The always affable Aaron Loup was standing at his locker at Yankee Stadium on Thursday morning, so I decided to ask him if the Mets offered him a contract last winter.
“They did,” Loup said, and then he shared the brief story about why he is an Angel instead.
The Mets’ best reliever in 2021, Loup posted an 0.95 ERA and struck out 57 batters in 56 2/3 innings. In November, he signed a two-year, $17 million deal with the Angels, which comes with a club option for 2024 for $7.5 million, a $2 million buyout.
Loup described his decision as a combination of the Angels’ aggressive pursuit and the Mets’ transitional phase. In November, they were deeply engaged in a lengthy search for their next general manager.
“They had a lot going on front office-wise and all that, that they had to get figured out,” Loup said. “And I signed pretty early.”
Loup enjoyed New York and his Mets’ teammates, so he kept the possibility of a return alive for as long as he could.
“We tried to stall the Angels as long as we could,” he said. “They were like, ‘Hey, we want you.’ Basically giving me everything we asked for to get me. I was like, we know the Mets are interested, and they wanted to be in on the negotiations. We kind of stalled and stalled to try to get ‘em in, get ‘em in, get ‘em in. When they finally did, they weren’t going to match.”
Loup smiled. “Can’t pass up that money,” he said.
“But the Mets weren’t that far off. I don’t remember the exact money. but I think they were at two years $12, $12,5 million.”
Loup has a 4.82 ERA (and a 3.53 xERA) in 18 ⅔ innings with the Angels this year.