deGrom, Mets start uncertain offseason: 'Future is a mystery'

NEW YORK -- Shortly after the Mets were eliminated from the NL Wild Card Series on Sunday night with a 6-0 loss to the Padres in Game 3, multiple teammates approached Jacob deGrom’s locker with baseballs and other gear for him to sign. Around the room, other players packed boxes and prepared to go their separate ways -- to Florida, to California, to Puerto Rico, to the Dominican Republic and beyond.

The unspoken acknowledgement was that many of them, perhaps deGrom included, will never return to the home clubhouse at Citi Field.

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More than a dozen players in the room were either eligible to become free agents in November or can join those ranks based on contract options. It’s a list that includes four-fifths of the team’s rotation, including deGrom and Chris Bassitt, as well as nearly every prominent member of the bullpen -- closer Edwin Díaz included.

“The future,” said Seth Lugo, who will become a free agent after 12 years in the organization, “is a mystery.”

An outsized portion of that mystery revolves around deGrom, who has said on multiple occasions that he intends to opt out of the final guaranteed season and $32.5 million on his contract. Although deGrom declined to discuss contract specifics following the loss Sunday, he conceded earlier in the weekend that these could be his final days with the Mets.

Pressed on his future late Sunday night, deGrom responded with empty phrases such as, “I haven’t really thought about it,” and, “I have no clue.”

“We just lost the game, and our season’s over,” deGrom said, “and that’s all there is to it.”

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Assuming deGrom does opt out, his free agency will rank among the most fascinating in baseball as a 34-year-old who owns two Cy Young Awards but has pitched just 224 1/3 innings over the last three seasons combined, spending more than a year on the injured list due to elbow and shoulder problems.

Given deGrom’s prior Hall of Fame-caliber levels of production, plenty of teams will be interested in his services. But he faded down the stretch in September, producing a 6.00 ERA over his final six starts before winning Wild Card Game 2 against the Padres.

Elsewhere in the rotation, Bassitt is eligible to hit the open market, as the right-hander's deal with the Mets included a mutual $19 million option for 2023. Taijuan Walker holds a $7.5 million player option that he may decline in search of a multi-year deal, and Carlos Carrasco has a $14 million club option that the Mets won’t necessarily exercise. That leaves only Max Scherzer, David Peterson and Tylor Megill as surefire returning starters.

The bullpen is at least as much of an open question, with Díaz, Lugo, Adam Ottavino, Trevor May, Trevor Williams, Joely Rodríguez and Mychal Givens all potential free agents (Givens if a mutual option is declined). In effect, only Drew Smith is certain to return among regular Mets relievers.

“I haven’t talked about that with my agent or my family, because we were concentrating on playing in the playoffs,” Díaz said. “Now, I’ve got the chance to think about that. We’ll see with my family, and we’ll make the best decision for me. I hope I can come back here. If not, I understand this is a business.”

Among position players, outfielder Brandon Nimmo is the only prominent free agent, but it will be no easy task for the Mets to find a new center fielder if he departs. Much like Lugo, Nimmo came to the organization in 2011 and has stayed through five managers, five GMs and two ownership regimes. He has built a home life in New York and enjoys the city, but Nimmo also recently hired Scott Boras as his agent and has a chance to score the first multi-year deal of his career.

“I mean, I’m definitely interested in coming back,” Nimmo said. “But there’s a lot of things that are going to go into that this offseason. I’m still trying to digest that.”