Written by Rich Swerbinsky

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Jason Johnson, Eduardo Perez, Ben Broussard, Bob Wickman, Ronnie Belliard, Todd Hollandsworth ... and now Guillermo Mota. The purge finally ended yesterday as the team sent Mota to the Mets for the ever so popular "player to be named later or cash". This morning I look at the Mota trade, a season gone wrong, and the 2007 payroll. Jason Johnson to the Red Sox for four packs of David's Sunflower Seeds.

Eduardo Perez to the Mariners for SS Asdrubal Cabrera.

Ben Broussard to the Mariners for OF Shin Soo-Choo.

Bob Wickman to the Braves for C Max Ramirez.

Ronnie Belliard to the Cardinals for IF Hector Luna.

Todd Hollandsworth to the Reds for a player to be named later.

And now Guillermo Mota has been dealt to the Mets for a player to be named later or cash.

Who woulda thunk it?  This was supposed to be an exciting season of contention, and instead the team has been reduced to gutting the roster of all the veterans the team has no financial obligation to past this season.

Of course, these were the right moves by the team.  With the close to $300,000 of Mota's remaining 2006 salary that the Mets will assume, the team has now saved roughly 4.5 million dollars this season, which will hopefully be added to the 2007 payroll.  Finally forced to spend due to fan revolt and a terrible product on the field, the Dolans are now saying they are in a position to "significantly increase the payroll" for next season.

Sadly, the horror of what has transpired this season was the best thing that could have happened to the Indians this season.  After winning 93 games last season with one of the leagues cutest little payrolls, the Dolans and Mark Shapiro were lulled into a sense of thinking that they could outsmart the rest of the league, and win without spending.  These flawed views were exposed big time this season as the White Sox and Tigers continued to increase their payroll and talent level, while the Indians suffered from an bad off-season of decision making from GM Mark Shapiro ... who was forced to be perfect with the teams miniscule payroll.

The Dolans have hinted at a payroll close to 70 million dollars next season, which would still be slightly below the MLB average, but would make this fan happy.  The Indians carried a 56 million dollar payroll this year, which ranked 25th in Major League Baseball.  The team has about 40 million dollars in salaries booked already for next season, so provided the Dolans aren't yanking our chain, the team should be in a position to improve themselves pretty dramatically in the off-season.