Noah: Pay Jake, and then maybe talk to me, too
Move over, Jacob deGrom — there’s another Amazin’ Met clamoring for a new deal.
Though no innings-limit threats are in play like his fellow ace, Noah Syndergaard indicated he’d be willing to listen should the Mets want to get a head start on extension talks.
“Yeah, I think so,” Syndergaard told the Bergen Record’s Matt Ehalt on Monday. “I love being a Met, I love New York City, the fan base is great and has been very kind to me. I see kind of the routes the game is going with (Bryce) Harper and (Manny) Machado have still yet to sign, and it’s kind of scary, honestly. It’s definitely something different than I’m used to. Only time will tell.”
Syndergaard, 26, is under team control until 2021 — one more season than deGrom — and will earn $6 million in his second year of arbitration. Like the reigning Cy Young winner, Syndergaard is represented by CAA, the same agency new Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen helped run. “Go out and pay deGrom,” Syndergaard said. “Give him what he’s worth.”
While deGrom of course remains the Mets’ top priority with spring training underway, Thor’s declaration comes at an intriguing time — only days after Luis Severino (Yankees: four years, $40 million) and Aaron Nola (Phillies: four years, $45 million) scored longterm extensions that bought out the remainder of their arbitration years and granted them job security in a league that has recently become void of it.
Tensions continue to grow between MLB and the union, the heads of both sides trading barbs over the last few days regarding the stagnant freeagent market. It’s mid-February, and the two most coveted free agents in the prime of their careers remain jobless. Clearly, neither side is content.
So, it seems Syndergaard wants to dodge the chaos and secure his future like Severino and Nola. Seeing as players are already tossing around the idea of a strike in 2021 when the current collective bargaining agreement ends, it’s tough to blame the blond-haired fireballer for watching his own back.
CLARK FIRES BACK
Players’ union head Tony Clark took the extraordinary step of saying baseball fans should question whether it makes sense to purchase tickets for some teams, responding to commissioner Rob Manfred’s assertion that free-agent players have failed to adjust their economic demands in a market upended by analytics.
“Players’ eyes don’t deceive them, nor do fans’,” Clark said in a statement Monday. “As players report to spring training and see respected veterans and valued teammates on the sidelines, they are rightfully frustrated by a two-year attack on free agency.”