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As rosters, and accordingly payrolls, around baseball settle into their pre-spring training forms, the Astros have a good sense of where they will be in terms of opening day payroll. Down again, and intentionally so.
The Astros' payroll is almost assuredly going to fall for a third consecutive offseason. After coming in around $70 million last year (closer to $80 million counting money owed to the Phillies in the Roy Oswalt deal), the Astros will settle in somewhere around $62 million in 2012.
That number can see minor fluctuations.
Infielder Jed Lowrie's exchange of figures with the Astros for arbitration represents a $600,000 gap, outfielder Jack Cust's presence or absence on the roster will have an impact as a non-guaranteed player and how many Astros start the year on the disabled list (Jason Castro is likely to) all have an impact.
Jason Castro is one player probably will start the season on the disabled list.
But barring a trade of a big salary like Carlos Lee's or Wandy Rodriguez's, increasingly unlikely as teams have filled most needs, $62 million is a good estimate. And the ownership likes it too.
"(General manager Jeff Luhnow) has got the budget and he's on budget," owner Jim Crane said. "I think you can expect him to do more as the year progresses and to sign some more players as we move along."
With little on the big league roster and some debt to pay off on the team, Crane plans to keep payroll low until he can use free agency to complement a core of players in place, which could still be years away.
