14.8 million
14.5 million
13 million
12.5 million
5.5 million
------------
Total: 60.3 million
That's how much of their 88 million and change is locked up in just 5 guys. Think about that. About 30 million tied up in 20 other roster players plus whatever is on the DL or waiting in AAA to get called back up. No wonder they have little pitching depth, there's hardly any money to even buy Darren Dreifort or Kevin Appier's corpse.
Granted, those five salaries belong to maybe five of their most important players, but this team lacks depth and really isn't ready to compete with Milwaukee or Chicago, let alone St. Louis. You wonder how long they keep those 5 guys around, plus the salary of Jose Valverde's when soon enough it's time to pay Hunter Pence, JR Towles, Michael Bourn, and Wandy Rodriguez.
And those five are..
Miguel Tejada
Lance Berkman
Roy Oswalt
Carlos Lee
and Kaz Matsui
Oh yeah, they're paying Ty Wigginton and Shawn Chacon over 6 million. Yep. That should give plenty of inspired hope to any future baseball player.