The New York Mets wasted no time replacing Jacob deGrom in the starting rotation, signing Justin Verlander to a two-year, $86 million deal with a third-year option, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
The Mets already had the highest payroll in MLB at $184.7 million, per Spotrac, but the latest deal creates a massive cost under the league's luxury tax:
SpotracJustin Verlander + Max Scherzer + Francisco Lindor = $120M of tax salary, 51% of the $233M threshold this year.<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mets?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mets</a> new 40-man season opening tax projection sits at $287M.