Mo Bichette?

[Centerfield]

Five day window starts now. 
 

Word around the team is that he’s likely top opt in. It’s a shit free agent market. You never know. 

[Gwreck]

Opts in:  Earns either $47 million for just 2027 or $84 million if also staying for 2028.  Hits free agency entering his age 30 or age 31 seasons.  If he bounces back, he'll still be set up well to sign an additional lucrative free agent contract.

Opts out: $5 million opt-out bonus and is one of the better free agent options entering his age 29 season.

---

By my rough math/estimation, Bichette would have to think he could get at least (a) a new short-term deal at an even higher AAV than the $42M he'd get from the Mets (fat chance) or (b) at least a 6 year, $200M deal from someone else (seems unlikely).

The smart play is to return for 2027 and if he does rebound, then opt out of the 2028 year.   

 

[Cowtipper]

Kinda hope he opts out. He reminds me of Roberto Alomar. Came on with huge expectations and just let us all down. He was there and there a lot, but didn't do much of anything. He actually wasn't bad per se, but certainly didn't contribute that much either. 

Bo Bichette, 2026: 160 G, 638 AB, 76 R, 166 H, 25 2B, 18 HR, 78 RBI, 2 SB, 49 BB, 127 K, .260/.312/.390, .702 OPS, 97 OPS+

Roberto Alomar, 2002: 149 G, 590 AB, 73 R, 157 H, 24 2B, 11 HR, 53 RBI, 16 SB, 57 BB, 83 K, .266/.331/.376, .708 OPS, 90 OPS+

Neither were out-and-out terrible, but hardly worth the money or hype, either. 

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Just think of Bo as a contributor who happens to be paid too much.

Also, he will sing for his supper in 2027 so if he has anything left it would be the time to show it.

[Benjamin Grimm]

25 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

Just think of Bo as a contributor who happens to be paid too much.

That's pretty much how I look at it. I think he'll be overpaid, but the Mets will (probably) be better with him than without him.

[MFS62]

1 hour ago, Benjamin Grimm said:

 but the Mets will (probably) be better with him than without him.

That says a lot about the state of  the roster. We wish they already had somebody better.

Later

[Centerfield]

Thinking out loud. 
 

I would think that Bichette has already made up his mind. I can’t imagine what might change over the next few days that might affect his decision. 
 

If he’s opting in, today would be the day to announce it. Then he gets to say “it was a no brainer, no place I’d rather be, etc”. I mean. No reason to wait if that’s your decision. 
 

if he decided to opt out, maybe waiting a few days is better optics. But it’s also a short window before the lockout. Guys like Michael King and Clay Holmes have already announced. 
 

But overall, I’m guessing the longer it goes, the more likely he’s out. 

[Edgy MD]

One of the reasons you wait is to get the team back to the table, to squeeze some sweeteners out of the deal.

But I'd sure hate to see such a tactic actually work on the Mets.  The idea that he is already guaranteed $5 million for walking is borderline offensive.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I wish I had the option to walk away from my job for $5 million. It would be a total no-brainer.

[Centerfield]

So now. Barring a trade (unlikely) we have 6 of our 9 position players set. 
 

RF Benge
CF Ewing
LF Soto
3B Bichette
SS Lindor
C Alvarez/Torrens

This leaves only 1B, 2B and DH to improve an offense that ranked 23rd in OPS. 

[Frayed Knot]

Bo knows cash.

[seawolf17]

Good news is that we can't possibly be much worse at those three spots. We were 25th in 1B WAR, 27th in 2B WAR, and 30th in DH WAR.

[Gwreck]

1 hour ago, Centerfield said:

This leaves only 1B, 2B and DH to improve an offense that ranked 23rd in OPS. 

They absolutely need new players for those spots.  But even making those changes, I have a tough time to see a path to contention without significant improvement from existing players.

In order of likelihood, if the 2027 Mets are successful, they will feature

-Soto being healthier and playing more games

-At least some Improvement from Bichette over 2026

-Some improvement (and more games played) from Lindor

 

 

[Lefty Specialist]

Well, they have a costly immovable object at second in Semien. They let their best option at first walk away last year.  And I expect Soto will be seeing a lot of DH at bats going forward..

Bichette will treat this as a platform year to get a longer term contract,  If he plays a whole year like he played in the second half, he'll get it. In the meantime he gets another $42 million of Uncle Steve's money.

Don't forget, they still have Jorge Polanco for '27 (if there is a '27).  He can't possibly be worse than last year.  I know people say that about players, but in this case it is not physically possible for him to have a worse year than he had in '26, short of being stuck in an elevator for 6 months.

[ashie62]

Bo is back. I feel better about this than I did a month ago

[MFS62]

11 hours ago, seawolf17 said:

Good news is that we can't possibly be much worse at those three spots. We were 25th in 1B WAR, 27th in 2B WAR, and 30th in DH WAR.

I dunno. Is run prevention still a Priority?

(s/m = 94)

later

[Centerfield]

One idea I hear floated around as truth is that he struggled in the beginning, but after the two month adjustment period he was Bo Bichette after. Thats not really true. He had a .739 OPS in the second half. And after a hot August, cooled back down in September. 
 

In fact, it wasn’t so much he had two bad months and then was fine. It was he had four bad months, and two hot ones (June and August). 
 

I think it’s good for the Mets that he opted in, but it’s far from a given that he’s going to be “Bo Bichette” next year.