Amidst a rather eventful offseason for the New York Mets thus far, owner Steve Cohen took to social media to address the club’s payroll for the 2026 campaign.

On the morning of Dec. 19, the New York Post’s Mike Puma wrote in an article that the Mets currently estimate that they’ll shell out a grand total of somewhere between $310 million and $320 million to their roster next season.

“The Mets estimate their payroll for next season to fall somewhere in the $310 million to $320 million range with multiple holes remaining,” Puma wrote.

Given some of the strong reactions to that anecdote, Cohen attempted to quell any fears of the Mets cutting back on payroll on Twitter.

“As typical, the usual idiots misinterpreting a Post article on Mets payroll for ‘ 26,” Cohen wrote. “I can’t imagine our payroll to be lower than last year. It’s always hard to predict but that would be my best guess.”

Cohen followed that up by explaining the inner machinations of the club’s payroll and how it’s typically budgeted.

“Payroll watchers always forget to budget for waiver claims, player movement from minors to majors and trade deadline moves,” Cohen wrote. “That’s how it typically works.”

@StevenACohen2 on X

According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Mets finished the 2025 season with a year-end 40-man payroll of $338.548 million after beginning the campaign with an Opening Day 26-man payroll of $322.637 million.

At the moment, New York is currently projected to be carrying a 40-man year-end payroll of $297.694 million in 2026 by Cot’s.

Both Jeff McNeil ($15.750 million) and Kodai Senga ($14 million) have reportedly been at the center of trade talks this offseason, and if the Mets were to find suitable returns for either or both players, they’d likely clear up a good chunk of money depending on what players would head back to New York in those deals.

The Mets’ three big free agent signings thus far in Jorge Polanco ($17 million), Devin Williams ($14.117 million) and Luke Weaver ($11 million) are projected to account for a little over $42 million in payroll for 2026.

With several needs remaining on the roster, including a frontline starter and an outfielder, among others, the Mets still have plenty of business to attend to over the coming months before reconvening for the start of spring training in February.