The idea of Michael Conforto coming home to the Mets in 2023 can finally be laid to rest, folks. Scooter will be playing with some of his former teammates, though.
After losing out on every major free-agent target they had this winter, news broke Friday morning of the San Francisco Giants agreeing to a two-year, $36 million deal with Conforto. USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale was the first to report these two sides had agreed to terms. Unsurprisingly, Conforto will have the opportunity to opt out at the conclusion of the season, per ESPN’s Buster Olney.
This isn’t exactly a homecoming for the outfielder, but he’s at least familiar with being on the west coast. Conforto is originally from Washington and played college ball for the Oregon State Beavers.
He’s spent the entirety of his MLB career in Queens with the Mets to this point (2015-21). Upon walking into the Giants’ clubhouse, though, Conforto will have the benefit of seeing some familiar faces. Two of them include former Mets teammates, Wilmer Flores and J.D. Davis. Flores has been with San Francisco since the 2020 season, while Davis joined the Giants at the trade deadline this past summer.
Conforto joins a full outfield that includes Joc Pederson, Mike Yastrzemski, and newly-signed Mitch Haniger. FanGraphs’ Roster Resource has initially slotted him into the three-hole of San Francisco’s lineup as a designated hitter. However, you’d have to imagine Scooter will get some regular run in the outfield grass throughout the year.
It would’ve been nice to see him return to the Mets from a sentimental standpoint, but it always seemed like a long shot. A reunion made more sense after Brandon Nimmo re-signed with New York, but it was undetermined how much regular playing time Conforto would actually get with the Amazins. It made less sense once the Mets shocked baseball by signing Carlos Correa, but there still was one final glimmer of hope.
That’s officially gone as the soon-to-be 30-year-old will try and rebuild his value after sitting out all of 2022 with a shoulder injury that required surgery.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
