A quick reminder that the Mets have literally no payroll obligations after 2020

It’s right there on Cot’s Contracts: The New York Mets have zero money guaranteed to players once the 2020 season ends. It’s something worth remembering—and repeating—as the current offseason progresses and messages about concerns with long-term salary commitments are disseminated to the team’s fans.

Cot’s estimates the Mets’ payroll for 2019 at $144 million at the moment, a figure that includes estimates for players who’ll receive raises in arbitration—a couple of whom could be non-tendered—and the entirety of Yoenis Cespedes’s and David Wright’s contracts. Including Cespedes and Wright in 2020, the pre-arbitration-raise commitment is just $58 million.

And if you look beyond that season, every player currently on the Mets’ roster will either enter the offseason as a free agent or in an arbitration year. Assuming things don’t go awry with any of the most promising players eligible for arbitration that year—Noah Syndergaard, Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, and Amed Rosario—the Mets will end up guaranteeing some money toward player salaries before the 2021 season begins. But don’t let anyone tell you they can’t afford to take on long-term salary commitments.