I wasn't keen on a 3 year deal for Rafy but at these prices I'd have a hard time coming up with a negative reaction. MLB is reporting the contract as
Furcal receives salaries of $6.5 million, $8.5 million and $12 million. The team option for 2012 is for $12 million, but vests with 600 plate appearances in 2011. There is a $3 million deferred signing bonus.
We could have some pain in 2011 if he isn't healthy but I'm sure glad we will have him in 2009, even as I worry about his health. They even structured the contract perfectly to coincide with the contracts that drop off next year. I'm very impressed that we just didn't walk away from this deal but worked at it until both sides were happy.
This should not block DeJesus in that he can either move to 2nd, move to CF, Furcal can move to CF, or we could simply trade DeJesus/ DeWitt for some young pitching.
Below is the updated salary table. One column is estimated and one is current. As you can see once we add in the expected arbitration amounts for Martin, Ethier, and Broxton, the expected salary for Manny, and a possible starting pitcher we are close to hitting $120 Million. The salaries of Pierre/Jones/Schmidt are still hurting us. If we sign Manny I have to believe that something will be done with either Pierre or Jones to mitigate the salary in 2009. If we don't sign Manny we could have a sub $100 million budget in 2009.
2009 Dodger Salary Overview
| Name | POS | Age | Est-2009 | Current-2009 |
| Russell Martin | C | 26 | $5,000,000 | $500,000 |
| Back Catcher | C | ??? | $825,000 | $825,000 |
| James Loney | 1st | 25 | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Blake DeWitt | 2nd | 23 | $410,000 | $410,000 |
| Mark Loretta | Utility | 35 | $1,250,000 | $1,250,000 |
| Rafael Furcal | SS | 31 | $7,500,000 | $7,500,000 |
| Chin Lung Hu | SS | 25 | $400,000 | $400,000 |
| Casey Blake | 3rd | 35 | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Andre Ethier | OF | 27 | $3,000,000 | $400,000 |
| Juan Pierre | OF | 32 | $10,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Matt Kemp | OF | 24 | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Andruw Jones | OF | 32 | $17,100,000 | $17,100,000 |
| Manny Ramirez | OF | 36 | $23,000,000 | $ |
| Tony Abreu | Bench | 24 | $415,000 | $415,000 |
| Delywan Young | Bench | 27 | $410,000 | $410,000 |
| Cory Wade | RP | 26 | $410,000 | $410,000 |
| Takashi Saito | RP | 39 | $2,200,000 | $ |
| Jonathan Broxton | RP | 25 | $2,000,000 | $450,000 |
| Relief Pitcher | RP | ??? | $ | $ |
| Ramon Troncoso | RP | 26 | $410,000 | $410,000 |
| Hong-Chih Kuo | RP | 28 | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Scott Elbert | RP | 23 | $410,000 | $410,000 |
| Chad Billingsley | SP | 25 | $600,000 | $415,000 |
| Hiroki Kuroda | SP | 34 | $12,400,000 | $12,400,000 |
| Clayton Kershaw | SP | 21 | $410,000 | $410,000 |
| Starting Pitcher | SP | ??? | $6,000,000 | $ |
| Eric Stults | SP | 29 | $410,000 | $410,000 |
| James McDonald | SP | 24 | $410,000 | $410,000 |
| Jason Schmidt | SP | 36 | $15,500,000 | $15,500,000 |
| Totals | $116,820,000 | $76,785,000 | ||
Don't nitpick a 10,000 - 50,000 difference as we will get them fixed when we get the final amounts but if you see large errors like the $7Million - $5Million for Blake or the error on Ethier's age please let me know. Remember the amounts for Martin, Broxton, Billingsley, and Ethier are estimates.