The Mets have extended qualifying offers to both Michael Conforto and Noah Syndergaard.
Both players have until Nov. 17 to accept or decline; accepting the offer will bring them back to the Mets on a one-year, $18.4 million deal, while declining makes them a free agent and gives the Mets draft pick compensation.
Either way, neither will be eligible for a qualifying offer ahead of any future free agency, per current MLB rules.
Syndergaard, 29, missed the entire 2020 season and most of 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and then suffering some setbacks during his rehab. He ended up making two appearances for the Mets, serving as an opener and pitching one inning each in games on Sept. 28 and Oct. 3, but did not throw any breaking balls on advice of doctors.
The Mets' rotation as of now has Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker, Tylor Megill, and David Peterson penciled in, but Walker is the only one who threw 100 innings in 2021; Marcus Stroman, who is a free agent after accepting a qualifying offer last year, led the team with 33 starts and 179 innings pitched, and after Walker (29 starts, 159 innings), Megill, who was called up mid-season from Double-A, was third on the staff with 18 starts and fourth with 89 2/3 innings pitched.
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Syndergaard has expressed desire to return to the Mets, saying after the season finale that "it would be a tough pill to swallow not wearing the Mets jersey next year."
Conforto, 28, had a down season in 2021, slashing .232/.344/.384 with 14 home runs and xx RBI in 125 games, but he turned it on down the stretch by slashing .271/.370/.453 with eight homers and nine doubles in the final 54 games he played.
The career Met had back-to-back career years in 2019 and 2020, hitting 33 homers and driving in 92 runs in 2019 before slashing career highs of .322/.412/.515 in 2020. For his career, he has a .255/.356/.468 slash line in seven seasons.
Conforto, like Syndergaard, expressed his fondness for his time in New York after the season finale:
"I stayed in Manhattan for five years, I started dating my fiancée here, so there's a whole lot that goes into it that you kind of look back on and people I've made relationships with," he said. "We'll see what happens in the future, but I definitely loved every second that I was blessed to play here in New York."
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