A final grade for the NY Mets contract extension with Jeff McNeil

After winning the 2022 NL batting title, Jeff McNeil signed a contract extension a few weeks before spring training. A four year-deal worth $50 million awarded to him by the New York Mets for his huge bounce back campaign seemed like a good idea at the time. A perpetual .300+ hitter in each season of his career except 2021, the Mets were buying into one of the league’s best contact hitters. A homegrown favorite with versatility, no one was complaining.

Unfortunately, that seemed to be McNeil’s swan song. Incredibly inconsistent in each of the last three years, he’s entering the final guaranteed year of his contract with a team option for 2027. How does this contract extension grade out almost three years after it was signed?

Give the Jeff McNeil extension a C-

Those last three seasons when the contract was in place equaled a 6 WAR player batting .253/.326/.389 with 34 home runs. He was worth 5.9 WAR alone in 2022. Disappointment doesn’t quite do it justice. McNeil set a high standard for himself early on.

When the contract was signed, McNeil was a lifetime .307/.370/.458 hitter. It’s now at .284/.351/.428. These last two seasons of hitting under .250 have done a lot of damage to his reputation and the biggest change is how many balls he is hitting in the air rather than on the ground.

A fly ball percentage of 28.3% last season set a new high water mark. McNeil has been the victim, at times, of trying to do things he’s not the best at. Perhaps being a little too selective, walking a career-best 10.6% of the time, is partly to blame for his fall as well. There isn’t any extreme difference other than the final result.

A poorly aged contract is only saved with a C- minus grade because McNeil continued to provide the Mets with regular versatility on defense. His biggest superhero move was playing center field regularly in 2025 when the team had no solution whatsoever. Although his defense was suspect for much of the year, eventually leading to a misplay in Philadelphia that ended his run at the position, he saved the team from worse alternatives.

McNeil is a unique case of a once incredibly popular player who wore out his welcome by hanging around too long. No one really thinks the contract was too above market value. More so, it’s how the Mets just didn’t get enough out of him. He was a unique, throwback type of hitter when at his best. At his worst, he was a firebrand below-average hitter whose time had simply run out.

Think C- is too generous? Blame the holiday spirit.