Jacob deGrom officially signed his five-year, $137.5 million extension with the Mets yesterday and spoke with the media today alongside Brodie Van Wagenen and Jeff Wilpon.
However, one person not present actually played as pivotal of a role as anyone in the organization in getting the extension hammered out with the 2018 NL Cy Young Award winner.
According to Van Wagenen, David Wright actually came up with multiple different contract structures for the team’s ace and the team ended up using one of his “creative deal structure[s],” which was recently learned includes $52.5 million in deferrals.
The team involved him in negotiations tremendously and he even “was on the whiteboard with [Van Wagenen]” trying to figure out the best way to extend the right-hander.
Jeff Wilpon went on to even refer to the former team captain as the team’s “secret weapon” while Van Wagenen said that Wright “is officially the most valuable special advisor in history” for his job well done.
Wright, 34, only took up this position after the 2018 season, which proved to be his last in MLB.
The former third baseman ended his career as one of the greatest and beloved players in Mets history. His instrumental role in keeping deGrom in a Mets uniform should only add to his already outstanding relationship with the team’s fanbase.
