The Mets just may be the first team in baseball history to operate without concern for the bottom line. So it’s no surprise the financial balance sheet won’t look especially pretty — if one happens to care about that sort of thing (the Mets apparently do not).
Before they take the field, the previously penurious team from Queens has already ensured itself of setting records for spending money, and also very likely for losing money. The hope and belief, of course, is that all this losing will lead to winning where it counts for them — in the standings. But of course, that part is far from guaranteed (more on that later).
For those who aren’t bothering to keep tabs on the bank account of one of America’s more popular billionaires (at least in these parts), here is a rundown of red ink for our beloved orange and blue:
The payroll is at $382 million, and counting.
The tax is up to $109 million, which is more than the payrolls of some teams.
The financial loss is expected to be $200 million or more, at least according to estimates of sources around the league. (For those who don’t believe it’s possible to lose money owning a big-league team, well, consider that Mets revenues are expected to be considerably lower than the $491 million total player and tax expense alone.)
Want to catch a game? The Mets schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Of course, while the Mets are a lock to lose a lot of loot, they seem likely to win a ton of games, perhaps even as many as last year. Which is all that really matters to Mets owner/savior Steve Cohen.
Even before a pitch is thrown, the Mets are the talk of baseball. And it’s all because Cohen’s the first owner with almost total disregard for the bottom line.
I say “almost” because Cohen did draw the line at adding star shortstop Carlos Correa on a $315 million agreement that could have cost $656 million over 12 years assuming the Mets remain over the fourth-tier so-called “Steve Cohen tax” (pretty likely) and a new collective bargaining agreement remained at “only” the 110 percent it hits next year (not that likely).
Moments after agreeing to the Correa deal, among other things Cohen told me by phone from Hawaii, “What the heck’s the difference?” over those extra dollars on a deal and player he viewed as key. But ultimately, Cohen did show some rare restraint, as the Mets eventually pulled away from the deal following a reading of an MRI that raised red flags.
That tiny bit of caution didn’t prevent Cohen from being a big lobby topic among other owners last week at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. The subjects? 1) How some owners predicted Cohen would spend like crazy (this was from the “I told you so,” set), 2) What they can do about Cohen’s budget (nothing for four years, until there’s a new CBA).
Ultimately though, while I heard of some behind-the-scenes complaining about Cohen, I could find no one to say discouraging words aloud. Almost to an owner, they said the same thing: “He’s not doing anything against the rules,” or some version of that. Which is very true.
There’s really no room to complain, and also no guarantee the Mets win. While the Mets’ player payroll is about 30 percent more than the next highest team (the crosstown Yankees), in baseball spending doesn’t equal winning. The Mets know that better than most having once put together what Bob Klapisch and John Harper called “The Worst Team Money Could Buy.”
These Mets, of course, will bear no resemblance to that awful 1992 squad. Although Cohen told The Post upon agreeing to the Correa deal in the wee hours of Dec. 21 that “we need one more thing, and this was it,” even without Correa, the Mets look as solid as they have in decades.
They won 101 games last year, and should be better from here, even with Correa in the Twin Cities and Eduardo Escobar manning third base again. Escobar isn’t Correa, whose playoff pedigree would have been a nice add, but let’s not forget Escobar was the Mets’ best player in September. And also, he’s an actual third baseman.
Overall, the offense should be similar to last year, which is to say a little light on power but strong on balance, speed and the ability to put the ball in play. The top two prospects, Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez, while long shots to make the Opening Day roster, provide the sort of eventual depth that was missing last year.
But the real difference is in the pitching staff, especially the rotation, where the superhuman Jacob deGrom will be replaced by the equally superhuman but more dependable and Cooperstown-bound Justin Verlander, the super-solid Chris Bassitt will be replaced by the talented Kodai Senga and the improved Taijuan Walker will be replaced by older but also improving Jose Quintana.
Compared to some of the deals out there in a frenzied free-agent market, the Mets actually got a couple relative bargains. Had they not, they would have been the first team to top half a billion dollars. And that wouldn’t have fazed Cohen one bit, either.
