It does seem part of the Mets strategy is to work around the qualifying offer free agents that would cause them to lose I think the 11th pick in the draft as they get that comp pick for Rocker and it is the team's 2nd highest pick (not the second round necessarily). They clearly care less about the competitive balance threshold (now they are at about $230 million), but we actually don't know what the penalties will be. The cap could easily be raised a considerable amount over the current $210 million because revenues have increased faster than the threshold.
Clearly they are sending a statement that they will spend, and being in New York they probably will still be pretty profitable.
