Steve Cohen jokes about the chance of a $300 million Mets payroll

Will the New York Mets be the first Major League Baseball team to cross over the $300 million threshold? With Steve Cohen paying the bills, they have likely could.

Cohen joined the Mets in Hollywood this weekend during their faceoff against the Los Angeles Dodgers—maybe the only other team in the league willing to hit $300 million. When asked about the idea of hitting the mark, Cohen did what he typically does and made light of the idea.

Mets owner Steve Cohen clearly wants to win a championship at all costs

By less than a million bucks, the Mets have the highest payroll this year at a little over $260 million. The $300 million mark is still a couple of big contracts away from happening. With Jacob deGrom opting out after this season and guys like Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo reaching the open market, there are some obvious ways for the Mets to push another step closer to MLB salary history.

We also should take into account that Pete Alonso has yet to receive his big deal. Fellow New York slugger Aaron Judge could help set a market for him although the two at different points of their careers. Even with all of the spending Cohen has done, they haven’t extended anyone with more than a year of arbitration left.

Cohen wasn’t shy about giving Max Scherzer the highest AAV deal this past offseason. We should expect more deals like this in the future with other Mets players—ones with the team already and future ones in free agency.

Witnessing the Mets drop the first two against the Dodgers might already have Cohen thinking over financials for the future. If his team is unable to overcome the mighty Dodgers in the postseason, his wallet will undoubtedly open even more over the winter.

Whether it’s $299,999,999 or $300,000,001 that the Mets end up spending in the future, you have to believe they are a front runner to come closest each year to the ungodly payroll figure Cohen was able to joke about. The team already has over $200 million on next year’s payroll and that doesn’t’ include the guys in arbitration.