After Eating All the Money Owed to Chris Flexen, New York Mets Now Owe Nearly $50 Million to Guys Not on Team

The New York Mets acquired reliever Trevor Gott and pitcher Chris Flexen from the Seattle Mariners on Monday, and then immediately designated Flexen for assignment.

The premise of the deal was clearly that the Mets wanted Gott. They were willing to take on the full $4 million of Flexen's contract in order to get him. The Mariners were evidently happy to get rid of that money and attached a fairly useful part of their bullpen to the deal in order to do it.

As a result, the Mets are paying out more money to a player not on the roster. As Danny Vietti of CBS Sports points out on Twitter, the Mets have nearly $50 million in commitments to players NOT on the team anymore.

Mets are paying

• Robinson Cano: $20.25M

• James McCann: $11M

• Eduardo Escobar: $9.1M

• Chris Flexen: $4M

• Darin Ruf: $3.3M

• Bobby Bonilla: $1.2M

• Tommy Hunter: $686K

• Bret Saberhagen: $250K

Total: about $49.8 million

None of these players are on the team anymore.

Mets are paying

• Robinson Cano: $20.25M
• James McCann: $11M
• Eduardo Escobar: $9.1M
• Chris Flexen: $4M
• Darin Ruf: $3.3M
• Bobby Bonilla: $1.2M
• Tommy Hunter: $686K
• Bret Saberhagen: $250K

Total: about $49.8 million

None of these players are on the team anymore.
— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) July 3, 2023

That's just for this year. In the famous case of Bonilla, he's owed more than $1 million a year for several years.

Mets owner Steve Cohen clearly has deep pockets and isn't afraid to show it if he thinks it will make his team better.

Unfortunately, the Mets are 38-46 and 19.0 games out of first place in the National League East. They are also 7.5 games back in the wild card race.

The Mets will take on the Diamondbacks on Tuesday in a July 4 showdown. First pitch is 4:10 p.m. ET.

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