Mets’ Marcus Stroman opting out of MLB season presents a free agent quandary

Mets starter Marcus Stroman has opted out of the 2020 season and has a looming free agent decision to make this offseason, which started much sooner than he anticipated.

The New York Mets have seen Yoenis Cespedes opt out of the 2020 MLB season after he ghosted the team and flew out of Atlanta without notice during the team’s game against the Braves. With the coronavirus pandemic still ravaging the United States, the Mets found out another player has chosen to sit out this season.

On Tuesday, starting pitcher Marcus Stroman informed the team that he’s opting-out of the current campaign. The reasoning has nothing to do with tearing his left calf muscle during the team’s summer camp. Rather, he was concerned for his family’s well-being if he were to potentially contract COVID-19.

But what about Stroman’s free agency status? Despite the fact he never threw a pitch this year, Stroman has accumulated enough service time to become an eligible free agent this winter. In fact, Stroman told the media that he hopes that he can remain with the Mets to be apart of what they’ve built recently.

Do the Mets pursue Stroman in free agency?

Back during the 2019 MLB trade deadline, Stroman was dangled by the Toronto Blue Jays to a variety of World Series-contending teams. But the team to entice the Blue Jays to flip Stroman were the Mets, who were sitting outside of a postseason berth. The goal for the Mets was to build a super rotation with Stroman, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard in 2020.

However, those plans hit a snag after Syndergaard had to undergo Tommy John surgery back in spring training and Stroman tore his calf prior to the start of the truncated 2020 season.

Stroman played in 11 games with the Mets last year, where he accumulated a 4-2 record and a 3.77 ERA, while also striking out 60 batters over 59.2 innings of work.

What are the Mets to do? Locking in Stroman will not come cheap, considering he’s 29-years-old looking to cash in for the first time in his career. That’s unknown due to the ownership situation in Queens. If the Wilpon family is still running the team, it’s possible that they could opt against paying Stroman. But if a new ownership group successfully purchases the Mets, they could potentially keep Stroman to keep the stacked starting rotation.

We will find if Stroman will remain with the Metropolitans or join another team once we reach the “Hot Stove” portion of the MLB offseason this winter.