Turning the chapter from 2011 to 2012 will be easy for Padres fans.  It appears that fans got a good long glimpse of the 2012 team at the end of 2011, is that a good thing?  You tell me.

Most of us anticipated the Padres would have cut ties with Bell, Ludwick, and Harang during the season.  Which would have opened up salary for 2012 and allowed the team to start extending some of the younger players such as Latos, Stauffer, Maybin, and/or Headley.  My question all season has been, how will they get to $55-$60M in 2012?  The free agent class is weak, and they have money coming off the books.  I don't want to see the team spend money for the sake of spending money, but I don't want to see fan uproar when/if the team fails to meet payroll expectations. 

I took the time to take a look at the what Padres have committed to 2012 in terms of payroll.  Arbitration eligible players are projected and subject to change.  (See chart below)

Bold = Arbitration Eligible

* = Free Agent or option

Italic = Buyout

Player minimums ranged last season from 414,000 to 468,000 on the Padres.  For the sake of this exercise, I put all player minimums at 450,000.  MLB will release new minimums during the offseason. 

This list does assume a lot of things, such as Harang staying with the team, Bell accepting arbitration, and the Padres declining the option on Qualls.  I put this together for the sole purpose of looking at the Padres 2012 salaries and thought I would share it. 

You are welcome to point out flaws and debate the amounts I projected for arbitration players.  Keep the faith!