As the off-season takes its course I was curious to see where the fish stand as far as payroll fr next year. I have constantly heard that Loria has pledged a bump in payroll to the $35-40 million dollar range. I decided to do a little research and math in an attempt to see what else we might expect this offseason from the fish. As of now our team would resemble something like this:

Note - the arbitration eligble players were given salaries that were equated on a website I stumbled upon that uses a bunch of fancy dancy tools to measure how much a player should get

Catcher - $1.21 million (Baker 410,000 + Treanor 800,000)

Infielders - $17.91 million (Hanley Ramirez 5,500,000 + Jorge Cantu 4,500,000 + Dan Uggla 4,400,000 + Alfredo Amezaga 1,750,000 + Wes Helms 950,000 + Robert Andino 410,000 + Gaby Sanchez 400,000)

Outfielders - $6.31 million (Cody Ross 3,000,000 + Jeremy Hermida 2,500,000 + Brett Carrol 410,000 + Cameron Maybin 400,000)

Starting Pitching - $6.63 milliom (Ricky Nolasco 2,750,000 + Josh Johnson 1,500,000 + Andrew Miller 1,300,000 + Anibel Sanchez 420,000 + Chris Volstad 410,000)

Bullpen - $3.635 million (Matt Lidstrom 420,000 + Renyl Pinto 420,000 + Doug Waechter 625,000 + Joe Nelson 800,000 + Taylor Tankersly 420,000 + Logan Kensing 550,000 + Eulogio de la Cruz 400,000)

Total 2009 Payroll = $35,695,000

Of course a couple bench outfielders/infielders may be substituted but the salary figures would not change drastically.

What I take this as is that the Marlins have pretty much hit their number for next year. They still have roughly 4 million to play with if they stay true to the 40 million bump but I would personally like to see some of that money go towards Arthur Rhodes. Would anybody be against bringing in Raul Ibanez at the right price?

I was also thinking - could it be possible, sometime in the future, to move Uggla to leftfield and take a shot with Andino/Amezaga/Bonaficio/Coughlin at 2nd base? Maybe even a Jorge Cantu at 2B. I dont know, just throwing it out there in case the Marlins decide to trade Hermida as well.

But barring any shake ups or major deals I can see the above looking a lot like our opening day roster and I dont mind - the fish should be competitive.