As part of their proposal during last night’s bargaining sessions, MLB sought to add a fourth tier to the luxury tax threshold for teams that spend the most.
As Jon Heyman notes on Twitter, the two teams that will most likely be affected most by this are the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets.
The Mets have obviously already spent big this offseason, signing Starling Marte, Max Scherzer, Eduardo Escobar, and Mark Canha.
Heyman also notes that Mets owner Steve Cohen seems perfectly fine with these new rules being implemented, saying that he believes that in the end, it’s for the “greater good.”
MLB seeks to add a 4th tier for the very biggest spending teams that r way over the luxury tax threshold, to be taxed at the highest rate. This is likely to affect only Mets and Dodgers in ‘22. Word is, Mets owner Steve Cohen is OK with it if MLB thinks it’s for the greater good.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 9, 2022
How This Benefits Cohen
Cohen has made it known that he wants to spend big to improve the Mets’ roster and turn them into a World Series contender, so this wouldn’t hurt him if it were put into place.
But it really does seem as if it is being put in place for Cohen specifically.
Cohen certainly has enough money so that this doesn’t really affect him all that much, and he seems to be fine with paying fines that help MLB.
After all, he is the owner of a big market team, so it isn’t really surprising to see him be in favor of these sorts of changes.
Worth Noting
According to Evan Drellich, despite the increase in the CBT threshold proposed by the owners, there are still some “strings attached” that players are concerned about.
The proposed luxury tax thresholds would start at $230 million and end up at $242 million, which is a significant step in the right direction, but obviously not enough to please the players.
The luxury tax threshold one of the major issues holding up an agreement, and if it’s solved, a deal could come about quickly.
