Crane intends to keep same payroll
As almost $70 million left his books following the World Series, owner Jim Crane committed to keep the Astros’ 2022 payroll “where we’ve been” in relation to Major League Baseball’s competitive balance tax.
“We’ve been right at the cap, and one year we were over,” Crane said on Friday. “Thankfully, because we have great fans and great sponsors, our revenues were good this year. The budget will be at the top of baseball. I don’t think but one or two teams were over (the competitive balance tax) last year. We were over the previous year, but right under this year. We’ll be right in that range.”
Baseball does not have a salary cap, although Crane referred to the sport’s comWith petitive balance tax as a “cap.” Whether the CBT (also called the luxury tax) will even exist as part of the sport’s new collective bargaining agreement is another mystery. The collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1.
For purposes of parsing Crane’s Friday comments, consider the Astros payroll positioning during the last two seasons. According to Spotrac, Houston exceeded the $208 million luxury tax threshold with a $221,790,629 total payroll in 2020 before proration to account for the 60-game season.
The Astros had a $206,039,619 luxury tax payroll in 2021, according to Spotrac. The sport’s competitive balance tax was $210 million.
The impending loss of Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke and Carlos Correa trimmed $69,366,667 from the team’s payroll. According to Spotrac, the Astros enter the winter with $120,549,999 committed between guaranteed contracts and estimates for five arbitration-eligible players.
“We don’t know where the CBT will land on the threshold and we’ll see where that goes. If we have to make a move to compete and close out something, we’ve always done that,” Crane said. “We have the resources because we’ve got great support from the city and all the people that come to the ballpark. It’s a fun place to be. Our goal is to win championships, put the best team we can put on the field every single year and be competitive.”