Mets and Lindor agree to 10-year extension worth $341 million
The deal is the third-largest ever in terms of total value, trailing only Mike Trout and Mookie Betts’s deals with the Angels and Dodgers, respectively. Lindor earned $1 million more in total value (over four fewer seasons) than Fernando Tatis Jr., the up-and-coming Padres shortstop who signed a stunning 14-year deal earlier this offseason. Though the deal reportedly contains some deferred money, its average annual value of $34.1 million is the third-highest committed to a position player, trailing only Trout and his Angels teammate, Anthony Rendon.
Lindor, 27, has yet to play a regular season game for the Mets, who acquired him from Cleveland this winter. But he has already endeared himself to Mets fans with his smile and joyful approach to the game — as well as his unique embrace of the blue and orange. He is a .285 career hitter with an .833 career OPS and strong defensive skills, with all the potential to surpass Jose Reyes as the greatest shortstop in franchise history if he stays healthy.
Amid a unique chaos they have mastered over the years, the Mets somehow overhauled morale and committed to an overhaul of workplace culture in a period of only a few months. By the early morning hours of Opening Day, they emerged as cautious favorites in the National League East with a new, dynamic star locked in the center of it all for the foreseeable future.
Cubs shortstop Javy Baez — a less prolific offensive producer than the others but perhaps the best defender in the bunch — is also a free agent after 2021. Nationals shortstop Trea Turner, it should be noted, is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2022 season, though the team has expressed interest in locking him up long-term, too.
That Lindor would agree to a long-term deal did not seem to be a given until late Wednesday. According to reports from the New York Post and others, the two sides were stuck in their corners — Lindor’s camp at somewhere around 12 years and $385 million, Cohen and the Mets at 12 years for $325 million. Complicating matters was the fact that Cohen had tweeted candidly about the process throughout, including one sent Tuesday in which he said he hoped Lindor decided to sign and praised him as “a heckuva guy” — seemingly suggesting the ball was entirely in Lindor’s court.
At that point and at points prior, like when Cohen asked Mets fans how much they thought Lindor would accept, the negotiations were entirely public, a risky tactic from Cohen. Had Cohen not budged off that offer and Lindor not signed, that Tuesday tweet might have lingered in Mets history as the ultimate taunt of Mets fans who figured the billionaire Cohen could have dished out a relatively small additional sum to make sure “a heckuva guy” stayed in Queens long-term.
Ultimately, the sides met in the middle after all, further endearing both men to the Mets community as having kept the promise implied when Cohen swung the deal for Lindor in the first place. The Mets are ready to spend and win, and have secured a bright star to serve as the center of their infield and universe for years to come — just in time for Opening Day.
