
Yeah, I'd try to hide the tears rolling down my cheeks if I found out I was going from the Yankees to the Pirates too.
Would the money that Pittsburgh would be on the hook for (now we know it will be $13 million) be subtracted from what's left on the contract (leaving $20 million), and the difference would be split among the last two years of the Burnett's deal (which would mean the Yankees would take a hit of $10 million in 2012 and 2013)? As I originally thought.
Or maybe the Yankees would be hit with all the money left on the deal in 2012 ($20 million)? Then again, since this seems to be all about freeing up money to sign a part-time DH and back-up IF, a highly doubt that. Otherwise the Yankees would be looking at having to pay an extra $3.5 million this season, instead of saving money.
Well I think I found it thanks to SteveTheUmp.com, who I've used before for information regarding the way the MLB Luxury Tax affects things.
Payroll figures are for 40-man rosters and include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses, earned incentive bonuses, non-cash compensation, buyouts of unexercised options and cash transactions, such as money included in trades.
Well, it turns out that the Pirates will be paying Burnett $5 million in 2012, and $8 million in 2013, per the terms of the trade. So according to the quote above, that means the Yankees will take a hit of $11.5 million in 2012, and $8.5 million in 2013, as that will be how the money is given to Pittsburgh.
This means the Yankees will only have an extra $5 million to "play with" this off-season, as opposed to the $6.5 million I originally thought, which still seems like enough to get Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez. But the team has also freed up a little bit more money than I thought for the next off-season. Not that the extra $1.5 million will be enough to sign Cole Hamels, but both Eric Chavez and Freddy Garcia made $1.5 million last season, so that money can come in handy.