New York Mets: The next players in line for a contract extension

Following the Jacob deGrom contract extension, the New York Mets should turn their attention to potentially locking up other players long-term. Which men are worth the commitment?

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the New York Mets have locked up their ace Jacob deGrom to a 5-year contract extension. The Mets don’t have to worry about losing deGrom anytime soon.

Extensions have been a trend over the past few weeks, as lots of teams have locked up their best players. It is smart for teams to do this, it shows that they want to compete for years to come.

The Mets have shied away from extensions in recent years, the last one they signed was Juan Lagares in 2015, and it hasn’t worked out as well as they would have liked. The Mets also gave big extensions to David Wright and Johan Santana, both of which missed a lot of time due to injury.

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It’s fair to say that the Mets have a sour taste in their mouth from their history with extensions, but making sure Jacob deGrom was part of the future was key. Brodie Van Wagenen has said over and over that they will compete now and in the future, and this proved that he is sticking by his word.

But why stop now?

The Mets have more young players that may develop into All-Stars. Why not commit to them now and have the same core compete together for the next five years?

You can start with Zack Wheeler who becomes a free agent after this season. The free agent market has proved to be a scary place for some players, so a guy like Wheeler may be open to negotiating a deal with the front office during the season.

Noah Syndergaard has been a fan favorite ever since he came up to the big leagues. He’s fun to follow on Twitter, and when he’s healthy he’s fun to watch on the mound. It’d be great if the Mets secured deGrom, Syndergaard, and Wheeler as their top three in the rotation for years to come.

Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo both seem like they may be on the verge of a breakout season this year. Imagine if the Mets extended deGrom before his breakout season? That would have been a bargain. They should learn from that and lock up their two young outfielders.

The team will start the season with Pete Alonso on the roster, forfeiting a seventh year of control that they would have had if he spent the first two weeks in Triple-A. We’ve seen teams buy out young prospect’s arbitration years before they’ve even played in the majors. They would be wise to offer Alonso a seven-year, $43 million deal. That way they get the seventh year, and if he turns into the player he has the potential to be, they get him at a bargain.

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It’s exciting when a team shows the fans that they’re committed to winning for a long time. The Mets have a core of really good young players, they’d be very wise to keep this group together heading forward to compete for championships together.