Mets Avoid Arbitration With 13 of 14 Players

Updated Post – March 23, 6:45 PM

The Mets have avoided arbitration with 13 of their 14 arbitration eligible players, with recently acquired starter Chris Bassitt as the only player they weren’t able to settle with.

We don’t have the dollar amounts yet for Tomas Nido and Drew Smith, but there’s the rest:

• Edwin Diaz $10.2M
• Pete Alonso $7.4M
• Brandon Nimmo $7M
• Dominic Smith $3.95M
• Trevor Williams $3.9M
• Jeff McNeil $3M
• Seth Lugo $2.925M
• J.D. Davis $2.76M
• Miguel Castro $2.62M
• Joey Lucchesi $1.15M
• Luis Guillorme $875K

Original Post – March 22, 15:23 PM

The New York Mets reached one-year deals with Edwin Diaz, Luis Guillorme, J.D. Davis, Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, and Trevor Williams avoiding arbitration.

The Mets entered Tuesday with a major-league high 14 players up for arbitration, this cuts their number down to eight players they’ll now have to reach deals with when arbitration hearings begin on April 7.

Diaz’s deal is worth $10.2 million. The 28-year-old reliever was in his final year of arbitration after accumulating over five years of MLB service time. Since being traded to the Mets, Diaz’s yearly salary has increased from $607,425 in 2019, to $5.1 million in 2020, and $7 million in 2021. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.

Diaz has 64 saves in three seasons with the Mets, owning an ERA of 4.00. But he’s been much better since his disastrous debut with the organization in 2019 when he had a 5.59 ERA in 58 innings. Last season, Diaz had 32 saves and an ERA of 3.45 in 62.2 innings pitched.

Guillorme’s deal is worth $875,000. Guillorme at 27 years old is in the final year of pre-arbitration with just over two years of service time accumulated. Guillorme still has three years of arbitration remaining, and will not be a free agent until 2025.

Guillorme debuted with the Mets in 2018 and has seen his playing time increase the past four seasons. A slick-handed fielder he’s seen time across the diamond at shortstop, third base, and second base.

Guillorme actually signed for above what his expected arbitration value was ($700,000) while Diaz reached a deal below ($10.4 million).

Davis agreed to a $2.76 million contract and McNeil at $3 million. Davis gets a $600,000 increase from his first run through arbitration, earning $2.1 million last season. This is McNeil’s first go-around in arbitration and will not be a free agent until 2025.

Alonso earned the most significant raise. No longer will his home run derby winnings surpass his career earnings. Alonso and the Mets reached a deal that will pay the first baseman $7.4 million this season, a jump from the $676,775 he made in 2021. This is his first year of arbitration.

Williams was traded to the Mets last season, as part of the Javier Baez trade. He’ll now remain in New York for another season with a contract worth $3.9 million.

New York has eight players that will currently undergo arbitration proceedings.

They are in order of service time accumulated:

• Chris Bassitt
• Seth Lugo
• Miguel Castro
• Brandon Nimmo
• Dominic Smith
• Tomas Nido
• Joey Lucchesi
• Drew Smith

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