We knew the New York Mets were going to receive a huge luxury tax penalty in 2023. After all, the club spent like crazy last winter.
It didn't do anything since the Mets missed the playoffs, but hey.
And even if Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were traded along the way, the fact remains that the Mets are going to have a huge bill.
And now the numbers are out: the Mets have a bill of approximately $101 million ($100,781,932) to pay for the luxury tax in 2023. That's more than the payroll of many teams, that.
This is the result of a payroll of $374.7 million, a record… and if the club had not been a seller this summer, almost $10 million would have had to be added to the $100 million penalty.
Remember that the MLB luxury tax is for those who pay more than $230 million to their players. There are tiers at (approximately) $230, $250, $270 and $290 million. The fourth level is very expensive.
$100 million, this is by far the record in history, which belonged to the Dodgers in 2015: $43.6 million.
The Mets aren't the only ones having to pay the luxury tax, but it's clear that Steve Cohen is truly alone on his island.
- Dishes: $100.8 million
- Padres: $39.7 million
- Yankees: $32.4 million
- Dodgers: $19.4 million
- Phillies: $6.98 million
- Blue Jays: $5.5M (first time they pay it)
- Braves: $3.2M (first time they pay it)
- Rangers: $1.8M (first time paying her)
A total of eight teams pay the luxury tax, which is a record. And it could have been worse if the Angels hadn't gone $30,000 from having to pay, too.
The $209.8 million redistributed to less wealthy teams is a record, obviously. The old record? $78.5 million in 2022. That's less than the Mets' 2023 penalty!
When we see a club like Rangers, we see that this is how the luxury tax should be used. The formation was going to be subpar, but decided to take action.
For what? Because he needed pitchers to win the World Series. And today, I don't think the owner is worried about that, is he?
Remember that the luxury tax is redistributed to poor teams in the league.
I can't wait to see, in 2024, what the value of the penalty will be for clubs like the Mets, but also the Dodgers. #ShoheiOhtani #YoshinobuYamamoto
