The New York Mets‘ future is relying extra on Bo Bichette than they could have anticipated.
When Bichette signed with the Mets final offseason, he had opt-outs in-built following annually of his three-year, $126 million contract. New York might have figured Bichette would head proper again to free company after the 2026 season.
However then Bichette had a difficult yr, and he couldn’t flip down a $42 million wage for 2027, so he opted-in and can stay with the Mets.
There are worse gamers to have on a roster than Bichette, but it surely does complicate issues. The Mets have some decisions to make for how one can enhance a roster that didn’t come shut to creating the playoffs, and people choices hinge partly on determining how one can match Bichette within the image on his costly contract.
The Mets already moved Bichette to 3rd base for 2026 to make him match into their lineup. Relying on what strikes the Mets make this offseason, there could possibly be extra key determinations to determine.
Bo Bichette Blocking Teruaki Sato
Bichette isn’t actively doing something to cease the Mets from making strikes, however his presence is problematic.
The Mets are one of many groups that could possibly be after Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato, who’s a 3rd baseman. But when Bichette has to play third base, then the place does Sato go? His different greatest spot is correct area, which has been occupied by Carson Benge.
New York may go along with a domino impact and transfer Bichette to second base and pay Marcus Semien some huge cash to not play. The Mets may additionally attempt to train Sato first base.
However the presence of Bichette definitely complicates issues.
If he had left, the Mets may’ve adopted the same path to the Blue Jays final offseason — that they had Bichette depart their lineup and signed a Japanese star, Kazuma Okamoto, basically to switch him.
$42 Million Future Implications
And the opposite factor with Bichette is that except he turns issues round in a significant approach in 2027, he may opt-in to his $42 million wage for 2028, as nicely.
The Mets gave him a cope with a excessive sufficient annual common worth to beat out everybody else pursuing him.
The issue is it doesn’t seem to have labored out in New York’s favor.
All of the Mets can do is hope that Bichette turns again into the kind of participant who will get 200 hits in a season. If he doesn’t do this, every thing has been made extra sophisticated by the truth that they pursued Bichette within the first place.
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