The New York Mets made the first big move of the offseason when they re-signed their closer Edwin Diaz to a huge five-year, $102 million contract. This is a great move for the Mets, as Diaz was the most electric closer in the MLB this season, and it ensures that Diaz will be closing games out for New York well into the future.

While it isn't always the case, the language of Diaz's contract is quite interesting, and may indicate how the Mets plan to spend this offseason. Diaz's deal contains deferred payments, which lowers the annual average value of the deal in each year from $20.4 million to $18.6 million. The total deferred payments in Diaz's deal will amount to $26.5 million, and according to Mets general manager Billy Eppler, those deferred payments were crucial in getting this deal done.

“On our end, I don’t want to use the word ‘deal breaker,’ but it was a very big element for us. We needed to have that in there for the CBT [competitive balance tax] purposes.” – Billy Eppler, New York Post

These deferred payments will help the Mets stay below the highest level of the competitive balance tax threshold, which is set at $293 million for the 2023 season. The fact that the Mets don't appear willing to eclipse that figure hints that they may not necessarily be big players in free agency this offseason.

This could ultimately be a deal that helps the Mets make more deals in free agency, but it is a bit concerning that the tax threshold is becoming an issue for New York already. They still have big name free agents of their own in Jacob deGrom and Brandon Nimmo that need to be re-signed, and it will be interesting to see whether or not the CBT will continue to play a factor in their spending this offseason.