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The Mets’ MLB-record payroll last season was $374.7 million, as calculated by the commissioner’s office.
All indications are the team won’t approach that figure in 2024, but it remains likely the Mets will carry a payroll in the $300 million neighborhood (as calculated for luxury tax purposes) that would still rank first, second or third in the major leagues. The Mets’ luxury tax bill for 2023, the Associated Press reported last weekend, was $100.7 million.
The Mets have been trimming the fat this winter. Below is a crude breakdown, by position, of how the team has saved money to this point in the offseason.
First base
2023: $14.5 million
2024: $22 million (projected)
This is one of the few positions at which the Mets will potentially have a significant bump in salary, as Pete Alonso receives a big raise in his final year of arbitration eligibility. If Alonso and the Mets agree on a long-term deal before the season it’s possible this year’s outlay at the position will reach $30 million.
Second base
2023: $32.75 million
2024: $12.5 million
The bulk of last year’s salary at the position went to long-forgotten Robinson Cano, who was paid $20.25 million. Jeff McNeil will be paid $12.5 million next season.
Shortstop
2023: $34.1 million
2024: $34.1 million
Francisco Lindor will begin his fourth season with the Mets and third on the 10-year contract worth $341 million he received from the club. The Mets have cost certainty at shortstop for the next eight seasons (unless Lindor eventually moves to another position).
Third base
2023: $9.1 million
2024: $750,000
Eduardo Escobar began last season as the starting third baseman, but was soon displaced by rookie Brett Baty. The veteran Escobar was traded to the Angels in June, with the Mets picking up most of his remaining salary. Baty remains the third baseman for now, but it’s still possible the Mets add a complementary piece.
Left field
2023: $11.26 million
2024: $1.7 million (projected)
The Mets still haven’t addressed their vacancy at this position, other than to add the arbitration-eligible Tyrone Taylor — who profiles as a fourth outfielder. Maybe the Mets will still splurge here with a player such as Jorge Soler. Last season the Mets opened with Mark Canha as the left fielder.
Center field
2023: $18.5 million
2024: $20.5 million
Brandon Nimmo received an eight-year deal worth $162 million last winter. He is due to remain at $20.5 million for each of the final seven years of the contract.
Right field
2023: $20.75 million
2024: $20.75 million
Starling Marte still has two years remaining on the $78 million contract he received before the 2022 season. The veteran outfielder is coming off a down season in which he missed significant action with injuries. The amount of money he is still owed will make him difficult to trade without the Mets absorbing a significant portion.
Catcher
2023: $18.7 million
2024: $15.63 million
In this case the backup, Omar Narvaez, will receive much more than starter Francisco Alvarez. Narvaez exercised an option worth $7 million for next season. The Mets also are still paying James McCann and are on the hook for $8 million for the veteran catcher.
Designated hitter
2023: $7.5 million
2024: $2.1 million
DJ Stewart and Mark Vientos combined are less expensive than Tommy Pham and Daniel Vogelbach, but the Mets still could add another bat (maybe Justin Turner?) that figures heavily into the DH mix and adds to the payroll.
Starting rotation
2023: $128.9 million
2024: $86.5 million
The Mets still need another proven arm for the rotation, but even so the total amount allocated toward starting pitchers will still be significantly lower than last season — and that is with the $40.5 million combined the Mets will pay toward the Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander contracts factored in.
Top four relievers
2023: $39.35 million
2024: $29.1 million
Though insurance covered Edwin Diaz’s $19.6 million salary last season after he was injured at the WBC, his AAV factored into the luxury tax assessment. Adam Ottavino and David Robertson are removed from the mix, and the Mets’ third and fourth options for now — behind Brooks Raley — are Jorge Lopez and Michael Tonkin, who are earning a combined $3 million.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s recruitment by the Mets and Yankees had all the elements of a great winter battle between the New York rivals, but is it possible that neither team was even the runner-up for the Japanese ace?
At the press conference this week to announce Yamamoto’s arrival to the Dodgers on a 12-year contract worth $325 million, Yamamoto’s agent Joel Wolfe suggested the Giants might have been next on the pitcher’s list.
“[Yamamoto] thought that San Francisco really reminded him of Osaka [Japan] and thought it was a beautiful city,” Wolfe said. “If the Dodgers had not been pursuing him there was a good chance San Francisco could have been his destination.”
Maybe that was just Wolfe trying to show love to San Francisco after Buster Posey’s recent comments that negative perceptions about the city are dissuading free agents from signing with the Giants.
But it seems clear the West Coast teams had the inside track on Yamamoto from the start and even a larger offer from the Mets would have gotten matched by the Dodgers.
New York’s big disadvantage in dealing with Japanese stars is geography, not only in proximity to the players’ homeland, but also the unpredictable weather. In Japan, many teams play in climate-controlled enclosed stadiums, but even with Steve Cohen’s wallet there won’t be a retractable roof above Citi Field anytime soon. The Mets investigated the possibility after Cohen’s purchase of the team and were told the project would cost $800 million. For a point of reference, that is about what it cost to build Citi Field.
Tis the season to wait and wait.
This winter has more resembled the offseason of 2021-22 — when MLB had a lockout in place and teams couldn’t sign players — than last year, when most of the big business was conducted in November and December.
It sure helped last year that Jacob deGrom, Verlander and Aaron Judge all reached agreements before or at the winter meetings, allowing the other dominoes to begin falling.
Now that Shohei Ohtani and Yamamoto have sealed their deals, let’s hurry up and wait on Blake Snell, who in most years would have been the premier free-agent attraction, following a Cy Young award season.
Patience, patience.