New York Mets analyst Todd Zeile needed one sentence. A day after reports surfaced that third baseman Bo Bichette would exercise his $42 million player option and stay with the Mets through 2027, Zeile gave the decision a shrug and a nod.
“Nobody should really be that surprised that Bo has decided to opt in, but I’m glad he did it right away,” Todd Zeile said on SNY.
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Chelsea Janes, SNY’s MLB insider, called it “a big deal for the Mets even though it’s not a surprise because this gives them a chance to finally see the group they built to anchor their lineup last year but lost to injury.” The timing was the part worth appreciating in Queens.
Players had five days after the World Series to settle their options, and Bo Bichette moved within a day of Milwaukee finishing off Tampa Bay. Bichette hit .260/.312/.390 with 18 home runs, 78 RBIs and a .702 OPS in 160 games, his first season at third base with Francisco Lindor at shortstop.
Citi Field booed him through a 1-for-14 start at home, and his OPS sat below .600 as late as June 10. He slashed .285/.337/.442 the rest of the way, respectable until it sits beside a $42 million average annual value. Bo Bichette found his in the first hours of the offseason.
Bo Bichette Shares Mixed Feelings After a Challenging Season With the Mets
New York Mets star Bo Bichette did not pretend the year was smooth. Speaking with The Post’s Mike Puma at the end of the season, he described a start that tested him and a strange kind of optimism waiting on the other side of it.
“The first three months were some of the longest of my career, for sure, a combination of so many different things. Simply put, my performance and the team’s performance in a new situation,” Bo Bichette told The Post’s Mike Puma at the end of the season.
“I think I can look at the season and in some ways see it in a positive light and I think the team can as well. It was a weird year because I feel positive about this team going forward, and obviously have confidence in myself, so it’s a weird feeling to have that positivity about the team, about myself.”
The recovery underneath that was real. Bichette played 160 games, held up at third base, a position he had never played in the majors, and by the end of the season was being pointed to as a resource for young teammates such as Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing.
What the opt-in does not fix is the roster around him. The Mets missed the playoffs for a second straight season and finished last in the NL East, and their needs remain the rotation, the bullpen and first base, with second base a jumble of Brett Baty, Marcus Semien and prospects. Bichette settles third, and he can opt out again after 2027, at 29.
The next month decides how much more the Mets can accomplish. Free agency opens to all clubs on the fifth day after the World Series, the GM meetings run Nov. 9-12, and the sport stops on Dec. 1 absent an agreement. Bichette’s second season in Queens starts whenever baseball starts again.
Edited by Kaushani Chatterjee
