Mets extend streak as top-spending MLB team
NEW YORK — The Mets led the major leagues in spending for the third straight season in 2024 and have totaled $1.36 billion in payroll and luxury tax over four years under owner Steve Cohen, exceeding what the Marlins, Pirates and Rays each have spent on players in the past 21 seasons.
The Mets established a $333.3 million regular payroll record, according to figures finalized by Major League Baseball this week and obtained by The Associated Press. That topped the previous mark of $319.5 million set by the Mets in 2023, when they became the first team to exceed $300 million.
New York totaled $430.4 million last year in payroll and luxury tax ($97.1 million) to set a cost record. The Mets paid $420 million the year before, including a $100.8 million tax.
Since Cohen bought the team from the Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz families in November 2020, the Mets have totaled $1.13 billion in payroll and $228.7 million in tax. And that was before he lavished a record 15-year, $765 million contract on outfielder Juan Soto that starts this season.
“One thing I’ve learned a long time ago, if you want something that’s amazing, it’s going to be uncomfortable,” Cohen said in December.
New York’s spending on major league players from 2021 to 2024 was just above what the payrolls from 2004 to 2024 totaled for the Marlins ($1.34 billion), Pirates ($1.32 billion) and Rays ($1.32 billion).
By comparison, the Athletics have spent a low of $269 million over the past four seasons and the Pirates $271 million.
Total spending, based on regular payrolls, rose 1.8% to $5.158 billion from $5.065 billion last year and has increased 27.3% in three seasons under the current labor contract from $4.051 billion in 2021.
The Mets became the first team to lead in payrolls in three straight seasons since the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2014 to 2017.
The New York Yankees were second among regular payrolls at a team-record $310.9 million. The World Series champion Dodgers were third at $270.8 million and the Philadelphia Phillies fourth at $249.1 million.
Ten teams topped $200 million, down from a record 11 in 2023. A record-low four teams were below $100 million, a decrease from six in 2023.
Because $68 million of his $700 million salary is deferred until from 2034 through 2043, Shohei Ohtani totals $28.2 million in salary toward payroll plus $1.03 million in non-cash compensation.
The Athletics had the lowest payroll at $66.5 million in their final season before moving to Sacramento for at least three seasons before a planned shift to Las Vegas. The Pirates were 29th at $87.3 million. Those two clubs, along with the Rays, are the only teams never to finish with a $100 million payroll.
The 12 teams that reached the postseason combined to spend $2.37 billion, 46% of payrolls, including $1.02 billion (19.9%) for the four teams in the league championship series. The Dodgers and American League champion Yankees combined for $644.2 million (12.5%).
Adding payroll and luxury tax, the four LCS teams combined for 23.5% of total spending ($1.29 billion of $5.47 billion) and the Yankees and Dodgers for 13.7% ($747.3 million).
The Arizona Diamondbacks raised payroll the most, by $48 million to $177 million after winning the National League pennant, and the Chicago Cubs were the second-most, by $34 million to $230 million.
The San Diego Padres cut payroll by $85 million to $172 million in 2024 following the death of owner Peter Seidler. The Los Angeles Angels dropped $51 million to $179 million and the Minnesota Twins by $34 million to $133 million.
Regular payrolls are based on 2024 salaries, earned bonuses and prorated shares of signing bonuses and non-cash compensation for 40-man rosters. Deferred salaries and bonus payments are discounted to present-day values, and termination pay, option buyouts and cash transactions among clubs are accounted for.
MLB calculated the average salary at $4,592,147, while the players’ association, using a slightly different methodology, pegged it at $4,655,366.
Luxury tax is based on payrolls with average annual values that include benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool.
The Baltimore Orioles are “very, very hopeful” that star shortstop Gunnar Henderson (intercostal strain) will be ready for Opening Day.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters Wednesday that Henderson suffered a mild strain on his right side.
“I’m very, very hopeful. But we’re going to not push a strain there, and we want to make sure that he gets it taken care of. It’s one of those sensitive areas where we don’t want anything to reoccur,” Hyde said.
Henderson departed last Thursday’s 11-8 spring training victory over the Toronto Blue Jays after the first inning with what the team termed “lower right side discomfort.” Henderson made a leaping catch in the top of the first inning and apparently felt soreness after hitting the ground.
Henderson is batting .167 in six plate appearances so far this spring.
The 2023 American League Rookie of the Year earned his first All-Star nod in 2024 batting .281/.364/.529 with 37 home runs and 92 RBIs. He also stole 21 bases. He finished fourth in MVP balloting.
Henderson dealt with a left oblique injury during spring training in 2024 but recovered in time for the start of the regular season.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – New Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker was scratched from the lineup for a spring training game Wednesday because of soreness in his left oblique.
Walker missed more than a month last season with Arizona because of a strained left oblique muscle. He joined the Astros on a $60 million, three-year contract during the offseason.
In his first four spring training games for Houston, Walker was 4 for 8 with three doubles. He also had two walks.
Adding a first baseman over the offseason was a priority for the Astros after struggling Jose Abreu was released less than halfway through a $58.5 million, three-year contract.
Walker, who turns 34 on March 28, hit .251 with 26 home runs and 84 RBIs in 130 games for the Diamondbacks last season. He won his third consecutive Gold Glove at first base.
In 832 big league games, Walker has hit .250 with 147 homers. All but 13 of those games came with Arizona over the past eight seasons, after his MLB debut with Baltimore in 2014 and 2015.
Walker had two stints on the injured list because of right oblique issues in 2021. He played 160 games in 2022 and 157 in 2023, hitting 69 homers and driving in 197 runs combined over those two seasons.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The Hall of Fame made some small adjustments to its veterans committee system to limit people with relatively little support from repeatedly remaining on future ballots, a decision that could make it harder to gain entry to Cooperstown for steroids-tainted stars such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Any candidate on the eight-person ballot who receives fewer than five votes from the 16-member panel will not be eligible for that committee’s ballot during the next three-year cycle, the hall said Wednesday. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on a ballot and again receives fewer than five votes would be barred from future ballot appearances.
Bonds, Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro and Albert Belle each received fewer than four votes in December 2022, when Fred McGriff was a unanimous pick. Bonds and Clemens were on a hall ballot for the first time since their 10th and final appearances on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. The rules change could limit reappraisals of their candidacies.
In addition, the historical overview committee appointed by the BBWAA that selects the ballot candidates must also be approved by the hall’s board of directors. The hall said the decisions were made by its board during a Feb. 26 meeting in Orlando, Florida.
In 2022, the hall restructured its veterans committees for the third time in 12 years, setting up panels to consider the contemporary era from 1980 on, as well as the classic era. The contemporary baseball era holds separate ballots for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.
Each committee meets every three years: contemporary players from 1980 on will be considered this December; managers, executives and umpires from 1980 on in December 2026; and pre-1980 candidates in December 2027.
Dave Parker and Dick Allen were elected last December and manager Jim Leyland in December 2023.
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