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At the end of last week, the Mets settled on salaries with all but one of their remaining arbitration-eligible players: Wilmer Flores. There weren’t any major surprises among the bunch, but now that the grand majority of the Mets’ projected Opening Day roster is locked in to a specific salary—and there’s only a $400,000 gap in between the figures submitted by the team and Flores—let’s take a look at where things stand for the Mets as a whole.
Before diving into the table, which is comprised of salary figures from the excellent Cot’s Contracts and recent reports of those arbitration settlements, note that Jose Reyes is earning $22 million this year but will only be paid the league minimum by the Mets. The Rockies are responsible for the rest of his salary since they released him early last season. Let’s also assume that Wilmer Flores wins his arbitration hearing just to paint a picture of the maximum the Mets would be paying for now.
2017 Mets Payroll
| Player | Position | 2017 Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Player | Position | 2017 Salary |
| Yoenis Cespedes | LF | $22,500,000 |
| David Wright | 3B | $20,000,000 |
| Neil Walker | 2B | $17,200,000 |
| Curtis Granderson | RF | $15,000,000 |
| Jay Bruce | RF | $13,000,000 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | SS | $8,250,000 |
| Addison Reed | RHP | $7,750,000 |
| Jeurys Familia | RHP | $7,425,000 |
| Lucas Duda | 1B | $7,250,000 |
| Matt Harvey | RHP | $5,125,000 |
| Juan Lagares | CF | $4,500,000 |
| Jacob deGrom | RHP | $4,050,000 |
| Wilmer Flores | IF | $2,200,000 |
| Travis d'Arnaud | C | $1,875,000 |
| Rene Rivera | C | $1,750,000 |
| Zack Wheeler | RHP | $800,000 |
| Josh Edgin | LHP | $675,000 |
| Jose Reyes | SS | $535,000 |
| Noah Syndergaard | RHP | $535,000 |
| Michael Conforto | LF | $535,000 |
| Hansel Robles | RHP | $535,000 |
| Steven Matz | LHP | $535,000 |
| Erik Goeddel | RHP | $535,000 |
| Robert Gsellman | RHP | $535,000 |
| Josh Smoker | LHP | $535,000 |
| TOTAL | $143,630,000 |
The exact mix of pre-arbitration players toward the bottom of the 25-man roster doesn’t matter much for these purposes, as they would all be earning the league minimum this year. Add everything up, and the Mets are at a $143.6 million payroll for their active roster on Opening Day if nothing changes between now and then.
It’s no secret that the team has been trying to trade away Jay Bruce and the $13 million he’s owed this year. The team could also use some help in the bullpen, and even if it gets the bargains it’s been hoping for all offseason, adding one or two relievers would presumably add at least a few million dollars to the total. If the Mets are able to dump Bruce’s salary, they might make a bullpen addition or two and still end up lower than the payroll they’re at today.