Among the many interesting moves the New York Mets have made over the past few years, landing very talented players but also giving out ridiculous contracts, the Bo Bichette one is at the top of the list. The Mets ultimately don’t have any say in what Bichette is going to do, as he has a player opt-out.
Player opt-outs are only really good for the player, though the Mets understood that when they gave him this contract.
As for what Bichette’s future might look like in New York, there’s reason to believe he could return after this season, but opt out after next year. The reasoning is to get Bichette back on track, with the hope that he’d land a bigger deal from another team if he opts out.
Considering he’d be just 29 years old, if he returns to the offensive player that everybody knows he is, and can continue to prove defensively that he’s getting better, there’s reason to believe that Bichette could find himself with a decent market.
For now, however, the Mets should hope he opts out of that deal, even if it seems unlikely.
“Plus, there’s the fact that Bichette has another opt-out after 2027. If he returns to the Mets now, plays well and then opts out a year from now at age 29, Bichette could set himself up for more total money than he would receive in any other scenario.
“Or, if he likes what’s happening in New York, he could simply play out his entire contract and become a free agent again at age 30 — $86 million richer than he is today. In those scenarios, there are very few bad outcomes for Bichette,” Anthony DiComo wrote.
This is part of the problem why the Mets have struggled at the level they have over the past couple of seasons now. There are definitely some promising players in the organization, and I don’t want to say that all the moves they’ve made have been wrong, as landing a guy like Juan Soto was obviously the right one, even if they’re paying him a ridiculous amount of money and haven’t won a lot of games.
Bichette could also become the player everybody knows he can be after just one down season in New York, so I wouldn’t count that out, either.
