The New York Mets likely will consider extensions for their young pitchers, but which ace is most deserving of an extension?
We’ve just heard the latest news that New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson is considering giving long term contract extension to their young starters.
The Mets rotation consists of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Bartolo Colon. When Zack Wheeler comes back mid summer, he will be the fifth guy
The Mets rotation consists of pitchers (excluding Colon, of course) under 30 years old who all throw their fastballs in the mid to upper 90s.
If the Mets could keep their current rotation intact for years, then there’s no doubt how dominant the rotation could be long term.
The question is could the Mets keep all their young starters for the long term?
Realistically, it would be tough to keep all of them, let alone even four. If Alderson can give them long term extensions early, then it’ll increase their chances of staying in Queens for awhile.
Now I just want to throw this out there:
If the Mets could only get to sign one of them, who should that be?
I know the most logical answer right now would be Matt Harvey because he is still considered the current ace of this staff. He has the most experience out of all the five, he throws as hard as anyone and he has a competitive nature that can rival anyone. It’s not only his stuff but his demeanor that gets him going. Plus he’s still fairly young at age 26.
However, he will be the first one to test free agency in three years and his agent is Scott Boras. We all know Boras’s nature as an agent and how much he is willing to invest in his clients. We kind of saw a glimpse of that in September with Harvey’s innings limit fiasco and how Boras was worried about him risking injury if he pitched past his limit.
Under Boras, if Harvey continues to excel by the time his free agency approaches, he could command well over $200 million. That might be too much for a Mets organization that lately is not open to giving out mega deals like so.
Because of that, Harvey is predicted by many to have the least chance of staying with the Mets long term.
What about Jacob deGrom?
deGrom had the best season out of all the Mets starters in 2015 and was the Mets lone All Star representative. He also proved in the playoffs that he is a big game pitcher by winning his first three playoff decisions while showing lots of poise during tough moments. He is only 27 but he is the oldest out of all the five. A lot of people predict that he would be the most likely to get a long term contract and stay with the Mets long term.
However there’s one other Mets starter who should be here the longest out of everyone.
Noah Syndergaard!
Syndergaard burst into the scene last season and really showed a lot. He throws the hardest not only among the Mets starters. but all around the league. He has other secondary pitches which he uses which makes him even tougher to hit, to go along with his hard stuff.
He had a great rookie season and it continued in the postseason where Noah showed so much poise which was impressive for a rookie. He won two postseason starts including the Mets lone World Series win in Game 3. He also came out of the bullpen in Game 5 of the NLDS and had a one-two-three inning, propelling the Mets to the NLCS. He also showed that he’s not afraid to challenge anyone as he proved in the World Series, when on his first pitch, he threw inside to Kansas City Royals leadoff hitter Alcides Escobar, knocking him to the ground.
At age 23, Syndergaard is the youngest of the staff and throws the hardest. He’s shown more maturity than expected. He’s also shown some swagger and proved in the offseason how much he loves New York by attending each of the New York sports teams’ games at least once. He already expressed his desire to be in New York throughout his career. He has not even entered his prime, and has a bright future ahead of him.
Of course Mets fans would like to give long term contracts to all their young starters or at least three or four of them.
However if the Mets had to re-sign only one of them, it should be Noah “Thor” Syndergaard.
