Steve Cohen wants to lower Mets' payroll to 'more normal spending level'
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen at spring training on Monday. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Mets owner Steve Cohen reiterated Tuesday that he does not want to keep funding even a championship contender at such extreme levels and aspires to lower team payroll to “a more normal spending level” at a to-be-determined point in the future.
Heading into 2025, the Mets’ major-league salaries are at about $325 million, which Cohen said is significantly higher than what he wanted and planned entering the offseason. He also estimated that that figure will rise to $340 million or more with routine in-season expenses.
He opted for extra additions, including Pete Alonso early this month, "because I want a winning team," he said.
“It always seems like ballplayers are more expensive than you think,” Cohen said during a Clover Park news conference as his highly paid uniformed employees worked out on the field in front of him. “Listen, 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. But free agency is expensive. It’s just the way it is, and it’s always more expensive than you can imagine.”
For Cohen, a hedge-fund boss with a $21.3 billion net worth as estimated by Forbes, it is not a matter of whether he can financially support the Mets having one of the highest budgets in the majors every year.
It’s whether he wants to.
“I wrestle with that all the time,” he said. “Even this year. I had a thought of where I wanted to be, and I’ve already blown through it. And I really wanted to be there. And just circumstances created, ‘All right, I have to adapt my thinking.’”
For how long is this sustainable?
“It’s really hard to look into the future, hard to know,” he said. “I take it year to year. I can finance it. Is that the most optimal way to run a team? Probably not.”
The largest cost in recent months was Juan Soto, whose 15-year, $765 million contract — also higher than Cohen anticipated — comes with an average annual value of $51 million. He was worth the splurge, Cohen said, because “it might’ve been a while before someone of that caliber would be available again.”
On the subject of Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is due to be a free agent next offseason and who Cohen called “a great ballplayer,” Cohen shifted gears to the concept of mega-deals generally.
“I mean, you really can’t have too many long-term contracts, because then you lose your roster flexibility, so you gotta be really careful,” Cohen said. “But I’ll let my baseball people make that decision.”
David Stearns, president of baseball operations, said: “Even the organizations with the deepest pockets in the game, there are limits to what you can do . . . When you’re going to fish in the truly deep end of free agency, you can’t do it all the time. You gotta be really strategic when you’re doing it and hopefully pick the right player.”
A target for future, lower Mets payrolls: “I’d like to get below the Cohen Tax,” Cohen said.
He paused for a moment to consider the sentence, then lifted his hands to use air quotes. The "Cohen Tax" is the unofficial name for the fourth level of the luxury tax, added during the most recent collective bargaining agreement, the first adopted by MLB and the players’ union since Cohen purchased the Mets in 2020.
When Cohen came in and started spending huge, his fellow owners — rival owners — decided more penalties were necessary.
“Are we sure it’s about me?” Cohen cracked. “There’s a lot of Cohens.”
The first luxury-tax threshold this season is $241 million (and goes up a bit each year). The Cohen Tax — increased surcharges for every dollar spent over that amount — is at $301 million (and likewise rises over time).
In 2024, the Mets’ $348 million roster came with a tax tab of $97 million. They also will have their top draft pick dropped 10 spots — to No. 38, out of the first round — come July.
“Nobody wants to spend money and pay tax, right? Those are expensive taxes,” Cohen said. “Losing draft position and/or draft picks in some cases is an expense. You don’t see it on the bottom line, but it’s an expense. Both are probably not optimal as far as trying to run a team.”
The Dodgers’ 2025 luxury-tax payroll is up to $393 million, the largest in the sport’s history.
“I’m not going to get into whether something is bad or good,” Cohen said. “They’ve built a great business over there with revenues that are significantly above most any other team. And that gives them the ability to do things that perhaps other teams can’t do. So kudos to them.”
Cohen pointed again to the Mets’ desire to develop their own players, since players make less money early in their careers. That will help them lower payroll and supplement via older, more expensive players in free agency.
“I think we’re going to get there,” he said, “and I hope we can get there soon.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
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