The New York Mets and Francisco Lindor are not on the same page in both the term and monetary value of a potential contract extension.
Per multiple reports, the Mets submitted a “best and final offer” of 10 years at $325 million, but Lindor and his camp are looking for a deal around 12 years worth $385 million.
It appears that team owner Steve Cohen has drawn a proverbial line in the sand.
“I have made a great offer,” Cohen wrote on Twitter. “It does take two to tango… Lindor is a heckuva player and a great guy. I hope he decides to sign.”
That doesn’t sound like the Mets are willing to increase their offer.
In terms of the average annual value of the contract, Lindor’s counteroffer actually decreases that figure from $32.5 million to $32.08 million. However, it would be the second-largest contract ever given in MLB history behind only Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout’s 12-year, $426.5 million pact.
It would also blow the doors off the Mets’ largest contract ever, which was awarded to David Wright at eight years worth $138 million.
The clock continues to wind toward midnight on offseason negotiations between Lindor and the Mets. The 27-year-old superstar set a strict Opening Day deadline, admitting that such talks would impact his play on the field when his and the team’s performance should be the only priority.
It’s also an enormous decision for Lindor to make, considering he is deciding on where he’ll spend the next decade-plus — which he noted back on March 1.
“I have to get married, but I think that’s very important,” Lindor said of extension talks. “Knowing where home is going to be for the next however many years is going to be huge. We’ll see how everything goes, but I live life on a daily basis.”
At this point, it feels as though Lindor and the Mets are playing one gigantic game of financial chicken — with the first one to blink being the one to make the economic concessions needed to fit the other party’s agenda.
But with time still remaining — regardless of how short — members of the Mets are still holding out hope that a deal will get done.
“I think everyone knows it’s going to work out,” Mets starter Taijuan Walker said. “It’s not something that we really talk about in the clubhouse. Our main focus is baseball, going out there to play baseball. That’s kind of what we’ve been doing.”
