This past Friday was the deadline for all arbitration-eligible players and their respective teams to settle on a salary for 2019 before having it drag out into Spring Training. Thankfully for the New York Mets, that process is officially done, as they came to terms with all six of their eligible players.
A lot of the attention was given to Jacob deGrom‘s salary, and for good reason. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner not only set a record by receiving a raise larger than his 2018 salary alone, but his $17 million payday is also more than his career earnings in professional baseball through this past year.
He wasn’t the only one New York made sure to take care of, though. Here’s a quick list of the arbitration salary projections from MLB Trade Rumors and where their respective salaries eventually fell:
| Player | MLBTR Projection | Actual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Jacob deGrom | $12.9 MM | $17.0 MM |
| Noah Syndergaard | $5.9 MM | $6.0 MM |
| Zack Wheeler | $5.3 MM | $5.975 MM |
| Michael Conforto | $4.4 MM | $4.025 MM |
| Travis d’Arnaud | $3.7 MM | $3.515 MM |
| Steven Matz | $3.0 MM | $2.625 MM |
The Mets’ top three starters all settled for higher than MLBTR’s projection. These projections shouldn’t be taken as gospel, but they’ve generally been accurate over the years, and it’s interesting to continue seeing how Brodie Van Wagenen runs the front office in his first offseason as general manager.
Regardless of how many additions BVW makes — whether they’re headliners or depth moves — how far the Mets ultimately go will be dependent on how deGrom, Syndergaard, and Wheeler perform. The 2018 rotation was easily the most valuable part of the Mets’ roster, and the group was one of the best in baseball when using fWAR as the barometer.
Paying them well isn’t going to keep them healthy (if only, right?), but it’s the right way to start off a season. Many times, we forget that baseball players are humans amid all the news, rumors, trades, and free-agent signings. Paying these three more than what some projection system says they’re worth goes a long way in having them feel valued by the organization.
This is refreshing following a number of years where it seemed like the front office and ownership would nickle-and-dime players, along with bad-mouthing them on their way out. And based off league revenue numbers, forking over a few more million to help nurture this perception probably wasn’t that big of a deal.
Awarding deGrom $17 million for the upcoming season sets the tone for potential long-term contract negotiations, but let’s not forget how close the other two are to the open market. Wheeler will be a free agent next winter and Syndergaard will be doing the same at the conclusion of the 2021 campaign. Is it realistic to think the Mets can retain all three for the long term? Not quite, but that doesn’t mean BVW probably won’t give it a try.
New York’s goal isn’t just to compete for the playoffs in 2019 — they’d also like to keep that up for the foreseeable future with the current core group of players. It would be silly if they didn’t at least try to lock up the most important pieces of their rotation before they hit the open market — or, at least give themselves some goodwill to stand on if the organization would like to retain them and can’t get a deal done prior to free agency.
This seems to be part of the culture shift going on under the new regime. As an agent, Van Wagenen didn’t shy away from taking a stand when it came to player compensation. It’s impossible to forget the “extend him or trade him” statement from last summer, but he also advised deGrom to not sign his 2016 contract, which the team ended up renewing instead of agreeing on the right-hander’s value.
BVW can’t be an active member of negotiations for players like deGrom and Syndergaard because of his previous professional relationship with them, but you better believe he’s shared his opinion with the people who are/will be in the room. With regard to the business side of baseball, he knows what makes players happy and feel valued. It’s nice to see that mentality carrying over from his last career.
As other players progress through arbitration and toward free agency, like Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, and Edwin Diaz, it won’t be shocking to see the same thing happening if they continue on their current career trajectories. Whether it works in the form of striking long-term deals or not, this is the right way to do business, especially in a big market like New York.
