It was a big day for the New York Mets on Tuesday as they officially introduced Justin Verlander, their top offseason addition, and also re-signed relief pitcher Adam Ottavino to a two-year, $14.5 million contract.
That deal includes an opt-out after the first year.
But the real news here is how much the Mets’ payroll continues to balloon, dwarfing pretty much every other team in Major League Baseball.
They have blown past Major League Baseball’s luxury tax threshold and there is not another team that is even remotely close to them. According to Sportrac, their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees, are the only other team that has exceeded the luxury tax threshold with their current payroll ($233 million in CBT spending), and nobody else is even close.
It is a sign that Mets owner Steve Cohen is willing to spend any amount of money that he needs to spend to put a winner on the field.
Even though the Mets lost long-time starting pitcher Jacob DeGrom this offseason, they still spent significantly to retain Ottavino, Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Diaz while also signing Verlander to a contract that guarantees him over $86.6 million. They also made Diaz the highest paid relief pitcher in major league history.
That sort of spending, especially in a city like New York, also brings enormous expectations.
Even though the Mets won 101 games a year ago, the season was still viewed as a disappointment after allowing a massive division lead to slip away late in the season and then losing two out of three games to the San Diego Padres in the National League Wild Card series.
That sort of result is not going to be accepted again with this payroll. It would be unfair to put World Series or bust expectations on any team, but anything less than a division title and at least advancing in the playoffs would have to be viewed as an unacceptable performance.
