PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — After turning the New York Mets into baseball’s biggest spender, owner Steve Cohen would like to see his team build more economically through its farm system.
“I’d like to get below the Cohen tax,” Cohen said Tuesday, referring to the fourth luxury tax threshold introduced in 2022 and aimed at him.
“I’m sure it’s about me,” he added before saying playfully: “There’s a lot of Cohens out there.”
In search of their first World Series title since 1986, the Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in last year’s NL Championship Series. After signing Juan Soto to a record $765 million, 15-year contract and reaching deals with Pete Alonso, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, Frankie Montas and others, Cohen estimated his team’s payroll at $325 million. He thought additional moves could raise it to as much as $345 million.
The World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers led with a $353 million tax payroll last year and paid a $103 million tax. The Mets were second at just under $348 million and paid $97 million in tax.
“I’m a piker now compared to the Dodgers,” Cohen said.
MLB’s luxury tax begins at $241 million this year and the fourth threshold starts at $301 million. The Mets will pay a 110% tax on each dollar spent above the highest threshold.
Cohen bought the Mets ahead of the 2021 season.
“We got to make the playoffs. OK, that’s the minimum,” he said. “After getting a taste of being in the League Championship Series, we want to go to the World Series, right, and we want to win.”
By developing more prospects into key contributors, the Mets would have more players under team control and less of a need to sign free agents.
“I’ve always wanted to be more measured in payroll growth,” he said. “And then we get there, it’s never quite there. I have the ability to spend if I have to. I want to win and I want to put the best team I can on the field. Free agency’s expensive. It’s just the way it is. It’s always more expensive than you can imagine.”
He avoided answering whether he thought MLB should push for a salary cap in bargaining for a new deal to start in 2027.
“A lot can happen between now and then,” he said.
Cohen faulted the team’s 2.3 million attendance last year, which ranked 18th.
“That really bothered me,” he said. “The series against the Nationals right before the final Phillies series, I think there were 18,000 fans in the stadium during a great pennant race.”
Still, he’s willing to spend whatever he thinks necessary to win.
“I can finance it. Is that the most optimal way to run the team? Probably not,” he said. “I wrestle with that all the time, even this year. I had had a thought of like where I wanted to be and I’ve already blown through it.”
Cohen also said his Willets Point redevelopment project won’t move forward unless the land is rezoned and he is able to get a casino license. He has proposed a mixed-use development on a 50-acre parcel of land that’s currently used for Citi Field parking.
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