The New York Mets currently enter this offseason with a payroll of an estimated $225 million. Knowing Steve Cohen is looking to spend big, in hopes of the Mets making progress next postseason, a lot of money will be spent in the coming months.
The question then becomes, exactly how much will Cohen and the Mets even have at their disposal? It has, however, been well-documented how many players currently accounting against the payroll have opt-outs, mutual options with the team, as well as options for the club.
- The Mets’ young catcher is set to be out for two months
- Mets could get All-Star slugger back vs. Cardinals on Friday
- Mets’ Adrian Houser suffers second poor start in 10-0 loss to Dodgers
How much money will the Mets likely add for the offseason:
Starting with the biggest domino, Jacob deGrom, he is owed a salary of $30.5 million and is widely expected to opt out. If so, it would get the Mets’ payroll down from $225 million to $194.5. From there, Chris Bassitt, with a mutual option that will likely be declined, is owed $19 million. Declining the option drops the payroll down to $175.5.
The final two starters with options are Carlos Carrasco, who has a team option that seems likely to be declined. He has a salary of $14 million, which brings it down to $161.5. Finally, Taijuan Walker has a salary of $7 million on his player option he will not exercise. That brings the payroll down to $154.5.
In total, between these expected four opt-outs, the Mets would clear off the books a whopping $70.5 million. If they want to keep deGrom and Edwin Diaz, that amount right there would likely do it. And from there, they would still have the money available to make one splash addition.
So while there are rightfully so great concerns about the potential overhaul of this rotation, it would, however lead to much more flexibility in terms of spending. This offseason is a pivotal one for the Mets. They must maximize the resources that they have available to them and add more elite difference-makers.