Who Knows With Bo?

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Bo Bichette has until five days after the World Series ends to make up his mind. He can trigger his opt out option and become a free agent again, or he can make another $42 million and stay with the Mets for at least one more year. It’s not a stretch to say that, aside from whatever the new Collective Bargaining Agreement says, that the Mets offseason plans hinge on Bichette’s decision. 

I have two questions. The first is: will Bo decide to come back? 

Nobody knows. It’s possible that, as of now, Bichette himself doesn’t even know. People certainly have their theories. Both Jon Heyman and Anthony DiComo believe he will return to the Mets. Jeff Passan wrote that it’s a “coin flip”. Heyman and DiComo think what they think because, if Bichette were to jump back into free agency, he would suddenly be dealing with teams not knowing what they can spend because they aren’t sure if there will be a salary cap or not. Passan noted that Bichette would be one of, if not the top batter on the market, so it’s possible he might command more money per year despite the CBA uncertainty. 

Personally, from watching every game, it’s clear Bichette got more comfortable both with playing in New York and with his new teammates as the year progressed. He was seen over the summer laughing and joking with his fellow Mets in the dugout. He went on record to say he liked Andy Green, and was pleased that he signed up for three more years as the manager. Bo told Mike Puma that his wife enjoys New York - you would think that would also be a key factor in his decision. If you, the reader, are asking me to make a prediction, I would say there’s a 62.5 percent chance he opts in and returns to Queens in 2027. I just think that a big part of him is ticked off at how the Mets performed overall last season and he wants to help steer the ship back to shore. Bo definitely has that dog in him, a competitive streak with a lot of pride attached. 

The second question is: Are we sure we want him to opt in?

The obvious answer is “of course!”. Bichette quickly adapted to playing third base after there were concerns his arm wasn’t strong enough to handle the hot corner. And after a weak first two months at the plate, he was much more like Bo Bichette. What kind of question is that, Cormier?

Except, it wasn’t as clear cut as that. I briefly wrote about this last week: Bichette’s OPS didn’t increase as the season went on. It fluctuated month to month. 

(An OPS+ of 100 is league average.)

All in all, for the season he hit for a .702 OPS, or 97 OPS+, which is a few ticks below league average. Not counting his 2024 that was limited to 81 games due to calf strains and a fractured right middle finger, the .702 mark was easily the lowest season mark in his career. In fact, his OPS was exactly 100 points lower than his previous non-2024 low.

(As far as we know, Bichette didn’t play through any lingering injury in 2026. He only missed two games all season.)

Here’s Bichette’s monthly splits throughout his career:

So the first month problems he had in New York in 2026 were consistent with how he’s done in March and April in his career. After that, he just gets better and better as the games become more and more important. It’s impressive, really. A charitable take on what happened last season when he had a meh September was that he wasn’t fully engaged because the Mets were all but officially out of playoff contention by then. While that isn’t professional per se, it most certainly happens. 

Another factor is that, according to MLB Trade Rumors, if Bichette opts in, the Mets will have $229.25 million in financial commitments. A salary cap of $245.3 million has been proposed by the league to the players. While there’s little chance in hell the MLBPA will agree to that figure, that’s still theoretically just less than $16 million to work with when it comes to adding players, whether in free agency or trade. If you take away Bo’s $42 million, there’s more flexibility. 

Of course, then there’s the question of what the Mets would do at third base. Top prospect Jefferson Rojas, who can play shortstop, third base, and second base, is reportedly playing third base in LIDOM this winter, which is somewhat interesting. Brett Baty might still be around to reclaim his original position. The issue there is the Mets front office has indicated they want Rojas and Baty to be a part of the potential equation at second, with Marcus Semien getting less playing time if any at all. Besides, it isn’t guaranteed that Jefferson Rojas is the next Carson Benge - someone who can barely play Triple-A but has an excellent full rookie season.

The pending free agents at the hot corner besides Bichette are all on the wrong side of 30. (Bo will turn 29 next March.) Eugenio Suárez will be 35 and only had a 0.6 bWAR last season, 0.1 fewer than Bichette. Edmundo Sosa (31 years old, 1.0 bWAR), and Alec Bohm (30, -0.2) are the next best options. (More on Bohm in the notes section.)

Theoretically, Rojas/Baty can helm third with a free agent handling second base. Brandon Lowe (32, 5.4) ,Luis Arraez (30, 2.9) Gleyber Torres (30, 2.0), and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (29, 1.7) are the main options there. That’s a stronger collection of players, and would cost fewer than $42 million a year. 

I think that Bichette’s 2026 will probably prove to be fluky. It’s not like he’s suddenly too old, and there were some mishegas he had to deal with playing in a new town that messed with his head a fair amount, and it leaked into his play. Even though that’s just my belief, and he still might not be worth $42 million even if he gets back to his old ways, I would say that we should want Bichette to come back in 2027, with the caveat that, if he doesn’t, we shouldn’t completely freak out about it. 

Nolan McLean shaved his mustache. People had a lot of opinions about his new look. 

The Mets made yet another job listing. This one is for a software engineer.

Mark Feinsand listed the Mets as a potential suitor for Bohm. As a first baseman.

On this day in 1969, Al Weis put the Mets in front in the ninth inning with an RBI single. Jerry Koosman allowed one run on two hits over 8.2 innings. The Mets won their first World Series game and evened the series at one victory apiece.

On this day in 2000, Jay Payton broke a 5-5 tie in the ninth with an RBI single. The Mets beat St. Louis 6-5 to take a 2-0 lead in the NLCS.

On this day in 2015, in Citi Field’s first postseason game, the Mets’ offense exploded for 13 runs against the Dodgers. Travis d’Arnaud and Yoenis Céspedes had three hits each, including a home run, and Curtis Granderson drove in five runs.