The New York Mets want to settle their left-field situation, and they’re tired of waiting for the free agent market to pick up, given that de facto commissioner and super agent Scott Boras has slowed things to a crawl.
To speed things up, the Mets have made an offer to outfielder Kyle Tucker, but it’s very different from what Tucker wants and what the Toronto Blue Jays have offered. According to multiple sources that include ESPN, John Mincone and MLBTradeRumors.com, among others, the average annual value (AAV) of the Mets offer is $50 million, so the Mets are definitely going all out to spend a lot of owner Steve Cohen’s money after being fiscally prudent to date this offseason.
The fly in the ointment is that Tucker has supposedly been looking for a ten-year deal somewhere in the $35-40 million AAV range, which is probably where the Blue Jays are landing. The Mets are trying to dodge a contract of that length by offering a shorter deal that would include opt-out years so that Tucker could go back on the market sooner rather than later while still being young enough to get a big deal.
Will the tactic work? It’s been tried before, but the success rate is typically limited. Agents like Boras and Tucker's agent, Casey Close of Excel Sports Management, get hired to get their clients to longest possible contracts, and players want the security those deals provide as their skills inevitably begin to decline with age.
The 29-year old Tucker and his camp also seem to be tired of waiting for this situation to resolve. The Mets are one of three teams he’s considering, with the other two being the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.
No specific information has been offered about the number of years the Mets are putting on the table, but three seems to be a viable figure. Their offer may also include opt-out years that allow Tucker to return to the market, possibly after each season, so it’s a creative solution to the Mets’ aversion to long-term deals.
Now that the offers are on the table, the chances are that this situation will resolve quickly. No one knows where the Dodgers are in this situation at the moment, but all the reports have Tucker making a decision by the end of the week at the lates as another major piece of the free agent market finally makes his move.