Signing Juan Soto was only the start of the budget-shattering spending spree undertaken by Mets owner Steve Cohen in the offseason.Cohen said Tuesday as the Mets continued full squad workouts in Port St. Lucie, Fla., that he felt it was necessary to go far beyond the planned financial limits to make sure his New York team was a World Series competitor.”I take things year-by-year. I can finance it,” Cohen said. “But is it the most optimal way to run a team? Probably not.”While the Mets leapt the competitive balance threshold and into “Cohen Tax” territory with a roster makeover, Cohen said his short-term focus is more than an expectation.”We have to make the playoffs — that’s the minimum,” Cohen said. “After getting a taste of being in the league championship, we want to go to the World Series and we want to win.”Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million contract as a free agent, jumping from the Yankees after also meeting with the World Series champion Dodgers.The Mets are not part of the wave of MLB detractors ripping the use of deferred payments by the Dodgers in landing premium offseason prizes each of the past two winters. Cohen said the revenue the team is generating arms the franchise with the ability to add and spend when others cannot because, “their revenues are significantly higher than other teams. That gives them the ability to do things other teams can’t do, so kudos to them.”Cohen called complaints, from prominent owners such as Cubs billionaire Tom Ricketts and crosstown Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, about the Dodgers deferring salary for Shohei Ohtani ($680 million) and more recent signings Blake Snell and Tommy Edman a “red herring.” Snell deferred $66 million on a five-year, $182 million deal. Edman signed a five-year deal worth $74 million, but $25 million of that sum is deferred.