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4:52 p.m.: The Mets have officially announced the expansion of DeGrom.
"It's an amazing day for Jacob, his family, our fans and the entire organization of the Mets," Mets operations director Jeff Wilpon said in the press release announcing the contract. "Last year Jacob experienced one of the most remarkable seasons in the history of baseball and we are delighted to be able to reward him. Mets fans can celebrate knowing that their ace will stay in Flushing. "
7:36: The Mets have accepted the terms of an extension with the star right-hand Jacob deGrom, according to Andy Martino of SNY.tv (Twitter connections). DeGrom, the current recipient of the Cy Young Award from the National League, is undergoing a physical shift today. The contract includes four years and $ 120.5 million in new money, as reported by The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal for the first time (Twitter connections), with part of it deferred.
At the beginning of the year, deGrom signed a $ 17 million arbitration contract for the 2019 season. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that this actually remains in place, though it is now being restructured into a signing bonus of $ 10 million and a salary of $ 7 million on Twitter. What would have been DeGrom's last referee season, 2020, will be stuck at $ 23 million. He will then earn $ 33.5 million in each of the next two seasons and $ 30.5 million in 2023, if he does not withdraw beforehand. The value of the option year is $ 32.5 million, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.com. tweets.
Indeed, if an agreement is finalized, it would end a long and fascinating saga about the future of deGrom. It was just last summer that Brodie Van Wagenen, deGrom's agent at the time, advocated that the team be responsible for expanding or trading it for the rightist. In a cinematic twist, Van Wagenen became the Mets general manager last fall, recusing the direct extension talks with deGrom, while the pitcher chose to stay with the same agency (CAA Baseball). (This concept of disqualification was clearly of rather limited scope, or has since been modified or abandoned, as Sherman tweets Van Wagenen was personally present for the final negotiations.)
The parties had preliminary discussions during the winter meetings, but a long period of silence ensued. After accepting an arbitration salary of 2019, which included a record increase of $ 9.6 million, the Grom camp has set a deadline for negotiations to open the day. The countdown has started. When the camp started, he seemed hoping that an agreement would materialize, but the more recent mood was much less promising. But Andy Martino from SNY.tv tweeted yesterday, discussions were still ongoing, with Michael Mayer of MetsMerizedOnline adding on Twitter that there was some progress coming towards an agreement.
In the end, the parties aligned themselves with a contract that, understandably, includes two-way concessions. DeGrom will be 31 years old this June and was not put on the market until the conclusion of the 2020 campaign. Compare that to Chris Sale, whose recent expansion came just before he turned 30 and was entering his last contract control season. (Of course, the southpaw was also coming out of a second semester limited to the 2018 season due to injuries). Sale's contract included five seasons and $ 145 million in additional earnings; he will launch the last season of this agreement at age 35. deGrom receives a slightly higher AAV, even if the first new year of the contract covers a season eligible for refereeing, and will celebrate its 35th birthday in the middle of its last guaranteed season (if it has not already chosen not to participate).
These two exceptional runners may have found more wealth in free will. Dirty would have been the best choice this winter, while deGrom would surely have been one of the most desirable free agents of the 2020-2021 off season. Zack Greinke He was already 32 years old when he signed a six-year contract worth $ 206.5 million with the Diamondbacks. But this agreement seemed an aberration at the time of its signing and the market has since changed. Clayton Kershaw He was not yet 31 years old and had only been successful in his comeback with the Dodgers last fall, but he signed a three-year pact after experiencing back problems and peripheral declines. .
There is also a lot of risk in launching a full season of MLB, so extensions typically have a lag value on free agencies higher than that of position players. A few young runners, close to freedom, got more money – Kershaw has not yet reached $ 200 million in his first long-term contract if you deduct his expected arbitration salary this season; Stephen Strasburg earned $ 175 million over seven new seasons midway through its last year of team control. But otherwise, the biggest pitching extensions went to Sale ($ 145M), Cole Hamels ($ 144.5 million), and Justin Verlander ($ 140 million)
[RELATED: MLBTR Extension Tracker]
For their money, the Mets will use the services of one of the best game launchers for most or all of its remaining productive campaigns. Never too excited as a prospect, deGrom's early development was slowed by Tommy John's surgery. But it emerged in 2014, winning a call from the majors and succeeding beyond any reasonable expectation. Although he has never been a pitcher in the underage, deGrom has consistently averaged K per set in his first seasons. He started climbing again in 2017, which was also his first campaign of more than 200 rounds, but he really did not take the next step until last year.
By entering the 2018 campaign, deGrom achieved an ERA of 2.98 with 9.7 K / 9 and 2.3 BB / 9 at 680 2/3 in career. There had been some health problems along the way, but he was, by and large, a durable and quite excellent launcher. It seemed that there was not much more ceiling to reach, but he found it without a doubt.
Increasing speed (96.7 MPH fast-paced shot) and placing more and more of his caster in favor of his two off-speed offerings (shift and slider, combined use of 40%) helped DeGrom increase his payout rate. Oscillating strike at a career high of 15.1%. He broke his attack rate to a personal best of 11.2 K / 9 while maintaining a typically glittering 1.9 BB / 9, reduced the home run problems that appeared a bit in 2017 and induced almost as many soft contacts (25.2%) as it allowed hard contact (26.6%).
The results followed these impressive underlying numbers. deGrom finished the 2018 campaign with 217 rounds of 1.70 ERA ball. As expected, given the exceptional results achieved, the ERA estimators felt that there was some good fortune, but not enough to undermine deGrom's excellence. He was credited with 1.99 FIP, 2.60 xFIP and 2.78 SIERA.
Nothing is assured in this world, let alone with regard to future performance in pitching. But deGrom seems to be as valuable a gamble as any veteran of the throw to continue producing until the age of thirty. His ability to maintain optimal physical shape may dictate the extent to which he can move closer to his newly established personal heights, but his multi-length arsenal and flawless command seem to provide roughly the same floor as a starter.
The advantage of the contract is clearly limited by the age of deGrom, but that does not mean that the Mets can not hope to obtain a good quality-price ratio. The organization will still have a good margin of maneuver after the 2020 season, the last year of Yoenis Cespedes and a few other expensive veterans. DeGrom eliminates Cespedes from the organization's budget. Rushmore, joining David Wright, Johan Santana, Carlos Beltran the four largest contracts in the history of the Mets.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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