The New York Mets officially extended a qualifying offer to Neil Walker on Monday. If accepted, the Mets would be on the hook for $17.2MM for Walker’s services in 2017.
Walker is coming off back surgery that ended his season prematurely in 2016, though when healthy he was quite the contributor to this team’s offense. General Manager, Sandy Alderson, speaking at the GM meetings Monday, advised of the Mets thought process on attempting to retain their second baseman.
“I think there was some deliberation with regard to a qualifying offer for Neil,” Alderson said. “In the end, we decided that we very definitely wanted to make the offer.”
“We’d love to have him back, and felt it was the appropriate thing to do. And we understand there’s a possibility he may accept it. We’re not unaware of that possibility.” (ESPN)
Walker had a productive first season in a Mets uniform, hitting to a .282/.347/.476 batting line. He tied career high in homers with 23 to go along with 55 RBI and helped to produce 57 runs in 113 games played.
A one-year deal for Walker is risky in the sense of no one truly knowing how he will bounce back from his surgery. Walker though is the best option at second base on the market, making it interesting to see if he would even accept the qualifying offer.
“The more time that passes, the more comfortable one can become — or uncomfortable, I guess, if things go the other direction,” Alderson said.
“But certainly with the passage of time you have a little more information in terms of post-surgery issues. So at this point, I think, we felt comfortable assessing the risk that exists.”
If the Mets are unable to retain Walker, team officials believe they will handle second base internally. Jose Reyes, T.J. Rivera and Wilmer Flores among others would be the main options for the team going forward, if Walkers declines to return.
