Final (?) Check on 2018 Mets Payroll
With Spring Training set to begin, we take what could be the final look at the 2018 Mets payroll. The team surprised many of us when they signed Todd Frazier; maybe there are a couple of more tricks up Sandy Alderson’s sleeves.
Matt Harvey: $5,600,000 (actual)
Jacob deGrom: $7,400,000 (actual)
Zack Wheeler: $1,900,000 (actual)
Noah Syndergaard: $2,975,000 (actual)
Steven Matz: $600,000 (est)
Jeurys Familia: $7,925,000 (actual)
Jerry Blevins: $7,000,000 (actual)
Anthony Swarzak: $5,500,000 (actual)
A.J. Ramos $9,225,000 (actual)
Robert Gsellman: $600,000 (est)
Seth Lugo: $600,000 (est)
Hansel Robles: $900,000 (actual)
Travis d’Arnaud: $3,470,000 (actual)
Kevin Plawecki: $600,000 (est)
David Wright: $20,000,000 (actual)
Asdrubal Cabrera: $8,250,000 (actual)
Wilmer Flores: $3,40,000 (actual)
Todd Frazier: $8,000,000 (actual)
Jose Reyes: $2,000,000 (actual)
Adrian Gonzalez: $600,000 (est)
Dominic Smith: $600,000 (est)
Amed Rosario: $600,000 (est)
Yoenis Cespedes: $29,000,000 (actual)
Jay Bruce: $11,000,000 (actual)
Juan Lagares: $6,500,000 (actual)
Michael Conforto: $600,000 (est)
Brandon Nimmo: $600,000 (est)
The Mets have $138,545,000 tied up in committed salaries for next season. About $5.400,000 is allocated for players who will make near the major league minimum (that figure is actually $545,000, but for our purposes, I set it at $600,000). That’s a grand total of $143,945,000. That’s still $10 million short of last season’s Opening Day Mets payroll, but more than most people thought they would spend this season.
There are still plenty of quality free agents out there. If Alderson can nab one at a deep discount, I can see him convincing the Wilpons to spend a bit more money in an effort to really go for it this season. Otherwise, this is roughly the 2018 Mets payroll. It’s hard to call the Wilpons cheap when they approved this expenditure. Of course, they could spent double this if they wanted to, but how many World Series championships have the Dodgers won these past five seasons with payrolls north of $200 million (zero)? And they’ve been to as many World Series as the Mets (one). So maybe the Mets are being smart. I don’t know; I just want the Mets to win!