$100 million Mets rotation earning more than bottom 3 spending teams combined

A large portion of the New York Mets payroll in 2022 is headed toward the pockets of the starting rotation. Specifically, it’s the five guys they signed up to pitch for them every fifth day that is taking home a large percentage of the money.

This doesn’t even include Tylor Megill or David Peterson whose 2022 salaries will be pre-arbitration. We’ll probably see both of them start plenty this year while making around one percent of what the veteran starting pitchers will with all of their salaries combined.

It’s a good thing for baseball coming out of the lockout to see players get their money. The five Mets starters with a total salary exceeding $100 million are earning more than what the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Guardians, and Pittsburgh Pirates will be paying their entire team.

Breaking down the Mets salaries of their $100 million rotation

Max Scherzer comes in with the highest annual average salary in this rotation and in the history of the game. A base salary of $43.33 million, it’s the same number we can tack onto the payroll as well. Basically, he’s getting it all right here, right now. It’s pretty simple to calculate which cannot be said about the second-highest-paid pitcher on the team.

Jacob deGrom has the next highest base salary at $33.5 million. However, his contract includes a $2.5 million signing bonus and a lot of deferred money. His actual payroll salary for 2022 is $36 million but his adjusted salary is $20.5 million. It gets a little more complicated, too. The amount deGrom’s money that counts toward the luxury tax is $21.78 million. Thanks to the power of I.O.U.’s, deGrom accounts for far less than he will eventually get from the Mets.

Far less significant yet able to put a dent in the payroll is the $12 million Carlos Carrasco will earn in 2022. Not all of it is counted toward the luxury tax. A total of $11.75 million is counted there.

The only arbitration-eligible player in the planned starting five, Chris Bassitt, will have to go to an arbiter to get his final salary. With his filing of $9 million and the Mets coming back with $8.3 million, we are already over the $100 million threshold with either number once we add the final piece.

The most affordable of the starters, Taijuan Walker, has a 2022 salary of $7 million. However, there is a total of $7.66 million counting toward the luxury tax.

If you’re looking strictly at what counts toward the luxury tax, the Mets will come in a little closer to $90 million than $100 million this year. But if you want to look at it from the standpoint of actual payroll, deGrom’s huge jump puts them a few million under $110 million.

Slice it however you want. The Mets spent big money on their starting five. Get it done, boys.