Straight Cash Homey III: With a Vengeance

Let's see what damage was done in the off-season. This time, we're looking at budgets. I try not to criticize too much on this end. I'm a lousy budgeter in this game (and real life). But, it's worth looking at...

For fun, let's analyze area-by-area:

PLAYERS: Minnesota came in at $100m to top all teams, while Santa Fe's $45m was the lowest budgeted salary total. The North Stars still have about $3m to spend, while Santa Fe right around a $40m payroll. Seven teams have budgeted $90m or more for salaries, while the St. Louis River Cats have already done the budget shuffle to take them up to $90m. Tampa Bay has an astonishing $20m in cap space left (looks like someone plans to make a deadline deal), while Philadelphia is squeaking by with around $200k in cap space.

PROSPECTS: 13 teams are at $20m, with Santa Fe making a budget shift to take them to $22m. Three others--San Fran, DC and LA--have made $1m shifts. Austin and Tampa Bay are tied for the lowest prospect budgets with $6m each.

COACHES: We've gone over the individuals. There's a five-way tie for highest coaching budget at $15m. Burlington had budgeted an astonishing $19m. On the flip side, Houston is taking the "Coaches are stoopid" approach, budgeting $6m.

SCOUTING: Only two teams maxed out their college and HS lines--Santa Fe and Texas--which makes sense since we have the first two picks in the amateur draft. Five clubs have $20m budgeted for HS scouting while only three max out on colleges. Boston gets the Moneyball Award, spending $20m on collegiate scounting and zeroing out his HS line. Chicago and KC are the only two clubs with $20m invested in international. Three clubs--Austin, Minnesota and Texas--have no international budgets.

TRAINING/MEDICAL: Arizona is the only squad with maxed out training and medical numbers. St. Louis, on the other hand, is relying on Medicare and GNC for its programs, budgeting a combined $14m.