Extension Season Continues: Jacob deGrom Gets a New Five-Year Deal with the Mets

Yesterday, Noah Syndergaard was mad that the Mets hadn’t given Jacob deGrom the contract extension he both wanted and deserved: ‘Jake’s the best pitcher in baseball right now. I think he deserves whatever amount he’s worth …. I just think they should quit all this fuss and pay the man already.'”

And as it turns out, he wasn’t just shouting into the wind:

Before this deal, the Mets had two more years of control over deGrom via arbitration. But because he was a Super 2 player, he was scheduled to get an extra trip through arbitration (four total years, instead of three). And because he was the 2014 Rookie of the Year and 2018 NL Cy Young award winner, he was already scheduled to make $17M this season. In other words, he was cost controlled, but not exactly cheap.

But now, he’ll restructure his deal for 2019 and 2020 and make big, new money in 2021 and 2022 ($33.5M). Then, he’ll have a choice to opt-out or take $30.5M with the Mets in 2023. And then the Mets will have the a club option for $32.5M in 2024. Here’s the breakdown:

Basically, this deal pays deGrom the same amount of money in 2019 (thanks to the signing bonus), gives him a nice raise for 2020, and pays him the “real money” for three years, before giving the Mets an out (club option). This is a solid deal for both sides, even if … once again … we all generally accept that deGrom probably could have/should have received more in free agency. I guess we can throw it on the pile. The number of baseball’s top players forgoing their only shot at free agency is just staggering.

Here is your updated list of recent, extremely notable offseason extensions: Alex BregmanEloy JimenezAaron NolaMax KeplerJorge PolancoLuis SeverinoNolan ArenadoMike TroutPaul GoldschmidtMiles MikolasBlake SnellJustin Verlander, Chris Sale, and Jacob deGrom.

The 2018 AL and NL Cy Young award winners have both signed extensions.

(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

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Michael Cerami began covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Nation as a part-time contributor in 2015. One year later, he joined Bleacher Nation full-time, covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. Today, Michael runs Bleacher Nation, contributing as a writer (Cubs, MLB) and an editor for all sections of the site, including the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. In 2019, Michael was the co-host of NBC Sports Chicago's Cubs Post-Game Show Outside the Ivy. You can find him on Twitter/X @Michael_Cerami

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