Brewers deferred payments

I’ve been coming out with period payroll projections this winter and Aramis Ramirez’s 2014 is a common point of confusion, and sometimes contention, for people.  I don’t blame anyone as contracts can often be convoluted and information difficult to find.  His total salary is technically $16 million, but $6 million of that is deferred to a later date.  This got me wondering about the other players with deferred salary and I thought I’d share what I found.

As discussed above, Ramirez’s 2014 salary stipulates $6 million is deferred.  I use Cot’sContracts for most of my salary information.  Sometimes I'll check B-Ref, but that's only for confirmation if something is called into question.  Neither of these sites listed when or in what quantities the deferred payments were to be made.  It was only by chance that I stumbled upon this article and learned $3M will be paid in 2017 and the other $3 million in 2018.

Ryan Braun’s contract stipulates “$18 million in salary (4 million each in 2016-18 and $3 million each in 2019-20) deferred without interest, to be paid in equal installments each July 1 from 2022 to 2031.”  In other words, the Brewers are to pay Braun $1.8 million over the course of ten years.  Those payments begin the year after Braun’s final option year.  He's also owed $10 million  from a signing bonus.  That's to be paid in equal installments over 4 years, the last two of which are 2014 and 2015.  That's $2.5 million each year.

Kyle Lohse is the other player whose contract includes deferred salary.  Seven million dollars of his 2013 salary is deferred, to be paid over the years of 2016-2018.  If it’s like Ramirez and Braun’s deferred payments, it’ll be in equal installments.  That’s $2,333,333 for 3 years.

Ramirez’s deferred payments will overlap with the last 2 years of Lohse’s deferred payments.  Assuming I’m correct about the structure of Lohse’s payments, the Brewers will then owe $5.33 million in 2017 and 2018.  It’s possible that could end up being a significant or prohibitive figure.  I don’t think it actually will be, but ownership could easily point to that as a public rationalization not to spend.  Braun’s deferred payments (2022-2031) should not have any real impact on future payroll.

-All salary information in this article comes from Cot's Contract's Brewers page.