Jacob deGrom will be playing for relative peanuts compared to many of his contemporaries during the 2016 season, and he’s made something of a statement in protest of it.
As MLB rules work, players in their first three years of service time who are not yet eligible for arbitration have next to no say in what they get paid. As such, the Mets can offer deGrom any salary above the league minimum as long as it’s 80 percent of his 2015 salary and deGrom is basically forced to accept it.
deGrom’s salary, determined by a formula, was renewed at $607,000 and he refused to sign it in protest of the system.
“We respect the Mets’ right to determine a pre-arbitration player’s salary and their effort to be consistent with their players,” said deGrom’s agent Brodie Van Wagenen, via Adam Rubin of ESPN. “But given Jacob’s standing as one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball and his 2015 performance, his worth cannot be properly valued by a formula. Like the Mets, he is simply exercising his rights under the [collective bargaining agreement]. This will not affect Jacob’s relationship with the Mets. Both parties are focused on preparing for the season and getting the Mets back to the World Series.”
deGrom stressed that there are no hard feelings toward the Mets.
“That’s the business side of the game,” deGrom said. “That’s why I hired my agents. I feel like I have some of the best in the business. It was a business decision that we decided to make. We have great respect for the Mets and the system that they have, and I feel like I have a great relationship with them.
“As I’ve said before, I love playing here. And I want to be in this uniform for a long time. It was just a decision based on the business side of the game.”
It’s easy to call this unfair, and it is, but it’s how the system works and this is how deGrom is taking a stand against it, as is his right. Gerrit Cole faced the same grievances with the Pirates. It would be nice if the Mets paid up, but they have no incentive to. deGrom will have to go through this again next year one final time before he gets a well-deserved raise in arbitration. Perhaps he’ll have cut his hair by then.
