No Matter How Much Money The New York Mets Give Jacob deGrom...It's Not Enough Money

DeGrom agreed to new, five-year, $137.5M contract with #Mets, sources tell The Athletic. Covering 2019 to ‘23 with club option for ‘24. Opt-out after ‘22. Deal first reported: @MartinoNYC.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 26, 2019

No one deserves a contract extension more than Jacob deGrom. He is currently the best pitcher in the entire sport and he is without a doubt the most important player on the Mets. By the time this contract ends, he might go down as one of the best to ever play in Queens.

1.70 ERA. 0.92 WHIP. 269 strikeouts. 2018 Cy Young Award. Pay this man his money and stop playing.

I understand the New York Mets initial reluctance considering not only is deGrom 30-years old but he still had two years left on his contract. As an organization, you don’t want to set a precident of players demanding new deals when they are still years away from even sniffing free agency.

You can also look at this past free agency period and see that unless you’re a 26-year old perrenial MVP hitter, you aren’t getting any money. Dallas Keuchel is still a free agent heading into Opening Day because no one wants to give money to a 31-year pitcher.

So the Mets probably could’ve just let this contract run its course and dared deGrom to enter free agency at age 32. The team had all the leverage here.

But it’s not deGrom’s fault that baseball is dumb and you can’t become a free agent until you’re in your 30’s because you have to play in the minor leagues for half of your adult life.

And again, he’s the best pitcher in baseball. If the New York Mets didn’t give him an extension, it would have been completely understandable to see Citi Field get burned to the ground.

$137.5 Million. Still vastly underpaid but it’s a start.