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- New York Mets Sign Carlos Correa and Post MLB-Record $495M Payroll
New York Mets Sign Carlos Correa and Post MLB-Record $495M Payroll
No salary cap, no problem.
Noah Cracknell
December 21, 2022
The big apple gets bigger.
What's happening
In an overnight thriller, gold glove shortstop Carlos Correa – who was set to sign with the San Francisco Giants – signed a 12-year $315M deal with the New York Mets.
After a medical examination, the San Francisco Giants backed out of the deal, leaving room for the New York Mets to swoop in and take the veteran shortstop off the market again.
The New York Mets have had a busy off-season, signing 8 players to multi-million dollar deals. The club is expected to spend $495M in 2023 on payroll alone.
The New York Mets current payroll is estimated to be around $384 million. The luxury-tax payments alone will exceed $111 million. Their total payroll projects to be $495 million.
The previous max payroll in baseball: less than $350 million. Mets are at almost half a billion.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan)
11:30 AM • Dec 21, 2022
Behind the scenes
Steven Cohen, the owner of the New York Mets, is responsible for his team's historic payroll. But he's no stranger to managing a big balance sheet.
Early in his career, Cohen worked as an options trader for Gruntal & Co, regularly generating $100,000 days for the company.
In 1992, he coughed up $25M and launched SAC Capital Advisors. From 1992 to 2013, the firm averaged a 25% return for its investors.
Cohen made the bulk of his money when he placed a $26B bet on Ardea Biosciences before the company was bought by AstraZeneca, increasing Cohen's position to nearly $40B.
Today, he is worth $17.4B.
Why it matters
Major League Baseball is the only sports enterprise among the main four in the United States (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) that doesn't have a salary cap. As a result, billionaire owners like Steve Cohen write bigger checks for high-dollar players.
Earlier this year, 2022 home-run leader Aaron Judge signed a $360M deal with the New York Yankees.
In 2019, Bryce Haper signed a 13-year $330M contract.
Mad-max couldn't refuse a 3-year $130M deal with Cohen's New York Mets.
Looking ahead
Historically-large checks written to the most prominent players in baseball is a good thing. However, the disparity in spending between MLB clubs is often overlooked.
The Oakland A's posted a $48M payroll for the 2022 season.
The Baltimore Orioles dished out $44M to players in 2022.
The Pittsburgh Pirates totaled $66M in payroll in 2022.
Compared to the top dogs in 2022, it's not even close ⬇️
Los Angeles Dodgers: $270M payroll.
New York Mets: $268M payroll.
New York Yankees: $252M payroll.
Punchline: Owners with bottomless checkbooks are buying big-ticket MLB clubs and rising stars to put their clubs above the rest. However, a big checkbook hasn't always been successful in October. Making the playoffs and winning the World Series still requires more than just money. But it sure does make it easier.
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