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.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Regular season baseball had come back to the world when the Mets bullpen hung Jacob deGrom out to dry in their first relief opportunity of the season.

Then sloppy defense delivered the final blow.

In the bottom of the eighth of the Mets rescheduled Opening Day, the bullpen’s meltdown in Philadelphia marked the thirty-third time in the two-time Cy Award winner’s career that the Mets pen had cost him a win in a game he left with a lead.

While the Mets may look very different on paper from past seasons, their Opening Series performance highlighted that the same issues continue to haunt this franchise.

Collectively, they played very sloppy baseball: 4 errors, a 5.14 ERA from the seventh inning on, and questionable managerial decisions from the get-go.

deGrom struck out his final nine batters while going 2-for-2 with an RBI single before being pulled by manager Luis Rojas, and exiting with a pitching line of 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, and 7 Ks. Then the bullpen imploded with new-Mets relievers, Trevor May and Aaron Loup, giving away the lead before an uncharacteristic throwing error by INF Luis Guillorme cost them the game.

The bullpen’s ineffectiveness continued throughout the rest of the series with relievers Miguel Castro, Dellin Betances, Jeurys Familia, Jacob Barnes, and Joey Lucchesi adding to a horrendous combined pitching line of 9.0 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, and 11 Ks.

Fortunately, with news that Seth Lugo is ahead of his rehab, perhaps he can begin the process of curing the Mets bullpen woes.

Conversely, the team’s manager has already made several questionable decisions this season. One of which included starting Kevin Pillar in center field on Opening Day, pushing Brandon Nimmo to left field and leaving slugger Dom Smith on the bench. Later in the first game, he then refrained from pinch-hitting Smith with the bases loaded in the fourth inning and the team up by two, only to watch Pillar hit into an inning-ending double play.

Hopefully, lessons were learned, and no one will question why Brandon Nimmo must leadoff every game, Dominic Smith must be in the lineup, and that the bullpen needs better management.

The rest is on the Mets lineup to improve. The team’s hitting with RISP in their first three games back in action was atrocious, leaving a total 14 men on base and finishing 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

At the end of the day, they own the blame for their bats being cold.