Mets renew Jacob deGrom's contract for 2016 after he rejects offer

Jacob deGrom rejected the Mets' one-year contract offer for the 2016 season. The Mets then took advantage of the system and renewed his contract.

By Mike Axisa

Mar 4, 2016 at 11:17 am ET • 3 min read

The business side of baseball can get pretty messy, as the Pirates and ace right-hander Gerrit Cole recently showed. Because Cole has fewer than three years of service time and is not yet eligible for arbitration, the Pirates can pay him pretty much anything they want. The team offered a $7,000 raise for 2016 and threatened to pay him the league minimum if he didn't accept.

Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom, another player who is not eligible for salary arbitration, recently rejected the team's one-year contract offer for the 2016 season because he felt the salary was too low. DeGrom made $556,875 last year. The league minimum is $507,500 for the 2016 season.

Jacob deGrom declined to sign his 2016 contract. Has no recourse because not yet eligible for arbitration.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) March 4, 2016

In all likelihood deGrom rejected the offer because he felt it was not fair and he would be underpaid relative to his peers. Rather than accept what he felt was a below-market offer, he took a stand. His agent, Brodie Van Wagenen, released the following statement Friday, which indicates as much:

"We respect the Mets' right to determine a pre-arbitration player's salary and their effort to be consistent with their players. But given Jacob's standing as one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball and his 2015 performance, his worth cannot be properly valued by a formula. Like the Mets, he is simply exercising his rights under the CBA. This will not affect Jacob's relationship with the Mets. Both parties are focused on preparing for the season and getting the Mets back to the World Series."

Because he rejected their offer, the Mets renewed deGrom's contract and will pay him $607,000 this year, according to ESPN New York's Adam Rubin. They could have renewed his contract at any amount as long as it was no less than 80 percent of his 2015 salary. The team did give him a nice raise though. More than the Pirates gave Cole.

It's easy to assume a player rejecting a contract offer and having his deal renewed by the team will create some bad blood, but deGrom insists that is not the case. Here's what he told reporters Friday, via Rubin:

"That's the business side of the game," deGrom said. "That's why I hired my agents. I feel like I have some of the best in the business. It was a business decision that we decided to make. We have great respect for the Mets and the system that they have, and I feel like I have a great relationship with them."As I've said before, I love playing here. And I want to be in this uniform for a long time. It was just a decision based on the business side of the game."

Most teams have a sliding salary scale for players with fewer than three years of service time, so it's a simple formula. If you have this much service time, you will be paid this. If you have that much service time, you will be paid that. Nice and easy.

DeGrom, however, is a special case as a bona fide ace-caliber pitcher. He was the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year, then went 14-8 with a 2.54 ERA (145 ERA+) in 191 innings last year, which earned him an All-Star Game selection and a seventh place finish in the Cy Young voting. deGrom also had a 2.88 ERA in four postseason starts.

It stands to reason deGrom will still be open to a long-term contract extension with the Mets. He's a late bloomer -- he'll turn 28 in June -- who didn't begin pitching full-time until after being drafted in 2010, he received a relatively small signing bonus ($95,000) as a ninth round pick, and he's already blown out his elbow and had Tommy John surgery (2010).

DeGrom was never a highly touted prospect, he's already had arm trouble, and while he's been paid well by normal people standards, he's yet to land a huge payday. Those are all reasons to think deGrom will jump at the opportunity to sign long-term and guarantee himself millions, even if he'll sell short his future earning potential a bit.

Both Corey Kluber (five years, $38.5 million) and Madison Bumgarner (five years, $35 million) have signed contract extensions in recent years when they were at a similar service time level as deGrom, so those deals can be a reference point during contract talks between the Mets and Van Wagenen.

DeGrom currently has one year and 139 days of service time. He will be arbitration-eligible for the first of four times next offseason as a Super Two player. He won't qualify for free agency until after the 2020 season, when he will be 32.