NEW YORK — Even after a relatively quiet offseason, the New York Mets have the highest payroll in Major League Baseball. And team owner Steve Cohen said Friday, before the Mets’ season opener against the Milwaukee Brewers, that he doesn’t see it as a goal to reduce payroll below the initial tax threshold. luxury sports.
The luxury tax has several thresholds: the first at $237 million, then additional checkpoints at $257 million, $277 million and $297 million. Teams pay fees in increasing percentages with each new threshold, and teams spending more than $277 million this year will lose international bonus money and see their first draft pick reduced 10 spots. The penalties increase each consecutive year that a team exceeds the thresholds.
While big spenders like the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have routinely exceeded the tax, they have typically targeted individual seasons to fall below the first threshold in order to reset the penalties. The Yankees dodged the tax in 2021 and Los Angeles in 2020.
The Mets had never paid the luxury tax in its current form until Cohen’s second year as owner in 2022. This year will be the third straight year to exceed the threshold, and the 2024 Mets will have a mass luxury tax salary of approximately $340 million, or more than $100 million beyond the first threshold. That means a fee of around $90 million, with an addition like recent JD Martinez costing the Mets 110 percent in fees on top of Martinez’s salary.
The Mets could possibly fall below the initial $241 million threshold next season by letting Pete Alonso leave and sitting out most of free agency, but Cohen acknowledged that this limit “seems far away”.
“It seems like it might be difficult to do,” he continued. “We don’t have to do this. I’m perfectly happy to fund us in a way where that’s not a goal of mine. If that were to happen, that would be fantastic. The reality is that you should expect something in between. »
That said, Cohen continues to emphasize improvements in the Mets’ player development that could reduce the club’s spending in free agency.
“The only way to get out (of paying the tax) is to have a good agricultural system and to be able to put in place players whose costs are reasonably controlled,” he said. “We need to find a mix that works. I’m not afraid to spend money, but I don’t want to spend money for the sake of it. I want this organization to be managed efficiently and professionally. I’ve been saying it for a while: I sincerely believe that the only way to achieve sustainable development is to develop talent.
The Mets farm system ranked 15th in AthleticismThat’s where Keith Law ranks league-wide as spring training begins, with more depth than he’s had in years.
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