Wow, Cohen is certainly pulling out all the stops.
Quote:
The signings pushed the Mets to uncharted waters for baseball payrolls, where the top have always hovered around the $300 million range.
Currently, the Mets' competitive-balance-tax payroll -- calculated by adding the average annual value of all their deals -- is estimated to be around $345 million. If that holds, the Mets would be levied a never-before-seen luxury-tax penalty: $6 million for money spent from $233 million to $253 million; $8.4 million for $253 million to $273 million; $15 million for $273 million to $293 million; and $46.8 million for above $293 million -- a 90% tax rate. All told, the Mets are facing a $76.2 million CBT bill and a total payroll in excess of $421 million.
|