Ranking the 4 NY Mets contract extensions for players currently on the team

3 of 4

Contract extensions are in vogue. The New York Mets may head into this season with at least two obvious candidates for one. The uniqueness of the contract extension in MLB is it can be something handed out to a player nearing free agency or a young, budding star who has yet to even reach the majors.

The Mets have handed out four recent extensions to players. Based on production and value, how would they rank?

4) Tomas Nido

An easy last-place finisher and possibly the worst if not most unnecessary contract extension in club history, it was in January of 2023 when the Mets agreed to a two-year extension with Nido worth a modest $3.7 million. Pocket change for Steve Cohen, the problem is Nido didn’t even live up to the expectations of this deal.

A year after becoming the club’s primary catcher in 2022 and hitting decently enough in those 313 plate appearances to warrant a guaranteed deal, Nido slid back into irrelevance in 2023. He batted just .125/.153/.125 for the club. Due to a roster crunch at the catcher spot, the team was faced with either demoting promising young catcher Francisco Alvarez or DFA’ing Nido. They chose the latter despite the contract situation. It was the right move to make.

Nido rode out the final part of the 2023 season in the minor leagues after passing through waivers and accepting an assignment to Syracuse. Other clubs knew better than to take on the remaining portion of his contract—as low as it is in baseball terms.

The Nido extension is different from many others as it will now fail to even buy out the remainder of his arbitration years. He’s still under team control for the 2025 season without a guaranteed contract. By then, he’s a non-tender candidate. This year, it will take an injury or a trade of Omar Narvaez for the Mets to make room. If called up, he’ll once again be on the DFA bubble.

Nido has always been a defensive catcher and not someone to rely on for hits. The Mets were equally kind and blind to sign him to this extension.

3) Edwin Diaz

The Edwin Diaz contract was technically signed before free agency began so if you don’t want to consider it an extension, you don’t have to. He never actually did get to test the free agency waters. Similar to Mike Piazza when he inked a long-term deal with the Mets way back in the day, Diaz was willing to bypass seeing what others were willing to pay and stay in New York.

The Mets made it easy by paying him the richest contract for a relief pitcher in MLB history. Although Josh Hader’s contract from the Houston Astros from the 2023-2024 offseason is technically more valuable because it doesn’t include deferred money, the $102 million Diaz can take home beats his amount.

The Diaz contract certainly has a chance to move up this list, but right now it finishes only ahead of Nido—hopefully by a few miles.

A season-ending injury from the infamous WBC celebration ended year one under this extension with the Mets before it even began. There are two more years left before he can opt out of the contract. Mets fans will spend 2024 and 2025 holding their breath for two things. One is good health for the closer. The other is a lack of interest in playing anywhere else.

2) Jeff McNeil

The first year under his new deal wasn’t a huge one. Jeff McNeil went from leading the majors with a .326 batting average down to a much more average .270. McNeil brings a lot to the diamond. His ability to play all over the field. He puts the bat on the ball in an era where hitting hard and far is treated much more favorably. Still, any dive in batting average takes away from him offensively in a major way. He had a 96 OPS+ last year which measures him as a below average hitter in the league. We know he’s much more.

The extension could reach a total of $63.75 million by the time it’s over with. Dependent on a team option for 2027, it’s a deal that will take him through his age 35 season if they don’t part ways first.

Team-friendly at first glance for a guy with a batting title, McNeil wanted to guarantee himself money now because guys who didn’t hit for power tend to get brushed aside in free agency. His contract has yet to kick into the higher end, costing only $6.25 million in the 2023 season with a jump up to $10.25 million in 2024.

McNeil may have been underwhelming in the first year of this deal, but when we look at it in terms of value, he was a $6 million player. Diaz has a chance to easily pass him depending on how this extension ages for McNeil. The best extension the Mets have signed a current player to, meanwhile, might go unchallenged for its duration.

1) Francisco Lindor

With Francisco Lindor, we actually do have to eliminate the 2021 season from this conversation because he was not yet on his mammoth extension. The last two years have been much better for the star shortstop whose $341 million contract is the richest in team history. Has he lived up to the $34.1 million per year value? Most Mets fans believe so while others will never buy in.

Two straight years of finishing ninth in the MVP vote should be enough to agree on this fact. Nearly two consecutive years of 100 runs scored and RBI (he was two runs shy in 2022 and two RBI shy in 2023) would have only added to his success. He’ll have to settle with the 30/30 season he posted in 2023 while dealing with an elbow injury.

Lindor is not the same player he was in Cleveland. While he remains a defensive stalwart and can accomplish many of the same things offensively, we may never see him hit for a high batting average or challenge for 40 home runs again. What Lindor has shown in his last two years with the Mets under the contract extension is a well-roundedness. He can hit for power, run, field, and most surprising of all after the disastrous 2021 campaign, grow into more of a true leader.

Incredible expectations come with this contract extension. So far, so satisfying.

manual

Home / New York Mets News