The Mets Are Illustrating A Frustrating MLB Salary Fact

 

MLB is a diverse universe.

Like the world itself, it has very rich people and those who are more stingy, or careful.

The league has wealthy owners and those who prefer not to spend that much on their teams.

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is the wealthiest in baseball, with a net worth calculated at around $15 billion.

MLB doesn’t have a hard cap, but the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) threshold acts like a spending limit to teams that don’t want to pay overage taxes.

There are several tiers of taxes when a club spends more than the established threshold.

The last tier is applied when a team surpasses the threshold (set at $233 million for 2023) by more than $60 million, and results in a 60 percent tax on all overages.

 

The Steve Cohen Tax Is Really A Thing

This tier is informally called the Steve Cohen tax, but the league might as well go ahead and make things official with the name.

Look at this fascinating, yet frustrating fact.

“Right now the Mets (Steve Cohen) are set to pay $60 million on luxury tax PENALTIES for 2023. That’s more than the TEAM PAYROLL for following teams in 2023: Pirates, Orioles, A’s,” Mets insider Michael Mayer tweeted.

Right now the Mets (Steve Cohen) are set to pay $60 million on luxury tax PENALTIES for 2023. That’s more than the TEAM PAYROLL for following teams in 2023:

Pirates
Orioles
A’s

— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) December 9, 2022

The Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, and Baltimore Orioles will pay less in payroll than the Mets will on taxes alone.

Isn’t that something?

The Mets’ payroll went well over $300 million after signing Brandon Nimmo to an eight-year, $162 million contract and David Robertson to a one-year, $10 million deal.

They have, by far, the largest payroll in baseball and are flexing their financial muscle to see if they can make a deep playoff run in 2023.

So far, so good.