[J P Falcon the 3rd]

Originally Posted by D-Ray Billy

Honestly, no. My payroll is legitimately $27M for 2011. I've negotiated some small extensions with solid players like Mike Adams ($3.5M) and Clayton Richard ($4M).

With $17M as a starting point with Johnson, I didn't even want to pretend. There was no point in offering him $9. I have three minor league second basemen coming up in the next year or two who'll all produce similar numbers for the league minimum.

So why blow out my payroll?

Ok, if you really were keen on not wanting to keep then I can understand that. You should have done it though to have some fun torquing him off...