{"id":102497,"date":"2026-01-16T18:54:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102497\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T18:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:54:06","slug":"mets-land-bo-bichette-in-126-million-free-agency-pivot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102497\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets land Bo Bichette in $126 million free agency pivot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresh off of missing out on top free agent target Kyle Tucker<\/a> \u2014 thanks to being outbid by the Dodgers \u2014 the Mets quickly turned to Bo Bichette, agreeing Friday to a three-year, $126 million deal, with opt-outs after the first two years, The Post\u2019s Jon Heyman confirmed.<\/p>\n

It comes during what\u2019s been an alarmingly quiet offseason<\/a> in Queens, one that saw their all-time home run hitter, Pete Alonso, leave for Baltimore without a fight and their closer Edwin Diaz, head to the Dodgers after failing to re-sign him.<\/p>\n

The loss of Diaz to the free-spending Dodgers stung<\/a>, and that was only made worse when they were outbid by Los Angeles again, this time for Tucker.<\/p>\n

\"TorontoBlue Jays designated hitter Bo Bichette (11) reacts as he runs the bases after hitting a three run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

And while Tucker fit the present Mets roster much better \u2014 he would have likely slid immediately into left field, a hole that still exists in Queens \u2014 Bichette is a tougher match.<\/p>\n

According to sources, the current plan is for Bichette, who has only played shortstop in his major league career with Toronto \u2014 and never played an inning at third as a pro \u2014 to take over at third base, with Brett Baty playing multiple positions.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s after they signed Jorge Polanco to a two-year deal to primarily DH and perhaps platoon with Mark Vientos at first, even though Polanco has made just one major league appearance<\/a> at the spot and Vientos has started just a dozen games there.<\/p>\n

They did improve their infield defense by trading for Marcus Semien, who\u2019s been an elite second baseman, in exchange for Brandon Nimmo in a deal with Texas earlier in the offseason.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s not in question is the quality of Bichette\u2019s bat \u2014 when he\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old has battled injuries in recent seasons, with a sprained left knee in September that landed him on the IL and forced Bichette to miss most of the postseason.<\/p>\n

He also dealt with a strained right calf in 2024, as well as a fractured finger, and a quad injury in \u201823, all of which led to IL stints.<\/p>\n

But the two-time All-Star, and son of former major leaguer Dante Bichette, is one of the best hitters in the game.<\/p>\n

He twice led the American League in hits and bounced back from a rough 2024 with a solid showing last year.<\/p>\n

Bichette will be one of several new faces at Citi Field, as President of Baseball Operations David Stearns continues to turn over the roster.<\/p>\n

In addition to losing Alonso and Diaz in free agency and trading Nimmo, the Mets also shipped Jeff McNeil to the A\u2019s.<\/p>\n

They offered Tucker a four-year, $220 million contract before Tucker went with the Dodgers for an extra $20 million<\/a>, as the outfielder became the latest star to head to Hollywood on a team that looks practically unbeatable.<\/p>\n

Even with Bichette, the Mets still need another outfielder and Cody Bellinger remains available<\/a> as of Friday afternoon, with the Yankees and the outfielder still interested in a reunion.<\/p>\n

The Mets also need a starter for the top of the rotation, with their most significant additions to the pitching staff being Luke Weaver and Devin Williams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresh off of missing out on top free agent target Kyle Tucker \u2014 thanks to being outbid by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20,3473,21528,9,11,320,10,5389,319,10747],"class_list":["post-102497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-free-agency","tag-mlb-hot-stove","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-news","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-sports","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}