Despite his 2021 season ending before the All-Star break and his 2022 season not starting until August, Jacob deGrom is still expected to opt out of his contract this winter, giving up the final two years of the five-year, $137.5 million deal.
“That’s the plan: exercise that option and be in constant contact in the offseason with the Mets and Steve Cohen and the front office,” deGrom said back in March, before the stress reaction in his scapula that cost him four months.
The plan remains, and the plan for the Mets is indeed do anything they can to keep deGrom in Queens.
"Listen, he certainly has the right to do that. We love Jacob, and I think he’s the best pitcher in baseball," Cohen said Saturday during Mets Old-Timers’ Day. “We’ll do whatever we can to make sure he stays. But it’s his decision, not ours."
DeGrom was on a near-record pace when he suffered an elbow injury last season – he was 7-2 with a 1.08 ERA, 0.55 WHIP, and 146 strikeouts in 92 innings over 15 starts – and after this week’s win over Colorado, he is 3-1 with a 2.15 in ERA in five starts in 2022, with 46 strikeouts against just two walks and a 0.545 WHIP in 29 1/3 innings.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner loves Queens, but if he opts out, he is likely to make a lot more, at least over the next two years, than the $63 million he could make on the final two years of his deal -- $30.5 million in 2023, and a $32.5 million club option for 2024.
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Max Scherzer’s deal includes a $43.3 million annual average value, and that’s likely what deGrom could command, with SNY quoting Spotrac as projecting deGrom for a three-year, $123 million deal ($41mm AAV) at current market value.
That may be a problem for 29 other teams, but Cohen has shown a willingness to spend whatever it takes to get the players he wants – and he may be willing to do it again, but he’ll worry about that come November.
"We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, all right," Cohen said. "Right now we’re trying to win our division and we’re going to sit down with Jake and try to figure it out at the end of the season. I think right now would be a distraction. Let’s focus on the season.
We’ll deal with it at the appropriate time.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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