How much money is Steve Cohen paying in taxes alone for the Mets offseason?

New York Mets owner is spending money in free agency, luxury tax threshold be damned. Here’s how much he’ll be paying in taxes alone this MLB offseason.

Once Steve Cohen officially purchased the New York Mets, fans were expecting that one offseason, he would go on a spending spree. Well, in his third official year, Cohen has flexed his checkbook to try and put the team over the top.

They did lose Jacob deGrom to the Texas Rangers on what is a high-risk, high-reward five-year, $185 million contract. But, they managed to retain key players in closer Edwin Diaz and center fielder Brandon Nimmo. Then, Cohen signed three starting pitchers in 2022 AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, veteran Jose Quintana, and Japanese star Kodai Senga, and veteran reliever David Robertson.

With these signings, Cohen has surpassed the $290 competitive balance tax threshold (CBT), known as the “Cohen tax threshold.” So how much is Cohen slotted to pay this offseason?

How much is Steve Cohen paying in taxes for Mets spending spree?

According ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan, the Mets guaranteed around $360 million to their free agent signings listed above. The CBT payroll is approximately $345 million, and with the penalties, New York’s payroll is approximately $421 million.

So that’s almost $70 million in taxes alone that Cohen is paying. Hey, anything to bring a World Series title to Queens for the first time since 1986. This has been the goal for Cohen since he purchased the Mets, and he is doing his damndest to make that a reality.

The Mets may have lost out on deGrom, albeit due to an extremely lucrative long-term deal by the Rangers, but they pivoted elsewhere and built a very stout team.

A rotation featuring Max Scherzer, Verlander, Quintana, and Senga? That’s a very potent group.

They retained Nimmo on an eight-year deal, who was the best outfielder remaining after Aaron Judge re-signed with the New York Yankees and Mitch Haniger signed with the San Francisco Giants.

Then, they brought in one of the more reliable relief pitchers in Robertson to potentially be the set up man for Diaz.

Cohen’s Mets aren’t messing around, and the baseball world is wondering if they’re officially finished this offseason, or if they have more big moves planned.