A Competitive Balance Tax Threshold Discussion

I know it’s weird to be thinking about the future when we’re still in the middle of our season. But this subject has been bothering me ever since deGrom went down, so I wanted to word vomit what I found with y’all. **Does deGrom’s contract hinder this team’s ability to sign more players and fill in his rotation spot next year?**

So all day today I’ve been thinking about Jacob deGrom’s injury and how that might impact the Rangers’ future spending and payroll consequences. He’s going to be out until at least the end of 2024 and will penalize the team $37,000,000 against their payroll tax limit. When thinking about it, I was worried that this may hamper the team and cause Ray Davis and Co. to not be as able to spend money during the offseason due to being met by the CBT limit. What’s amazing though of what I found, the Rangers have about $62,000,000 coming off their payroll after this season with free agents. Nearly $78,000,000 if Heaney declines his player option, and the club declines LeClerc’s option (both seemingly likely). Along with the CBT threshold increasing to $237,000000 next season (from $233,000,000), based on *estimates*, even with deGrom on the injured list, we still have around $78,000,000 of payroll room to spend this upcoming offseason, plus more if Heaney and LeClerc go. That is PLENTY to bring in some new pitchers and bats (neither of which we may need to spend like crazy if the farm is ready).

Barring a trade at the deadline or the offseason, next year’s outfield could be Tavares, Garcia, Duran, and Carter. Infield is set. All we would need to sign is a backup catcher and one more utility player. The only thing lacking would be our rotation, which could be filled with the farm, but most likely would need to be filled with free agent starters with prospects coming in as depth to start out.

Even with deGrom’s injury, Chris Young still has room to add to this team and then some. It’s very unlikely we sign Ohtani… but we could? We have the room in our CBT space! Even if we didn’t, we could get plenty of solid pieces to solidify this team for years to come and be okay.

A big part of this also has to do with what happens with Bally Sports. Considering that was a large source of income for the team, Ray Davis may be less inclined to spend unless that whole situation is solidified and the team is earning consistent income from their TV rights again.

All of this is to say deGrom’s contact is in no way, shape, or form handcuffing this team or putting a hindrance on anything. In Chris Young we trust.