Here is the most current Opening Day payroll projection for 2016.
Guaranteed Contracts ($120.125 Million)
Yoenis Cespedes – $27.5 Million
David Wright – $20.0 Million
Curtis Granderson – $16.0 Million
Asdrubal Cabrera – $8.25 Million
Bartolo Colon – $7.25 Million
Lucas Duda – $6.725 Million
Alejandro De Aza – $5.75 Million
Antonio Bastardo – $5.375 Million
Addison Reed – $5.3 Million
Matt Harvey – $4.325 Million
Jerry Blevins – $4.0 Million
Ruben Tejada – $3.0 Million
Juan Lagares – $2.5 Million
Jenrry Mejia – $2.47 Million
Carlos Torres – $1.05 Million
Josh Edgin – $625 K
Arbitration ($16.6 Million)
Neil Walker – $11.8 Million ($9.4M)
Jeurys Familia – $4.8 Million ($3.3M)
That amounts to $134.255 million for 17 roster spots, not including Jenrry Mejia who starts the season on the suspended list. I used an aggregate of $600,000 to calculate the remaining eight roster spots at $4.8 million dollars.
Projected 2016 Payroll – $139.06 Million Dollars
That puts the current Mets payroll projection at $139.06 million dollars or roughly $36 million more than Opening Day in 2015.
There’s also a possibility they could add another reliever to the bullpen, which could bring the final number past the $140 million dollar level and closer to $145 million.
I don’t know about you guys, but as for me, I’m going to tone down my rhetoric against the Wilpons moving forward. The truth is that they pledged to spend accordingly once the fans returned to Citi Field and they did exactly that.
The Mets are now exactly where I want them to be as an organization on the verge of great things and that’s what I’m choosing to focus on in 2016. It’s time to drop that heavy, burdening sack of bricks and move on. LGM
