luxury is luxury - you know it when you see it
Teams that spend enough on salary to incur a luxury tax tend to be teams that find missing the playoffs to be unacceptable.
The Mets and luxury taxes, however, have been mutually exclusive terms. After all, the Mets have not exceeded the luxury tax threshold since the new rules went into effect before the 2003 season. Should that "perfect" record remain intact for 2020?
Here is an excerpt from an article by CBS Sports on Dec. 15, 2018 on the luxury tax for MLB teams for the 2018 season, in which only 2 teams paid the tax:
"Here are the six highest 2018 payrolls for luxury tax purposes:
- Red Sox: $239.5 million ($11.95 million luxury tax bill)
- Nationals: $205 million ($2.39 million luxury tax bill)
- Giants: $195.7 million
- Dodgers: $195 million
- Cubs: $193.3 million
- Yankees: $192.98 million
The Yankees had paid luxury tax every year since the system was implemented in 2003 before getting under the threshold in 2018.
They paid over $340 million in luxury tax penalties from 2003-17.
The Dodgers paid luxury tax each year from 2013-17 before getting under this past season."
Teams more and more are avoiding the luxury tax. Giving the Mets the perfect excuse to not spend enough to to incur a luxury tax.
No team wants to waste $$ on luxury taxes, but if the Mets can make their team good enough to be an odds-on NL East champion, providing with it an automatic playoff berth without resorting to the Wild Card one game playoff, then they should be willing to do it. Spending $10 million over the $208 million cap for 2020 would only result in a $2 million luxury tax.
It might be the best money the Mets ever spent.
The Mets think they have the luxury of not spending enough to give their fans a real edge in getting into the playoffs. But:
Let's help the Wilpons think they don't have the luxury to take us for granted.
$2 million in terms of gate receipts is less than 27,000 additional fans showing up over the course of an entire season assuming they spend about $75 each.
ReplyDeleteSimple math, Reese. You're right.
ReplyDeleteSpend...go deep in playoffs...grow attendance AND the fan base.
And THAT increases franchise value.
What gets overlooked a bit is that the Mets will have a bunch of cash dropping off the payroll in 2021, so even if they go over the
ReplyDeletethreshold this year, it would be a one year occurrence (unless they went really hog wild, which is unlikely).
As Reese stated, the team would more then make up the increase in expenditures (as well as the possible tax) by increased revenue.
In other words, they have the room to make a significant addition or two (I still like the idea of Anthony Rendon manning third base for the next six or seven years).
Oh and that photo of Elizabeth Warren will haunt my dreams!
Tom, your argument makes a tremendous amount of sense. Especially if you spend wisely.
ReplyDeleteI am sure when Brodie got the Wilpons to take on the Cano contract last season it was done with the promise that by spending this amount, the Mets would go to the playoffs, maybe even win the world series. They went for it but it did not work. In fact, three of the 5 teams with the highest payroll, the Cubs, the Red Sox, and the Giants all did not make the playoffs.
My point? If you spend, please spend wisely, and have a plan. What is Brodie's, Jeff's or Fred's plan? Did they ever have one? It did not seem like they had one when they replaced their best player on the team, Jeff McNeil, with a 35 year old second basemen with leg problems who was owed $124 M on his contract.
I thought they had a plan when I saw the way Brooklyn played this year emphasizing speed, defense and fundamentals and they won the championship! Finally, I thought, the Mets are on the right track! But then they fired Fonzie - not Brodie's guy they said. No plan and no clue.
I am sorry, I do not trust these guys to wisely fill out a roster, protect the right guys in the Rule 5 draft, sign the right free agents, or spend wisely this year or any year until they have a plan.
Wait, the fact that they never go over the luxury tax threshold, may just be Fred's plan.
ReplyDeleteIf you were Fred, would you trust Jeff and the guys he picks to spend your money wisely?
One of the things I love about social media is that all the suits get to read what everybody says each day.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Fred and Ethel have their morning coffee reading 'John From Albany's link post every morning.
Liz Warren can't hurt me. The Ameresco division of the Bank of America already took away my 'fortune' in the late 80s.
The Wilpons have made many lousy moves - some good ones, too.
ReplyDeleteI still think you can't blame them for Diaz - who would have ever thought he'd regress that much from 2018's brilliance to 2019's struggles?
Cano, I still think was his hand injuries. Cano hit .441 in spring training - that was not an indicator of "washed up".
You CAN, however, blame them for not spending a lot this off season - because if they don't, we could be considered a 4th place team going into 2020.
Mack, everybody reads John from Albany's links - unless they're stupid. There, I said it. John does an awesome job.
Mike, when I saw the Elizabeth Warren picture, I couldn't help myself. The thing of nightmares. Tremendous shock value.
Tom -
ReplyDeleteRemember...
The Wilpons don't MAKE the deals... they APPROVE them.
They are orchestrated, negotiated, and finalized pending approval by the owners... by the General Manager.
mack, it would be great to know which deals over time the Wilpons were presented with but DIDN'T approve. Something we will probably never know, short of books being written by former GMs.
ReplyDeleteON METS SITE - FROM ARTICLE ABOUT BRODIE'S THOUGHTS:
ReplyDeleteThe Mets are a little less than $20 million shy of Major League Baseball’s 2020 payroll luxury-tax threshold.
There’s no guarantee they’ll stay under it given the relatively light penalty for a one-year splurge, but history suggests the team will do everything possible to keep its payroll -- a number that includes the salaries of David Wright and Yoenis Céspedes, large portions of which the Mets are recouping via insurance -- under the luxury-tax limit of $208 million.
That means signing Wheeler would eat up most or all of their remaining funds, with nothing left to address the bullpen, the outfield or other areas of need.
There’s certainly a chance that Wheeler could still return. But a more likely scenario has the Mets shopping in cheaper starting pitching aisles.
HERE WE GO AGAIN - CHEAPER STARTING PITCHING AISLES. COUNT ME AND STEVE DEPRESSED