The difference between your current payroll commitments and last year’s Opening Day payroll is about $30 million. Do you plan to use all of that space?
The payroll will be right where it’s been. No reason not to. We’re committed to it. We’re all just trying to create flexibility to spend more.
In discussion with The Athletic, Derrick Hall said the above, apparently indicating that the team has $30 million to spend on free-agents this winter. That’s significantly more than they have had for a while - probably since the stunning signing of Zack Greinke in December 2015.