NEWSLETTER
It has been overwhelmingly likely that, when Jacob deGrom opts out of his contract this winter as he says he will, he will simply re-sign a bigger/longer deal with the New York Mets. It’s how a lot of these opt-out situations go with superstars who’ve been on the same team their entire career, and aren’t necessarily looking to get out – they’re just looking, understandably, to get paid.
That won’t stop me from pining for a true Jacob deGrom free agency, but I can be realistic about the most likely outcome.
Speaking of which, extraordinarily wealthy and aggressive New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is out there saying that, if it’s up to him, deGrom ain’t going anywhere. And although it’s not ENTIRELY up to him, it is pretty much mostly up to him.
“Listen, he certainly has the right to [opt out]. We love Jacob, and I think he’s the best pitcher in baseball,” Cohen told The NY Post. “We’ll do whatever we can to make sure he stays. But it’s his decision, not ours.”
Doing whatever they can will probably entail paying deGrom a deal that either has an absurd length for a 34-year-old with his injury history, or an absurd AAV that goes above the $43.3 million per year secured by deGrom’s older-but-healthier rotation mate, Max Scherzer. There’s going to be a level of risk in that deal that we haven’t seen before, but that’s be the price of locking down a guy who is, without question, the best pitcher in baseball when he’s healthy. Something wild like six years and $220 million would not surprise me. Or something like three years and $150 million. I’m just setting myself up NOT to be surprised by whatever deal he commands, because it’s such a unique case.
In sum, the Mets are going to have the ability to do whatever it takes to keep deGrom, and I tend to think Steve Cohen will actually go to that level.
But I’ll hope otherwise.
