Sandy Alderson clarified his comments during his briefing tonight when he told reporters that he is now working with an $85 million payroll figure.
What he meant to say was that payroll would not be lower than $85 million which was $2 million less than his original $87 million base. I wish he would stop talking about this already and just improve the team.
Last season, the Mets payroll was $88.9 million which ranked in the bottom half of all MLB teams at 19th highest.
- New York Yankees $228,995,945
- Los Angeles Dodgers $216,302,909
- Philadelphia $159,578,214
- Boston $158,967,286
- Detroit $149,046,844
- San Francisco $142,180,333
- Los Angeles Angels $142,165,250
- Texas $127,197,575
- Chicago White Sox $124,065,277
- Toronto $118,244,039
- St. Louis $116,702,085
- Washington $112,431,770
- Cincinnati $110,565,728
- Chicago Cubs $104,150,726
- Baltimore $91,793,333
- Milwaukee $91,003,366
- Arizona $90,158,500
- Atlanta $89,288,193
- New York Mets $88,877,033
- Seattle $84,295,952
- Cleveland $82,517,300
- Kansas City $80,491,725
- Minnesota $75,562,500
- Colorado $75,449,071
- San Diego $71,689,900
- Oakland $68,577,000
- Pittsburgh $66,289,524
- Tampa Bay $57,030,272
- Miami $39,621,900
So if the Mets were to say spend the same amount, or about $4.5 million above that $85 million base, there a good chance the Mets will be in the bottom ten with teams like the Marlins, Pirates, Padres, etc. Especially with other teams spending their new TV money. The Mariners and Royals may have already passed the Mets up.
The Mets were recently ranked as the third most valuable major league baseball franchise by Forbes Magazine.
Original Post 12/7
Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, estimates the current Mets payroll to be at $75.4 million dollars.
He calculates $47.5 million on guaranteed contracts for David Wright, Jon Niese, Chris Young and Curtis Granderson. Projects an additional $20.9 million for seven arbitration eligibles, and roughly another $7 million for the other 14 spots at league minimum.
If you were to use the $25-30 million spending allotment that Jeff Wilpon stated last month, or the minimum $87 million figure Sandy Alderson mentioned two weeks ago, it gives the team roughly $12-13 million left to spend.
It sounds like plenty of money to get the job done and don’t forget that more money can be cleared up if the Mets were to unload Ike Davis or Daniel Murphy or both as many expect.
The number one priority for Sandy is to find a leadoff hitter to round this offense out. Ideally that player should play shortstop. Let’s see how this all plays out beginning tomorrow in Orlando.
