Mets owner Steve Cohen goes on offseason spending spree for talent

By the numbers: Cohen has doled out 23 years worth of contracts to six players this offseason for a total of $461.7 million, including nearly $360 million last week alone.

• Last year was more of the same, with Francisco Lindor, Max Scherzer and Starling Marte getting $549 combined across 17 years.
• All told, the Mets have 12 players who are set to make a base salary of $10+ million next season; no other team has more than eight.

The backdrop: Cohen's gargantuan tax bill is partly the product of his own wealth. The new CBA signed last spring featured a new competitive balance tax threshold so high it was nicknamed the "Cohen Tax."

• How it works: Teams are taxed for having payrolls that exceed four specific thresholds, with penalties increasing at each threshold.

• The highest threshold was aimed at Cohen, who's worth almost three times ($17.5 billion) as much as the next-richest owner ($6.2 billion). But so far, he's been undeterred by the tax penalties.

The big picture: MLB teams handed out a record $1.6 billion to 20 free agents at last week's Winter Meetings.

Go deeper:

Baseball's "Cohen Tax" era begins

The strong connection between MLB payrolls and wins