Remember the Luxury tax? *Edited*

Remember those days, way back in December, where all the talk about the Red Sox was about staying under the CBT limit of $170,000,000 for the year?  Eventually that all died away, with most people figuring that the Sox wouldn't be able to stay under it in 2010, and assuming they'd just try to not go too far over.  Lackey was signed, Scutaro was signed, Beltre was signed, and we all know they were working on some crafty accounting, but it didn't look possible to stay under.

So, anyone been wondering how they're doing?

I thought it'd be fun, now that the season is under way to have a look at what the team salary is looking like for the year, and just how much they're going over by.  Anyone else think this is fun?

After the jump, I've got all the numbers and calculations I could get my hands on.  I've gott give Cot's Baseball Contracts credit for pretty much all of the contract information, which I deciphered as best I could using what I could figure from the MLBPA.
Go ahead, take a look.

First of all, though, I do have a little disclaimer.  I'm not a lawyer or an accountant.  I don't really know what I'm doing.  There is a lot of incorrect information available online about how to calculate this, so I've read this section of the agreement pretty thoroughly and this is my best understanding.  Some of it could be incorrect, but it's the best I can figure.  I'd love feedback, if anyone spots anything they don't think is correct, let me know and I'll look into it.  Also, some of the formatting didn't come out perfect, so you can download the spreadsheet but clicking on the link before it if you're so inclined.

CBT End of April

Now, it is worth mentioning that there are more players on the 40 man than that.  I'm not sure, however, how much they get paid.  If it's league minimum (probably is), the total cost comes to about $4 million.  JUST under the Luxury tax limit.  There will be some shuffling, but they only cost the pro-rated amount for the time they are on the roster, so that shouldn't be a significant difference.  Of course, some trades or other will probably happen, and it will be interesting to see if they do stick to the limit as much as it seems like they are.  As was pointed out to me, they are paid minor league salaries pro-rated to major league minimum for any time they play in the majors.  So they're a pretty insignificant contribution.

Now personally, I don't care if they go over.  Doesn't affect me, it's their money.  I certainly give them enough of mine, though, that I like to see them spend.  I mostly just find it interesting to gauge what limits they're putting on themselves.  As I also said in an earlier post, if they can stay under the limit this year, then they will be able to exceed the limit in 2011 with a much smaller penalty (and then after 2011, the CBT expires, and there will probably be a new system in place anyways).

Originally, I forgot one huge thing, the $10 million in player benefits which each team has to pay (and counts for the luxury tax).  This puts them squarely over.  Looks like there is little to no chance that they will be under for 2010.