Barring a surprise, the Mets are done making notable free agent signings and trades this offseason, except perhaps the possibility inking the injured Brandon Woodruff with an eye on 2025.
That means their payroll as it stands right now will likely be the one -- give or take a little -- they enter the 2024 season with.
And despite a measured offseason that was drastically different than any other of the young Steve Cohen era, the Mets will enter the season with one of the highest payrolls -- and perhaps the top one -- in baseball.
That is because despite the Mets' signings and trades this offseason not being splashy or big (in terms of dollars or years), they still have a ton of money on the books this year from deals that were handed out during the last few offseasons.
The only major swing the Mets took this offseason under new president of baseball operations David Stearns was their full-court press of Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, which culminated with a contract offer of $325 million.
Yamamoto spurning the Mets (and Yankees, and a host of others) to join the Los Angeles Dodgers will hurt New York's ceiling in 2024, but that money not being on the books for the next decade-plus should allow them even more flexibility to spend next offseason and beyond (much more on that below).
Ahead of the 2023 season, New York blew well past the top threshold of what was unofficially dubbed the "Steve Cohen tax." That spending brought the Mets' Opening Day payroll to $330.6 million -- a record for any team in the four major sports in the United States. Of course, the 2023 season was a disaster, and Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer were traded at the deadline.
A significant chunk of Verlander and Scherzer's deals are still on the books this season, but things will clear up in a big way after the year.
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