By Scott Ferguson January 2, 2021
George Springer is a name that has been connected to the Mets since the offseason began. As of January 1st, he’s still not a Met and all reports seem to indicate that Springer and the team are pretty far apart in negotiations. Recent reporting has the Mets holding fast at four years and Springer asking for six and an excess of 150 million dollars. That seems to indicate he’s asking for at least 25 million a year, which is probably a fairly reasonable salary for the veteran considering how talented he is. The problem with the Springer situation is that it seems to have put the Mets offseason temporarily on hold. Outside of rumors that the Mets might be closing in on signing top Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, all other rumors seem to be pending what happens with Springer, possibly even extension talks with Michael Conforto.
Why is this? It appears to be that Steve Cohen, the extremely wealthy new Mets owner, has put a bit of a salary cap on spending. The luxury tax in professional baseball kicks in after a team exceeds 210 million on player salaries. The tax rate is 20% for up to the first 20 million dollars and then increases from there. That doesn’t seem like a huge amount in the grand scheme of baseball salaries. For instance, if the Mets salaries added up to 220 million, Cohen would pay 2 million to Major League Baseball, where it would be evenly distributed to player benefits and lower salary organizations.
The issue is less about 2021 and more about future seasons. If the Mets go over the tax this year it is extremely likely that they will be over the tax next year, when you consider player additions, increased salaries to current arbitration players and first time eligible players like Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil. With each consecutive occurrence, the percentage increases, maxing out at a 50% rate after a third consecutive year. Cohen has said he would “probably go over the tax” at some point, but also wanted to maintain “payroll flexibility” for the future. That seems to indicate that Cohen isn’t ready to start paying any level of tax this year and wants to see how the team performs before crossing that threshold in the future.
Don't want Springer for $25 or more million. He does not offer this team that much of an improvement given that he is not a top-flight fielding CFer. Unless the DH is approved in the NL for 2021, Springer is not a great fit. His presence means less ABs for Dom Smith, and I would not want to lose Smith's bat in the lineup. I would rather endure Nimmo's defensive limitations in CF and sign CF Albert Almora as a late inning defensive replacement and right-handed bat in the lineup (replacing Nimmo) vs. difficult LH SPs.
ReplyDeleteThen we can wait for Uncle Steve to open his wallet for a more attractive and abundantly talented FA class in 2022.
Unfortunately, no matter how much the FO spends this year on Free Agency, we are not catching the Braves. So let's focus on building our minor league system and wait for better opportunities to spend on free agency.
ReplyDeleteMy gosh Roy, you only seem to see the dark side. The expected Springer signing will have a positive impact in many ways. We will strongly compete with the Braves this year and in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree Wit Ray here. We need one big signing. Springer price hopefully drops. We need to nuke up vs. the Braves.
DeleteWhy don't we pay Springer $20mil per year for 4 years, and one mil a year for the following 50?
ReplyDeleteCould work. 😉