Mets news you may have missed: Contracts, meltdowns, and old Heroes

After a delayed start to the season, the New York Mets were back on the field this week. Unfortunately, they played like the same old orange and blue.

While it may be a new year, new team, new owner and front office – the problems of the past persisted in their opening series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The bats were cold, the bullpen proved ineffective, and their manager’s in-game decisions were laced with skepticism.

Meanwhile, the start of a new season brought several familiar faces to surface with each of them making their mark in Philadelphia, Toronto, Oakland, and Baltimore respectively. But aside from these early hiccups right out of the gate, there is baseball again in Flushing, Queens, so let’s take a look at what Mets news you may have missed.

Mets news: Lindor signs extension, Conforto deal stalls, deGrom could opt-out

On the eve of MLB’s Opening Day, SS Francisco Lindor and the Mets organization reached an agreement on a franchise-record 10-year, $341 million deal. Although they now have an everyday shortstop for the next decade, it seems to have come at the expense of stalling contract negotiations with homegrown talent, OF Michael Conforto.

Set to become an unrestricted free agent this winter, the failure to extend Conforto long term is sure to anger fans, despite the massive amount of excitement generated by Lindor’s big money deal.

Having Scott Boras as his agent presents its own issues with going through the extension process, meaning fans might have to wait well into the season to see any movement by either side while also running the risk that Conforto could very well hit the open market by year’s end.

Meanwhile, with our attention on Lindor’s new contract along with keeping an eye on Conforto’s progress, deGrom seems to have started preliminary extension talks during the waning days of Spring Training.

As it stands, the Mets ace is locked into a 5-year, $137.5 million deal, where he is in year 3, and can opt-out after the end of the 2022 season if he chooses. And right now, the No. 1 pitcher in baseball is getting paid like the third, behind Gerrit Cole ($36 million AAV) and Trevor Bauer ($40 million AAV).

According to Spoctrac.com, deGrom is set to make $33.5 million this year and next, before he can opt out. A lot can happen in two years, which will determine whether deGrom thinks he can make more than the $30.5 million he is set to make in 2023.

What he and his representatives ultimately decide, no one knows. But Mets fans can rest assured that Steve Cohen’s money will be waiting for him when they do.

If history is any guide, being a Mets fan hasn’t always been easy to digest for some. But it is exceptionally trying when players – whether homegrown or acquired elsewhere – seem to hit their stride only after their departure from Flushing.

In their first starts of the season, former Mets pitchers Zach Wheeler and Steven Matz looked dominant in their 2021 debuts.

Fittingly, the Mets had to experience Wheeler’s growing pains while his new team is reaping all the benefits after inking him to a 5-year, $118 million deal prior to the start of last season.

As one of the crown-jewels plucked from the San Francisco Giants farm system as part of the 2011 Carlos Beltran trade, Wheeler rose through the Mets ranks to make his debut in 2013 before adjusting to the majors, undergoing Tommy John surgery, and finding his form.

On April 3, he threw 7.0 innings, allowing 1 hit, no runs, and striking out 10 batters. Let it be known that Wheeler is just another casualty of the frugal ownership of the past.

Even Matz – recently traded by the Mets in the offseason – impressed during his Toronto Blue Jays debut, lasting 6.1 IP while giving up a hit, 1 run, a walk and striking out 9.

Meanwhile, after his last two injury-plagued seasons, INF Jed Lowrie made his return to the baseball field as a member of the Oakland Athletics. In his first week back, Lowrie eclipsed his 2-year Mets totals, during which time he played in only 9 games with 7 at bats on a two-year, $20 million contract.

This season he’s already played in 7 games while scoring 3 runs, 5 hits, an RBI, and four walks, eclipsing the benchmark he set as a Met with a walk, 4 strike outs, and a .000 BA.

The most notable news, however, came out of Baltimore where former Mets ace, SP Matt Harvey made headlines by earning a spot on a Major League staff as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. So far, he has 9.2 IP, 13 H, 6 ER,2 BB, and 9 strikeouts. He even hit 95mph in his second outing.

The Mets traded Harvey to the Cincinnati Reds in 2018 and after three years of working through the farm systems of the Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and now Baltimore, he is back in the majors. Even more surprisingly, the former ‘Dark Knight’ struck out ex-Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki during his start against the Boston Red Sox.

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It’s always interesting here in Mets land.