After Losing Out On Kyle Tucker, Mets Panic And Pivot To Bo Bichette

About twelve hours after Kyle Tucker spurned the New York Mets and signed with the West Coast juggernaut, the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the Metropolitans signed infielder Bo Bichette to a contract with the sixth highest average annual value of all time. In short, it was a panic move.

In his 2025 post mortem, New York’s president of baseball operations David Stearns said the team needed to improve their run prevention ability, which was defined as improving both the defense and pitching. The starting point was allowing free agent first baseman Pete Alonso to sign with the Baltimore Orioles, and replacing him with Jorge Polanco, who has a played a total of one inning at that position over his twelve-year career.

And with great organizational depth on the infield, Stearns curiously elected to send fan-favorite outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers in return for 35-year old second baseman Marcus Semien. If nothing else, that solidified the middle of the infield (with Gold Glover Francisco Lindor ensconced at short) for the time being. The signing of Polanco (in lieu of Alonso) made them worse off defensively at first base, and left Brett Baty and Mark Vientos – neither of whom rate very highly – to handle third.

With needs in the outfield, the club went all out to acquire Tucker, reportedly offering him four years, $220 million, with opt-outs but without deferrals. He took $20 million more from the Dodgers, with about $30 million of that deferred. With Tucker off the board, and Nimmo in Texas, the team still had problems in their outfield and with their fanbase.

The knee jerk signing of Bichette was a clear indication that the club needed to do “something.” So now they will be looking to an infielder who has never played third base professionally to seamlessly handle the transition from shortstop. Stearns believes that Bichette’s athleticism and work ethic will allow him to be successful. However, many talent evaluators question his arm, and looked at him as more of a second baseman as his free agency unfolded. Bichette was not the right fit, and wasn’t even a good fit. But, as Will Sammon and Tim Britton wrote in The Athletic, after not re-signing Alonso and losing Edwin Díaz and Tucker to the Dodgers, the Mets were not looking for a fit, they were looking for a star.

So, they paid Bichette like a star. The deal is for three years and $126 million – a cool $42 million per year. But there is much, much more to it than that. First off, the Mets – due to their prior and current spending – are in the highest competitive balance tax bracket. As such, essentially every dollar they spend this off-season is taxed at 110%, making Bichette’s $42 million actually more than $88 million. But wait, there is more.

The Mets gave Bichette opt-outs after the first and second season of the deal. If Bichette exercises the opt-out after 2026, he gets a $5 million buy-out. So, the one year of the former Blue Jay would then cost the Mets more than $93 million in real cash money.

But wait, there is more. Because Toronto made a qualifying offer to Bichette, by signing him, the Mets will now have to forfeit their second and fifth round draft picks in 2026, and will lose $1 million in international bonus pool money. That is a lot to give up for a shortstop who missed a bunch of time last year with a knee injury, who came back to play a decent second base in the World Series, who will take his first ground balls at third base when he reports to Spring Training in Florida next month, and who may only call Queens “home” for ten months.

There is no question that Bichette can be an impact bat in the middle of the Mets’ lineup, although he has never hit 30 homers in a season. His career slash line is .294/.337/.469, and he averages 4.5 bWAR every 162 games. He is a solid player, maybe even a great player, but not necessarily worth $93 million for one season.

However, when you have a team owner in Steve Cohen who, according to Forbes, is worth $23 billion, and who said in his introductory press conference after buying the team that it would be “disappointing” if they didn’t win a World Series in three to five years, and who is heading into the sixth year of his tenure, and who seemed pretty confident that he was getting Kyle Tucker before he went west, you don’t worry about something as petty as money. You buy the next best player available and you hope that he can become a serviceable third baseman, that he keeps hitting like a goat kicks, and that he takes your club to the promised land.

But, to be sure, this was not a sensible move, this was a panic move. That said, at this point in the winter, beleaguered Mets fans will take anything that improves the team and give them some semblance of hope.