The Mets are keeping Jacob deGrom out of free agency, signing the 30-year-old reigning Cy Young winner to a five-year extension on Tuesday. DeGrom is getting up to $170 million in the deal if the Mets pick up a club option in 2024 and he gets $135.5 million if he picks up a player option in 2023.
It was a rocky road to get here, with deGrom setting an Opening Day deadline for extension negotiations in February and implying that he would rest his arm later this season in preparation for 2020 free agency if he had to. DeGrom joins Chris Sale and Justin Verlander as the most recent pitchers to get paid.
On Tuesday's "Off the Bench," David Samson joins Danny Kanell to talk about the deGrom extension. They discuss the recent slew of extensions for players, and whether it will continue and, thus, affect free agency as we know it. Moving on from deGrom, they talk about Noah Syndergaard's recent criticism of the franchise for not paying deGrom and the travel leading up to the season. Now that deGrom is taken care of, there's still the matter of trying to limit travel in the future.
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