They brought it down to the wire, but the New York Mets and pitching ace Jacob deGrom have reportedly agreed on a five-year, $137.5 million extension, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
The deal will keep the reigning Cy Young Award winner in Queens through the 2023 season with an opt-out clause following 2022 and a club option for 2024. There is also a full no-trade clause included.
It’s the end of a drawn out, arduous affair that began last season when current Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen was still deGrom’s agent.
With two years of team control — albeit via arbitration — at the time last spring, Van Wagenen demanded that the Mets sign his client to a contract extension as quickly as possible or trade him.
The speculation and rumors that came crashing down upon deGrom did little to faze him as the 30-year-old put up one of the greatest pitching seasons in Major League Baseball history despite getting zero support from his team.
Despite a 10-9 record, deGrom posted a 1.70 ERA with 269 strikeouts and just 46 walks, earning him the Cy Young Award despite having the lowest amount of wins ever for a recipient.
He proceeded to make it known during the offseason that he wanted to sign an extension that would keep him a Met for the rest of his prime years. Upon the hiring of Van Wagenen as New York’s GM, the idea of deGrom getting a re-worked deal was considered a foregone conclusion.
Yet deGrom and the Mets went through arbitration once again where both sides settled on a $17.5 million deal in 2019 to avoid a hearing. It was a bargain considering there were over 20 pitchers in baseball set to make more money than deGrom in 2019.
Despite little progress being made throughout the majority of the winter months, deGrom remained optimistic that a deal would get done, but gave the Mets an Opening-Day deadline (which is Thursday) as the last possible day to negotiate an extension in order to solely focus on baseball during the regular season.
While deGrom waited, notable pitchers like Luis Severino, Chris Sale, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, and Justin Verlander received new deals, creating plenty of tension heading into this week.
It even prompted his teammate Noah Syndergaard to urge management on Sunday to “quit all the fuss and pay the man.” Just two days later, the deal was completed.
Chalk up an assist to the Mets’ No. 2 starter, who will be a free agent following the 2021 season.
