I'll be the first to admit there was something of a devil-may-care attitude on my part with the Rose signing. It hasn't taken long for the reality of such cavalier profligacy to come home to roost. With each year that passes, the exponential rise in salaries narrows the gap we have enjoyed with regard to profitability and the ability to manoeuvre payroll fairly easily. So, while it all looks peachy keen with those big green numbers for next year, when we dig a bit deeper things tend toward the murky.
Our big-ticket items for 1970 and beyond are as follows:
- Fryman (final arb year, c $150k per at best estimate)
- Tolan (final arb year, c $175k per at best estimate)
- Johnson (final arb year, c $200k per at best estimate)
- Blass (final arb year, c $125k per at best estimate)
That's $650k right there. Which skinnies up the fat pretty quick. Throw in smaller-cost guys like Popovich, Jackson and the like and we are going to have to be real smart these next few seasons in the decisions we make because we can't afford all of them. Gotta love the champagne taste on the beer salary equation... NOT.
No buyer's remorse whatsoever, it all adds to the challenge I seek and if we get a ring or two then it's a job well done.