Following the addition of second baseman Neil Walker‘s qualifying offer, the salary projections for the 2017 New York Mets roster are starting to fill in.
There were many mixed reactions across the New York Mets fanbase following the news that Neil Walker accepted his one-year/$17.2 million qualifying offer. Many felt that the deal takes away much-needed money from the Mets payroll that could be used potentially elsewhere in improving the team.
With that said, allow the speculation to commence.
The following projections are provided by Adam Rubin of ESPN. If no salary is given, then it means that the player is not yet eligible for arbitration or has already agreed to the league minimum.
Rotation:
- Jacob deGrom $4.225M
- Matt Harvey $5.325M
- Steven Matz
- Noah Syndergaard
- Zack Wheeler $1.0M
Bullpen:
- Jeurys Familia $7.375M
- Addison Reed $7.9M
- Josh Edgin $725K
- Hansel Robles
- Josh Smoker
- Seth Lugo
- Erik Goeddel
Starters:
- C: Travis d’Arnaud $1.9M
- 1B: Lucas Duda $7.315M
- 2B: Neil Walker $17.2M
- 3B: David Wright $20M
- SS: Asdrubal Cabrera $8.25M
- LF: Michael Conforto
- CF: Curtis Granderson $15M
- RF: Jay Bruce $13M
Bench:
- Wilmer Flores $2.9M
- Rene Rivera $2.3M
- Jose Reyes
- Juan Lagares $4.5M
- Brandon Nimmo
Projection:
The Mets’ payroll currently stands at roughly $123,915,000. However, this does not include the money that could possibly be spent on a deal for Yoenis Cespedes or any other free agents.
New York certainly has some wiggle room when it comes to their salary space, but it all depends whether they want to spend like a big market team or would they rather not hand out any hefty deals and have a lower pay role.
In the end, it’ll all come down to the decision of ownership.