Yesterday, MLB Trade Rumors published their projected salaries for 2026, as compiled by Matt Swartz. The Mets have nine arbitration eligible players and, while these numbers are nothing more than projections,
this gives a fairly good sense of what the Mets would be on the hook for, salary wise, if they tender these nine players contracts for the season. All told, the nine players would be on the books for a projected $23.45 million in salary.
The highest projected of these is David Peterson, who Swartz estimates at $7.6 million. Peterson, who put up 1.4 bWAR in 2025, was having an incredibly strong season in the starting rotation until his performance fell off a cliff at the end of August, resulting in his allowing 26 earned runs in is last 18.1 innings on the season.
Fellow pitcher projections include Tylor Megill ($2.6 million for a season that will be lost due to Tommy John Surgery), Max Kranick ($1 million for season that will see him recover from flexor tendon surgery), Huascar Brazobán ($1.3 million), and Reed Garrett ($1.4 million).
On the position player side, Tyrone Taylor tops the fiscal list with $3.6 million for a year that saw him flash a little more offense than we’ve become accustomed to, but still very much projects as a fourth outfielder. The catching tandem of Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens are projected to earn $2.4 million and $2.2 million, respectively. Forgotten utility player Nick Madrigal, who fractured his left shoulder in late February during spring training and missed the entire regular season. Torrens, Taylor, Peterson, and Madrigal are all entering their final year of arbitration
In total, those nine players accounted for 7.8 bWAR in 2025. It seems likely that the majority of these players will be tendered a contract, with Madrigal being the least likely simply due to the Mets’ infield depth at the moment, but cases could be made to non-tender a number of these players depending on how serious the roster shake up is going to be. The Mets have until late November to tender contracts.
