You’d never guess every NY Mets player who was the highest paid in the NL

Due to the structure of his deferred payments, Shohei Ohtani is not the highest paid player in the National League this season. It’s actually Juan Soto at $51.875 million. Having the highest paid player in the NL is nothing new for the New York Mets.

Complete data on the highest paid player in the league only goes back to 1985 which isn’t that big of a deal for this exercise because salaries were much more even until free agency began in the late 1970s.

Before we get started, let's agree to play a game. I'll be you didn't know every single one of these. Why am I so confident? Hours of scrolling through Mets information, there were several surprises I didn't expect to see.

1986 – George Foster $2.8 million

The highest paid player in all of baseball in 1986 was Mets outfielder George Foster. Earning $2.8 million in 1986, the irony is he wouldn’t last the full season with the ball club. Finally replaced in left field by Kevin Mitchell, Foster’s early August release came with the former MVP batting .227 with 13 home runs in 256 trips to the plate.

1992 through 1994 – Bobby Bonilla $6.1 million, $6.2 million, $6.3 million

For three seasons in a row, no player in MLB was paid more than Bobby Bonilla. From 1992 through 1994, he made over $6 million from the Mets. MLB salaries were on the rise and his mega contract was meant to help the team forget all about Darryl Strawberry. It didn’t work out so well. The 1993 Mets became known as “the worst team money could buy” on their path to losing over 100 games. Doing so with the highest paid athlete in the sport is impressive in the worst way.

2003 – Mo Vaughn $17.16+ million

It was almost a full decade until another Mets player led the league in salary. While the $17.16+ million paid to Mo Vaughn in 2003 wasn’t the highest in baseball, it was a ridiculously insane amount in yet another miserable Mets season. It was the second of Vaughn’s two years with the Mets. After a semi-successful 2002, Vaughn would go on to hit .190 with 3 home runs in only 27 games for the Mets. Even stupider is the fact the Mets paid him another $17.16+ million in 2004 for absolutely nothing. He didn’t officially retire so he could collect his salary that final season.

2008 – Carlos Beltran $18.62+ million

Carlos Beltran was making about $10 million less than Alex Rodriguez in 2008 but it was the highest individual salary for a NL player that season. Finally, a player deserving of this distinction. Five tool players like Beltran are a rarity in the sport and even more so in Mets history. He is easily one of the best free agent moves in franchise history even at the high cost which for one year was more than anyone else in the league.

2010 through 2013 – Johan Santana $20.14+ million, $21.64+ million, $24 million, $25.5 million

For four straight seasons, the Mets paid two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana the most money of anyone in the NL. His first two seasons in New York cost them less with those next four exceeding everyone else. A contract signed months before the house of cards came down on the Wilpons for their involvement with Bernie Madoff, it’s undoubtedly a deal they wish they could’ve taken back. In retrospect, with Santana missing all of 2011 and 2013, it’s hard to disagree. At least in the 2012 season he threw the first no-hitter in franchise history in what was an otherwise poor final big league season for the lefty.

2021 – Jacob deGrom $35.5 million

Jacob deGrom’s penultimate season with the Mets included a NL-leading $35.5 million contract. It would turn out to be a deal similar to Santana’s with deGrom missing significant time in both 2021 and again in 2022. Fans can’t really complain, though. deGrom, like Santana, is one of those rare two-time Cy Young winners.

2022 – Max Scherzer $43.33 million

Max Scherzer overtook deGrom with his annual salary in 2022. Although injured for a part of the season, Scherzer was superb when he was healthy and it’s hard to argue against a deal that seemed to alter the direction of the franchise for the better while also helping them win 101 games.

2023 – Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander $43.33 million

The future Hall of Fame duo was paid the same $43.33 million in 2023. The Mets ended up paying the full salary of each in 2023 even though they finished the year pitching for opposing Texas clubs.

2025 – Juan Soto $51.875 million

Then there’s our current guy you already knew about. Juan Soto’s salary is likely to remain the highest in MLB for at least a few years, if not the entire length of his contract.