Mets’ life after Jacob deGrom begins at Winter Meetings

SAN DIEGO — The Mets are moving on from Jacob deGrom.

DeGrom’s stunning decision to sign a five-year contract with the Texas Rangers with a vesting option for a sixth year on Friday night might still sting but, if the Mets manage to leave San Diego with a new pitcher then it will help it wear off. With the pursuit of the 34-year-old right-hander over, the club has turned its attention to two elite free agents in Justin Verlander and Carlos Rodon at winter meetings this week.

Verlander, the 39-year-old reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and Rodon, a 29-year-old left-hander, are the two best pitchers on the market. They are the only two who remain at the top tier as the offseason dominoes are now falling. There is a crop of mid-tier pitchers like Andrew Heaney and Chris Bassitt, so the Mets do have other options to work with as they re-tool their rotation, but if they want another ace then it has to be one of the first two.

As dazzling and dominant as deGrom could be, the Mets are now unburdened from an oft-injured pitcher who did not seem to want to be in New York. The two-time Cy Young Award winner might be one of the best pitchers in the world, but he comes with a lot of question marks. Ultimately, deGrom wanted more money and more years and the Mets were comfortable giving him. His five-year, $185 million contract is significantly larger than the three-year, $120 million deal the Mets were expected to offer and much more than what the models projected.

However, the club is now freed up to go take some of that money and spend it on outfielder Brandon Nimmo. There isn’t any reason not to bring back their homegrown, leadoff-hitting center fielder at this point. He’s a fan favorite and he has great respect for the organization.

When it comes to Verlander vs. Rodon, it depends on what the Mets are looking for and what kind of term they’re comfortable with.

Verlander will likely receive a short-term, high AAV contract, much like the one his former Detroit Tigers teammate Max Scherzer received from the Mets last winter. A two-year deal with an option for a third could sweeten the offer.

Rodon is looking for a five-year contract but since he rejected the San Francisco Giants’ qualifying offer, he would require draft-pick compensation. The Mets would have to sacrifice two draft picks next season, but they would be getting a younger pitcher for longer. He’s represented by Scott Boras (as is Nimmo) and while Boras has always been known to draw out negotiations in the past, he did get deals done for Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg during the 2019 winter meetings, which were also held in San Diego.

In a way, it feels like the offseason can finally start. The Mets signed closer Edwin Diaz to a record contract at the start of free agency but have done little else other than add some organizational depth since then. When he spoke with the media last week, general manager Billy Eppler said the negotiations with deGrom were not holding up the rest of the offseason plans, but there is no question that it would have been difficult to proceed without knowing his status.

Now, there is a greater sense of urgency. With all of baseball in San Diego for the first in-person winter meetings since 2019, it feels like the time to strike. The Mets have the spotlight and everyone’s watching to see what they do next.