With Michael Conforto among the best performers in baseball in 2020 and his being set for free agency after the 2021 season, the Mets probably have until next spring to get him locked up. Will they?
"As a guy that was homegrown, he's somebody that we've looked at as a long-term piece of our core going forward," Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen told reporters Friday via Zoom. "We have had conversations -- preliminary conversations in the past -- about a mutual expression of interest potentially in the long-term. We'll see how those conversations go when we start to put in this entire piece to the puzzle trying to develop our roster strategy as we go into the offseason."
Conforto, who will turn 28 roughly a month before Opening Day of 2021, has hit .341/.433/.551 with nine homers, 12 doubles, 31 RBI, and 39 runs scored in 50 games (215 plate appearances) this season.
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With the caveat that the 60-game season means small sample sizes, Conforto's batting average and OBP in 2020 are career-highs. His slugging percentage in 2020 is just a tick lower than his career- best -- .555 in 2017.
"It's been an MVP type season," Van Wagenen said. "Dom Smith has had one of those too and we've had a lot of guys with some spectacular performances. Michael has been consistent from the start of the season all the way up until even last night's game. We've been impressed.
"He's an all-around player -- he contributes with his glove, he's thrown better this year than I've ever seen him throw, going to the bases and to home plate. And he's just been an incredible performer."
Though Conforto is represented by Scott Boras, leading some to believe that he will definitely hit free agency, there are numerous instances of high-profile Boras clients signing extensions -- including Stephen Strasburg in 2016.
And Conforto has said multiple times that he is open to signing long-term before hitting free agency.
"It would be nice to have the future set but it’s gotta make sense for me to do that," Conforto told SNY contributor John Harper back in March. "Maybe the conversation gets a little different next year but right now I’m just locked in on 2020.”
Conforto, though, made it clear that it would be his call -- not up to Boras.
“If I go out there and play the way I’m capable of, everything will take care of itself," Conforto said in March. "Scott’s got my best interests in mind, but at the end of the day it’s my decision."
