Bo Bichette is expected to opt out of the final two years of his New York Mets contract after the season, a move that would send him back into free agency after only one year in New York. The reported decision would reopen a market that already chased him once and could do so again.
The timing matters because Bichette, 28, is still on a deal that was supposed to keep him with the Mets for three seasons and pay him $126 million. Even with $79 million still owed, ’s Bob Nightengale reported that clubs expect him to leave, and that the Philadelphia Phillies could get a second shot at him if he does.
That possibility is what makes the contract math so unusual. Bichette is earning $2 million this year after already being paid a $40 million signing bonus, and he would collect another $5 million if he walks away from the remaining money. In other words, the opt-out would mean giving up guaranteed salary in exchange for another trip to the open market, a choice teams would not expect unless they believed the next deal could be larger or better suited to him.
His first season with the Mets has not exactly forced the issue out of the spotlight. Bichette is batting.236/.283/.361 with eight home runs and 40 runs batted in across 70 games, and he can still cover shortstop or third base. That flexibility is part of why he remained a coveted name last offseason, when the Boston Red Sox pursued and met with him after failing to keep Alec Bregman and later traded for Caleb Durbin to handle third base.
The reporting leaves one important question hanging over the rest of the season: will Bichette actually take the risk and leave $79 million behind? For now, the bet from clubs that chased him before is that he will, and that puts the Mets in position to lose him almost as quickly as they signed him.
