In an exclusive for MLB.com, former Colorado Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd included Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom among his top five MLB core players who are also deserving extension deal candidates.
The other four players he highlights are outfielder A.J. Pollock of the D’Backs, center fielder Lorenzo Cain f the Royals, right-hander Gerrit Cole of the Pirates, and Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman.
“A ninth-round pick in the 2010 Draft, deGrom didn’t get a big signing bonus coming out of Stetson, and he’s already overcome Tommy John surgery. Considering he won’t be a free agent until after the 2020 season, it makes sense for him and for the Mets to reach a long-term agreement, possibly comparable to the one that Corey Kluber, deGrom’s college teammate, signed with Indians last winter, which was a five-year deal worth $38.5 million and included two sizable club options.”
“Any deal deGrom signs may also lay the framework for multiyear contracts the Mets pursue with the likes of Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz in future years.”
O’Dowd is right of course. We wrote about this last Wednesday and again on Friday. In fact I wrote that if the whole point of not signing any free agents to longterm deals this offseason was to ensure they had enough payroll flexibility to sign Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard to extension deals, I was perfectly okay with the strategy.
Locking up those guys before they begin hitting free agency in 2018 is far more important to the longterm success of the franchise than paying Ben Zobrist $32 million over the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Wouldn’t you agree or am I wrong on this?
To me, the most exciting and important takeaway from the 2015 season was finally getting to see Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard pitching in the same rotation, and the results were staggering. You may remember me saying after Syndergaard was promoted that if the Mets were to make the postseason “they would be the most dangerous team in the playoffs because of the three young guns at the top of the rotation.”
DeGrom is certainly a core player for the Mets as O’Dowd points out, but so are Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard. They are our new version of Seaver – Koosman – Matlack.
Incidentally, Buster Olney of ESPN included both deGrom and Harvey among his top 10 MLB pitchers for the 2016 season.
