NEW YORK — The luxury tax, or Major League Baseball’s well-disguised salary cap, is being designed by owners to punish Steve Cohen and the Mets.
The Mets are central to the current labor negotiations because Cohen, the richest owner in MLB, just blew past the previous luxury tax threshold in the expired CBA. For the first time since purchasing the Mets in 2020, Cohen this winter finally did what he always said he would be open to doing. He outbid other clubs to land three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and spent over $250 million in commitments so that the Mets carried the highest payroll in MLB heading into the lockout. And they’re still not done. It’s possible the Mets blow past a $300 million payroll by the time the 2022 season begins (if it ever does).
“I am not going to go over [the luxury tax] for a million or two million,” Cohen told reporters in June 2021. “That’s stupid. So if you are going to do it, you are going to do it, so we’ll see what’s available.”
