Mets Sign DeGrom To 5-Year, $137.5M Deal

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By WFAN.com

Jacob deGrom is getting his wish.

The Mets and their ace pitcher have reached an agreement on the multiyear contract deGrom demanded at the start of spring training, the team announced on Twitter Tuesday evening.

The deal is for five years, $137.5 million, averaging $27.5 million per season, reports said. DeGrom can opt out after 2022, and there is a club option for 2024, according to reports. The contract also is said to include a full no-trade clause.

SNY's Andy Martino was the first to report on the agreement Tuesday morning.

According to the New York Post's Joel Sherman, the contract will pay the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner a $10 million bonus, $7 million salary this season, $23 million next year, $33.5 million in 2021 and 2022 and $30.5 million in 2023. The 2024 club option is for $32.5 million, which could increase the value of the deal to $170 million.

DeGrom made it clear at the start of spring training that he was looking for a long-term deal and set opening day as a deadline for negotiations. He also floated the possibility that, without a new deal, he might restrict the number of innings he pitches.

The 30-year-old right-hander had been under contract for this season for $17 million and was under team control through 2020. 

The deal came following a day of face-to-face negotiations involving Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon and deGrom's agents, Jeff Berry and Matt Ricatto, Sherman reported.

In terms of total value, it ties Johan Santana's six-year, $137.5 million contract (signed in 2008) as the most lucrative deal given to a Mets pitcher and falls just short of David Wright's eight-year, $138 million contract (signed in 2012) for the richest in team history.

DeGrom is coming off a historic season in which he led the majors with a 1.70 ERA. He had 269 strikeouts, although poor run support led to an unspectacular 10-9 record.

In his five seasons with the Mets, the two-time All-Star has gone 55-41 with a 2.67 ERA.

Fellow Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who said on Sunday that the Mets should reward deGrom with a mega-contract, reacted to Tuesday's news on Twitter.

DeGrom -- pic.twitter.com/pHjVHvrgJr

— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) March 26, 2019

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