The final cost of the New York Mets’ disappointing 2023 season totaled $420 million.
Major League Baseball has released its final payroll for last year, and the Mets finished with a record $319.5 million. In addition to payroll, New York State paid a record $108 million in luxury taxes after finishing fourth in the National League East with a 75-87 record — 29 games behind first-place Atlanta. They were nine games behind the last wild card spot.
New York’s spending would have been even higher had it not been for the summer trades that released pitchers Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson and other veteran pitchers.
The Mets surpassed the previous highest annual salary of $291.1 million set by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015, when they paid just over $43.5 million in taxes on a total of $334.6 million in player expenses.
Last year, the three biggest spenders all missed the playoffs. In second place was the New York Yankees with $283.8 million, followed by San Diego with $257.2 million.
Philadelphia was fourth with $249.2 million, followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers with $241.3 million.
World Series champion Texas was sixth with $241.1 million, and National League champion Arizona was 20th with $128.9 million.
Oakland’s salary is the lowest for the second year in a row at $62.7 million, less than one-fifth of the Mets’ total salary.
Baltimore, which won the AL East division, was 28th with $79.2 million, and Tampa Bay, which earned a wild card spot in the AL, was 27th with $83.8 million.
Payroll costs increased 11% from $4.56 billion to $5.07 billion, and MLB calculated the average annual salary to be $4,411,753.
The Players Association, which uses a slightly different method, announced an average of $4,525,719 in February.
Payroll calculations are based on 2023 salaries, accrual bonuses and escalators, option buyouts and a pro-rata share of 40-man roster signing bonuses, and cash transactions from trades are also factored into the calculation. In some cases, a portion of your deferred salary may be discounted to reflect its current value.
These differ from luxury tax salaries, which are based on annual averages and also include allowances. The Mets set a luxury tax payroll record with $374.7 million.
