Mets: An offseason plan to bring a World Series victory to Queens

Extensions

The Mets have some players that deserve extensions. Some of them are young, still very controllable players like Pete Alonso and Amed Rosario. Some are closer to free agency like Marcus Stroman and some are players who should get an extension because they are part of the core and the team should want to keep them long term like Michael Conforto.

Unfortunately, not everyone can get an extension in the same offseason. However, there are two players on the Mets who deserve contract extensions. Marcus Stroman and Michael Conforto.

Michael Conforto – 6 years $100M

One of these years Michael Conforto will have a second half of the season for an entire season. He is one of the best young outfielders in the National League and is a key part of the Mets young core.

For the last three years, Conforto has consistently been a 3-4 WAR player and is still getting better. In 2019 he set a career-high for walk rate, 13%, and continues to be near the top of the league in wRC+ and OPS.

From the various reports out there, the sense is that the Mets and Conforto have a mutual interest in an extension if the deal is good for both sides.

Michael Conforto is such an underrated part of this team and it is incredible how many fans would trade him for players far inferior to him.

Six years would keep him under control through his age 32 season, buying out his first four years of free agency. Most players look forward to hitting free agency but Conforto gets a fair deal that gives him $16.67M on an AAV basis.

Could he get more on the open market? Maybe. He will not be a free agent until after the 2021 season which is when the current CBA runs out. There will be major changes to it and who knows what the free-agent landscape will look like then. By taking this deal he is guaranteeing himself a good amount of money, which is a good value for what he has done so far in his career and what he is expected to do over the length of the extension.

Marcus Stroman – 4 years $90M

When the Mets traded two of their top prospects for Marcus Stroman this past July there was a level of expectation, since he was going to be a free agent after the 2020 season, that the Mets would sign him to an extension.

Stroman did struggle with the Mets in 2019, however, he did turn it around the last month of the season pitching to a 2.91 ERA in September. As a number three starter in this talented Mets rotation, he does not have to pitch like an ace. If he did that would be excellent but he just needs to be the Marcus Stroman that made the Mets trade for him back in July.

Another component of this is Stroman brings so much to the table regardless if he is starting that day or not. The energy he brings to the team on and off the mound is very representative of the energy Jose Reyes brought to the team during his first tenure with the Mets.

The contract is tempting enough to sign and stay in New York instead of trying to get more on the open market, but the Mets should sign him sooner rather than later, so the price does not go up. Time is of the essence.