Now that Jacob deGrom has opted out of his contract with the Mets he’ll be one of the team’s top priorities this offseason.
With the starting rotation, outside of if Max Scherzer, in flux -- Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker all have team or player options -- how far with the Mets go to bring back one of the best pitchers in their history?
Well, Mets GM Billy Eppler was very optimistic about the team's upcoming negotiations with deGrom this offseason when he spoke to the media at the GM meetings in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
"I think there's a good deal of interest there on his part,” Eppler said of deGrom’s willingness to re-sign with New York. “That was articulated a number of times throughout the season and reiterated in our most recent conversation."
Eppler confirmed that he, deGrom and his rep had a few conversations leading up to the date the two-time Cy Young winner decided to opt out. The second-year GM described those conversations with deGrom as friendly, cordial and professional, but Eppler made it clear that the team has goals this offseason separate from deGrom.
The team will explore the free agent and trade markets to fill holes in their roster including in their rotation, but Eppler also said that the Mets and deGrom’s camp made a pact to stay in touch throughout the offseason to see where both sides are at.
“Everybody knows we got business to do. That’s part of the communication from our side to them and to everybody, we have business to do,” Eppler said. “There are players we want to acquire, things we want to accomplish this winter. We’re going to get down to it.
“But that draws back to my earlier statement where we want to stay in communication with each other and to be very transparent with each other. They’ll have a sense of what we’re doing and hopefully we’ll have a sense of what they’re doing.”
With teams likely vying for deGrom’s services, the process to woo him back to Queens may take awhile -- Eppler said he didn’t get a sense of how fast their camp wants to get a deal done -- so the Mets have already begun picking up options on Daniel Vogelbach and are close to finalizing a contract to bring closer Edwin Diaz back. Not to mention possibly bringing Brandon Nimmo back.
But when it’s all said and done, will deGrom fit in the Mets’ plans? Fans will have to just wait and see.