While the New York Yankees are expected to break the bank in order to retain Aaron Judge, the New York Mets may not be as willing as their rivals when it comes to paying one of their top free agents in Jacob deGrom.
According to Jon Heyman of New York Post, if deGrom desires to top the salary the Mets are paying Max Scherzer, it won't be with his current team.
“The belief is that the Yankees will be willing to top Judge’s $36 million a year asking price from back in spring, before he became the AL single-season home run record holder, and if deGrom wants to top Max Scherzer’s record $43.3 million Mets salary, as some suggest, the strong indications are that it will not be with the Mets,” Heyman wrote.
If this is true, then Jacob deGrom is good as gone from the Mets. He recently opted out of the final year of his contract–he had a player option $30.5 million for the 2023 season–to become a free agent, so it's clear that he wants a higher salary along with a longer deal.
The Mets signed Scherzer last offseason to a massive three-year, $130 million deal. His $43.3 million annual average salary is the highest in MLB history, breaking Gerrit Cole's $36 million.
While it looks like deGrom will have to look elsewhere to get the payday he wants, there is no doubt several teams will be interested in him. After all, it's hard to ignore one of the most dominant starting pitchers in today's game.