2018 Guaranteed Commitments
2017 – $22.5 million, 2018 – $29 million
2017 – $20 million, 2018 – $20 million
2017 – $4.5 million, 2018 – $6.5 million
Even though they have just three players with guaranteed contracts on the books, the Mets have roughly 45 percent of their current payroll locked into some pretty shaky terrain. Wright hasn’t played a full season in four years, Lagares has been reduced to a platoon role, and Cespedes is coming off an injury marred season in year one of his $110 million dollar mega deal. The Mets do have insurance that would cover 75 percent of Wright’s salary after he misses 60 consecutive days.
2018 Arbitration Projections
Typically players become eligible for salary arbitration after accruing 3 years of Major League service time. However, a select few can become eligible for arbitration one year earlier if they qualify as Super Two players.
According to my own estimations, the Mets are facing roughly $15 million in arbitration raises next season. I see Jacob deGrom leading the arbitration eligible players with a massive but well deserved $4.2 million dollar raise. Noah Syndergaard, Wilmer Flores, AJ Ramos and Jeurys Familia are also in line for some substantial raises.
2018 Club Options
2017 – $8.25 million, 2018 – $8.5 million
2017 – $6.5 million, 2018 – $7 million
The Mets will most assuredly exercise their club options on both Blevins and Cabrera. In Jerry Blevins the Mets have a very valuable left-hander in the back of the bullpen. Cabrera could very well see a huge chunk of time at third base next season, and while he’s pedestrian at best, the team likes him.
2018 Projected Payroll
So here’s my final tally…
Guaranteed Contracts – $55.5 million
Arbitration Awards – $51.575 million
Club Options (2) – $15.5 million
Renewed Players (8 at $600K) – $4.8 million
Total Current Payroll – $127.375 million
So before the New York Mets spend one penny this offseason, they head into the hot stove with a payroll already sitting at roughly $127 million.
In 2017, the Mets fielded an opening day payroll of $155 million. However, according to recent comments by Sandy Alderson they were over-budget and made the decision to go for it coming off back-to-back postseason appearances. While a budget has yet to be determined for next season, it sounds like the Wilpons will scale payroll back to the $140 million dollar level. It leaves just a little wiggle room to navigate through the upcoming offseason.
If you’re dreaming of a Mike Moustakas, Yu Darvish, or Jake Arrieta, forget it. In my opinion the best we can hope for is re-signing Jay Bruce, assuming he won’t net more than a three year deal. And even that may be wishful thinking.
Anyway, here’s my first snapshot of the team’s current payroll projections and commitments. As I’ve done in past seasons, I will update these numbers as events warrant.
Also, keep in mind that one or more of the arbitration eligible players could be non-tendered, freeing up more money to spend. But until that officially happens these are my current projections on all eligible players.
Thanks to Cot’s Contracts for their assistance in compiling much of the 2017 data.
