THE SPENT HOUSE
Expiring E deals won’t bring down Mets’ 2019 payroll
LOS ANGELES — The Mets have significant dollars coming off the books this winter, but most — if not all — of that money is already spent for 2019.
A combination of backloaded contracts and raises due to arbitrationeligible players, with Jacob deGrom at the front of the line, almost ensures the Mets will have to expand payroll if they want to sign free agents this offseason.
Baseball-reference.com calculates the Mets as holding $141 million in guaranteed contracts headed to the season’s conclusion. For 2019, the Mets already have $92.5 million in guaranteed contracts, with another estimated $40.4 million going to arbitration-eligible players. An additional $6.81 million is estimated for pre-arbitration players, bringing the grand total to $139.7 million.
Such figures underscore the challenge a new president of baseball operations or general manager will face if Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz aren’t prepared to raise payroll.
The Mets exceeded expectations set forth by general manager Sandy Alderson last winter by taking the Opening Day figure beyond $150 million — players such as Asdrubal Cabrera and Jeurys Familia have since been traded to reduce that number — but in recent years Wilpon and Katz have fluctuated in payroll commitment.
Four players the Mets signed last offseason — Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier, Jason Vargas and Anthony Swarzak — received backloaded two-year contracts (and will combine to make $39.5 million in 2019). Bruce, for instance, will jump from an $11 million salary this season to $14 million in 2019, which could complicate efforts if the Mets try to trade him this winter.
Another veteran player, Juan Lagares, signed what was thought to be a team-friendly contract after the 2014 season, for five years and $23 mil- lion. But Lagares, who has struggled to remain on the field during that contract because of various injuries, will see his salary jump to $9 million in 2019. He is earning $6.5 million this season.
David Wright still has two years and $27 million remaining on his contract beyond this season. The Mets captain, who is attempting a return after two-plus years on the disabled list, will see his salary fall to $15 million next season. He is earning $20 million this season, with the Mets recovering 75 percent through insurance.
The Mets also have an insurance policy on Yoenis Cespedes and could potentially recover a portion of the $29 million he is owed while on the disabled list — he is expected to miss at least the first two or three months rehabbing from surgery to remove calcifications from both heels — but it’s also unclear if Cespedes’ ailment qualifies as a pre-existing condition that might not be covered.
In A.J. Ramos, Jerry Blevins and Jose Reyes, the Mets have $18.25 million coming off the books. The team shed about another $5 million in trades that sent Familia and Cabrera to the Athletics and Phillies near the trade deadline.
The biggest arbitration-eligible expense will be deGrom, as he continues to mount a campaign for the National League Cy Young award. The right-hander is receiving $7.4 million this season and that number will increase significantly in 2019.
But the Mets could also look to sign deGrom to a multi-year contract, buying out his final year of arbitration at a team-friendly rate for next season in a backloaded deal.
Zack Wheeler ($1.9 million) and Noah Syndergaard ($2.975 million) are among the other arbitration-eligible players, and the Mets will have to decide whether to continue with oft-injured catcher Travis d’Arnaud ($3.4 million).