The Mets are paying Bo Bichette $42 million for a comeback that wasn't one

Everybody's going to tell you Bo Bichette figured it out in Queens. He didn't, not all the way, and the Mets just agreed to pay him $42 million next year as if he had.

The Athletic had it first and ESPN confirmed it Friday: Bichette is exercising his $42 million player option for 2027, and he holds another one at the same number for 2028. ESPN says that salary ranks among the six most expensive in the majors next season.

You already know the story they'll tell all winter. The Mets signed him to a three-year, $142 million deal in January after missing out on Kyle Tucker, moved a two-time All-Star shortstop to third base, and watched it go sideways. He got booed at Citi Field in the opening series. He hit .219 with five homers and a .583 OPS through June. Then, per ESPN, he batted .284 with 13 homers and a .772 OPS over the final four months, and his defense at third got better. Cue the redemption montage.

Here's the number nobody puts in the montage. His career OPS coming into this season was .806. The good version of Bichette, the one everybody's selling as the real him, was still 34 points of OPS below the player he'd been his whole career. The full season was .260 with 18 homers, a .702 OPS and a 96 wRC+, about 4% below league average. That's a useful everyday player. It isn't one of the six biggest paychecks in baseball.

I'll give the other side its best shot, because it's a decent one. He learned a new position on the fly in the loudest market in the sport, and the second half says the adjustment was real. Fair. And with a possible lockout hanging over the offseason, taking $42 million guaranteed is just sound business. I'd have signed the paper too.

That's exactly why the Mets should be uneasy. The option makes sense for Bichette because nobody can say yet whether he's the .806 guy anymore. If 2027 goes great, he gets another decision about that 2028 option and can go find a bigger deal. If it doesn't, he takes the money again. The player holds the choice both times, and the team pays for the uncertainty both times.

And this isn't a team that can afford to grade on a curve. The Mets went 74-88, finished last in the NL East and missed the playoffs for a second straight year with the second-highest payroll in baseball. Soto and Lindor got hurt, sure. But a club in that spot should be paying for what a player is, not for its favorite four months.

If Bichette gets back to his career line next season, I'll say so right here, and Tank will make sure I don't wriggle out of it. My guess is we'll be having this same argument next fall, and the decision will be his again, not theirs.

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