Michael Conforto, the New York Mets’ stellar right fielder, will play the 2021 season under his last year of team control. He will be paid $12.25 million in his third arbitration-eligible season, but once the World Series is over, he is, as of now, ticketed to test the free agent waters.
Conforto was a force from the plate in 2020, with a .322/.412/.515 line, nine home runs and a 157 wRC+. The Mets would be smart to show a little more proactivity towards a potential contract extension.
The New York Mets have been extremely busy this offseason, linked with just about every major free agent and having signed Trevor May, James McCann, Aaron Loup, plus the additions of Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco via trade.
Yet some fans still dream about a Conforto extension. Is it possible?
The Mets have some homework to do
The Mets slugger was asked about the matter on Tuesday, during the Thurman Munson Awards Dinner. Per SNY:“As far as extension talks go, myself and the Mets, myself and Sandy [Alderson] in particular, haven’t spoken since – he did give me a call to let me know that I was going to be honored as a Second-Team outfielder on that All-MLB list. Our conversations haven’t gone anywhere past that. He just let me know that I was going to be a Second-Team All-MLB outfielder,” he said.
“He was on record saying that we’re going to broach that topic when we get closer to spring training. Now that we have a solid date for spring training I think things may progress, but at this point we really haven’t talked about extension stuff and all that stuff. We’ll see what happens here in the next week or two as we get closer to spring training and I think things will probably progress as we get closer,†Conforto explained.
The Mets also have other starts with deals expiring after the season, including Lindor and pitchers Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman.