PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Before the 2019 season, the Mets signed the ace pitcher Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $137.5 million contract extension that allowed him to opt out after the 2022 season. At the time of the deal, deGrom was coming off a dominant season in which he won his first National League Cy Young Award and finished fifth in N.L. Most Valuable Player Award voting.
Since then, deGrom has been both excellent (a 2.08 E.R.A. over three seasons and the 2019 N.L. Cy Young Award) and compromised (an elbow injury forced him to miss the final three months of the 2021 season).