Scott Hairston -- 350,000
OF Josh Kroeger -- 350,000
OF Reggie Abercrombie -- 50,000
OF Marland Williams -- 50,000
OF Quentin McCracken -- 350,000