The Mets add Japanese pitcher Koduai Senga* to their rotation on a five-year, $75 million contract. In Nippon Professional Baseball, he posted a 2.59 ERA in 1089 innings over eleven seasons. He also pitched another 250 innings or so in the Japanese Western League. So his workload was low and spread out over the full year. The Mets are paying for one and a half WAR per season, and that seems reasonable.

*Baseball Reference spells the first name with a u. Other publications omit the u.

The striking thing, however, is the Mets projected payroll:

Those moves push New York’s projected 2023 payroll to around $340 million right now — well beyond the highest luxury-tax threshold of $293 million. And that’s without any other major additions this winter.

Under Cohen, who bought the club in November 2020, the Mets became baseball’s biggest spender this year for the first time since 1989. Their payroll was $273.9 million as of Aug. 31, with final figures that include bonuses yet to be compiled.

Chron.com

The question of course, is did the Mets spend the money well? Steve Cohen clearly wants a championship now.

It’s also nice to see an owner breaking the rules again. I suspect Cohen will soon come under fire from small market clubs the way George Steinbrenner did in his hey day. An owner who wants to go all-out to win is good for the game, it keeps the other owners from getting complacent.