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11:17am: Bichette is expected to play third base for the Mets, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports. The contract also includes full no-trade protection, per Heyman.
11:03am: The Mets and free agent infielder Bo Bichette are in agreement on a three-year contract, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. He’ll be guaranteed a hefty $126MM on that short-term pact, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Bichette can opt out after the first and second season of the contract, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic adds. He also picks up a $5MM bonus if he exercises one of those opt-outs, per Rosenthal. There’s no deferred money in the contract, which is still pending a physical. Bichette is represented by Vayner Sports.
It’s a stunning and near-immediate pivot for a Mets club that is barely 12 hours from losing out on Kyle Tucker, the market’s top free agent who just last night went to the Dodgers after they outbid the Mets on a record-breaking short-term deal (four years, $240MM). The Mets reportedly put forth a four-year, $220MM offer to Tucker. Having missed on that big swing, they’ll pivot to the market’s next-best bat and next-best all-around free agent, bringing Bichette in on a $42MM annual value that ties Zack Wheeler for the sixth-largest in MLB history.
In landing Bichette, the Mets are not only quickly pivoting from their Tucker pursuit in arguably the most notable way possible — they’re also keeping him from a division rival that had emerged as the ostensible frontrunner. Bichette met with the Phillies earlier this week, and reporting since that time had suggested that the Phils might be the team most apt to sign him on the long-term pact he’d coveted. Instead, Bichette lands a mammoth annual value that could grow even further (via that $5MM bonus) if he opts out and returns to the market next winter, ahead of what would still be only his age-29 season.
More to come.