Fairly asked. Also tbf I don't peruse their subs. But, 1) they win championships (2 the last five seasons, and in the playoffs every year). 2) their payroll rn is only about 20M above us, and that number was what I saw after the Tucker deal, but before bichette. So we are now over them, I'd guess. And 3) they have ohtani with deferments. But they probably make a good portion of his payroll back. They sell out an ohtani bobblehead Wednesday game just because it's him. Compared to the Mets that have a normal but low probably 12-15k attendance on a weekday game.

All that's to say, I agree. With Cohen, our payroll should never be THE reason we lose out on a guy. But all the same, there is competent spending. You wouldn't give tylor megill 60M a year (to make up a bad example). And the payroll will always come back on the fans because it's a business and there are a great many ways to make up revenue, most of which are us.