The Mets have made an opening offer to extension candidate Francisco Lindor, and Lindor’s representative has countered once, according to league sources with direct knowledge of talks.
The team has also made its first offer to Michael Conforto, sources said. Those talks are ongoing but no deal is close.
While the Mets’ offer to Lindor was described by a source as slightly less than $300 million -- and the counter was well over -- the Mets are almost certainly willing to get to $300 million to lock up Lindor.
If the shortstop wants significantly more than $300 million -- like, for example, the $340 million that the San Diego Padres are paying Fernando Tatis Jr. or the $365 million deal between the Dodgers and Mookie Betts -- an agreement could be tricky, to say the least.
The sides are not currently close on what constitutes a fair price.
The Mets like Lindor and want to sign him -- but, as SNY reported over the winter, they made the trade with Cleveland at a player cost that they felt would be justified by one year of Lindor and three years of Carlos Carrasco.
Bottom line: New owner Steve Cohen plans to make a significant financial investment in a top-shelf player at some point in the next year or so. The feeling around the team is, perhaps that player will be Lindor this month. Perhaps it will be a different free agent next winter.
As the Mets did with David Wright and R.A. Dickey after the 2012 season, they are negotiating with Lindor and Conforto on parallel tracks. The Wright/Dickey talks resulted in an agreement with one player and the trade of the other.
While neither Lindor nor Conforto will be traded soon -- obviously -- their situation is similar in that it is fluid and hard for even the team and agents to predict if either or both negotiations will end in a deal.
Lindor has set a firm deadline of Opening Day for a deal, or he will test free agency. The Mets hope that Conforto talks present a bit more wiggle room on timing.
Asked on Friday whether Conforto has a hard deadline of Opening Day for extension talks, his agent, Scott Boras, said:
"Michael is focused on the season and his performance. Not addressing any contract questions."