On Sunday, Noah Syndergaard did his best Teddy KGB impression and implored the New York Mets to get a deal done with ace Jacob deGrom -- pay the man his money -- and on Monday, there was a surprising degree of confidence among executives with other teams that eventually, this would happen.
More to the point, the rival officials believed this was what had to happen for the Mets, who were in a position of horrendous vulnerability, like a point guard backpedaling as the lone defender in a 4-on-1 fast break. And sure enough, the Mets finished the deal: $137.5 million over five years, with an opt-out after 2022 and a club option for 2024, according to sources.
If the Mets didn't finish the deGrom deal, they would've been dunked on in about a dozen ways. Here are just a few:
1. Fair or not, the failure to sign deGrom would've reinforced the already embedded fan perception that the Mets just aren't willing to spend like other big-market teams. The Red Sox, Cubs and Yankees will all post payrolls over $200 million, and the Dodgers, Nationals and Giants are close to that. The Mets are closer to $160 million. Sure, they paid heavily for Yoenis Cespedes two winters ago, and took on big dollars to deal for Robinson Cano in order to land the game's best closer, Edwin Diaz. They signed Jed Lowrie and Wilson Ramos, and expended a large sum in prospect value. But none of that would have mattered if deGrom wasn't locked up, because he would have become the symbol of that fan unrest. A talk-radio and back-page tsunami would've once again rolled over the Mets and their payroll habits.
2. The Mets ran the risk of alienating their best and most important player. The NL East is saturated with great players, among four apparently strong teams, and the Mets' margin for error is minimal. The Phillies committed more than half a billion dollars to upgrade their roster, the Braves are the defending champions, and the Nationals might be the most dangerous team in the division, armed with Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. Manager Mickey Callaway has to have excellence and significant production out of deGrom. If the Mets made a business decision and said no to a new deal, deGrom would've had the option of making his own business decision and protecting himself, in innings and pitch counts. That's no way to win a division.
3. There would've been an increased risk the Mets' clubhouse would become a very cynical place. It might be that other players would have loved to say what Syndergaard said, but don't have the stature or the platform to do it. If deGrom hadn't become part of the many stars landing contract extensions, at least some of his teammates would ask, as Syndergaard did: Why not?
What they know about deGrom is that he is always prepared, he always competes, he is a model of professionalism, and he is arguably the best pitcher in baseball. The talk among his teammates would've become, inevitably: If you aren't going to pay deGrom, who the heck are you going to pay?
An executive with another team said Monday, "Once players start focusing on something like that -- it's really hard to stop."
4. The credibility of new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen would've been undercut -- and this is the most important consideration for the Mets' ownership. From the time deGrom's former agent was hired to be the GM, it was easy to see this freight-train complication would arrive in force, and well, it's here, right on schedule. Last summer, Van Wagenen went public with a request on behalf of his client, then in the midst of a Cy Young-worthy season, passionately making the case that the Mets should either pay deGrom in a long-term deal or trade him to a team that would pay him.
Now Van Wagenen is sitting on the other side of the table across from deGrom, and cannot be rescued by a theoretical recusal, because deGrom's situation and contract is part of a larger whole for which BVW is responsible. Van Wagenen might not have been the front man in the deGrom negotiations, but he's the general manager of the team -- not the GM of 24 players, and the semi-GM of deGrom.
The ultimate decision on whether to sign deGrom fell to the Wilpons, but Van Wagenen would've been affected by the crossfire between the player(s) and the team.
There likely would have been players viewing him as a turncoat who ultimately could not (or would not) represent their best interests, and in the media, he would've been at risk for being perceived as ineffective in diagnosing a business relationship with a player he should know better than anyone.
Really, Van Wagenen was in an impossible position unless his bosses worked out a deal with deGrom. It came down to this: If the Mets were within range of a deGrom extension -- if they were close on the number of years, and could live with something close to the annual salaries that had been proposed -- they needed to get it done. They needed to extend themselves to Pay The Man.
For the sake of the franchise.
For the sake of Van Wagenen and what they view as his promising future as their GM.
For the fans' sake.
For the sake of the 2019 Mets.
And they got it done.