Tony Plate - Time to Sign deGrom to Long term Contract

I think the New York Mets will have a very busy off season. The first task on their agenda is the search for a new general manager to replace Sandy Alderson who will not be coming back as they began interviews this week. There were two candidates that did not show any interest for a chance to be interviewed. They were current Toronto general manager Ben Cherington and current Minnesota general manager Thad Levine. The current candidates are Cardinals director of player development Gary La Rocque, former Texas general manager Doug Melvin, Washington special assistant De Jon Watson and Major League Baseball executive Kim Ng.

 The next task they should seek to complete is to sign Jacob deGrom to a long-term contract who remains under club control through the 2020 season. The new general manager will have plenty of input into that important task. deGrom needless to say had a historic season which may enable him to win the National League CY Young Award. He basically was the best pitcher in baseball with an ERA of 1.70 which was one of the best in baseball history. deGrom has said that he would be open to the possibility of a long-term contract which would make many Mets fans happy.

As for the postseason I still can’t believe the offensive failures of the Chicago Cubs. They only managed a paltry one run in three of their final four games played at home especially including that Saturday game loss against their arch rivals, the St Louis Cardinals two weeks ago in which the Cardinals played spoiler. That itself made the Cubs feel worse. This was followed by the division title loss to the Milwaukee Brewers which caused more pain and then the National League Wild-Card Game loss against the Colorado Rockies in extra innings was very tough emotionally for the Cubs. You would think that the Cubs would have been very much up for these games and score more than one run. The Cubs were built to win and it looked like they were going back to the World Series. This will be a very long off-season for the Cubs. Also, in the American League wildcard game from last week it did not surprise me to see that the New York Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics 7-2 as Aaron Judge blasted a two-run homer. The Yankees have had success against the Athletics in the playoffs throughout the years.

If the Mets management chooses the ideal general manager that would focus on making a few trades to upgrade the catcher position and add to the bullpen perhaps the Mets may be in the postseason in 2019 especially since their staring rotation will be back. When you have a rotation like that it would enable you to contend for the next few years.