NY Mets paid Jorge Polanco exactly what he deserved with a Steve Cohen twist

The New York Mets signed Jorge Polanco on December 13, ending an agonizing string of personnel substractions (Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Díaz, Pete Alonso) that had Mets fans counting down the days until David Stearns' contract expiration.

If Polanco was an overpay (as some still-bitter Alonso lovers shouted from Queens), it was a refreshing one for the Mets, for a pair of reasons. First off, throwing $40 million at Polanco coming off a strong season is the opposite type of strategy that the Mets have oft employed in free agency recently. Which is to say, they've made a habit of buying low on someone coming off a weak year and hoping they magically return to form in blue and orange.

Even when you look at Stearns acquiring Devin Williams and Marcus Semien, you can see that he enjoys the idea of acquiring someone who hasn't that great last season and betting on the fact that they'll be better with the Mets. But Polanco was a different type of signing. He's coming off one of the best seasons of his career and the second-most slug-worthy (his 26 homers were only bested by his 33 in 2021).

The second element of Polanco's "overpay" that makes it enticing is that it actually introduces an artful tactic from Stearns and Mets owner Steve Cohen. Polanco was projected to get around $40 or $45 million on the market, but over three years. The reason that this is deemed a pricey deal for Polanco is that the Mets decided to give him that money over two years, instead of the three that the market was asking for.

The Mets have figured out another smart way to leverage Steve Cohen's spending power

Call it the "Cohen Twist". It's a clever way for the Mets to leverage their big wallet. By giving Polanco his market price, but by shrinking the years from three to two, Stearns and Cohen were able to compete with Polanco's other suitors while also continuing to minimize the team's long-term contractual commitments (an objective that had them disinterested in a long-term relationship with Alonso).

Obviously, not every MLB team can pull this off. Polanco was expected to get $40+ million over three years, and that's what his average suitor was capable of committing on a year-by-year basis. Beefing up the AAV for Polanco was no sweat off of Cohen's back, which is a luxury that Stearns should definitely take advantage of moving forward in other deals. It was a brilliant move in this case.

Cohen flexed his fiscal might last offseason by showering Juan Soto with $765 million like it was nothing. This latest Polanco deal was another show of wealth, albeit in a much more nuanced, strategic light. It involved some savvy thinking from Stearns, no doubt, and it indicates that the Mets brain trust is just getting started when it comes to figuring out all the different ways to leverage unlimited spending power; not all of them are by brute force.