Source: Mets sign Bo Bichette to 3-year, $126M free-agent deal

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Jan 16, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Less than 24 hours after losing the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes, the Mets quickly pivoted to Bo Bichette, one of the best bats left on the free-agent market. Bichette and the Mets came to terms on a three-year, $126 million contract Friday morning, a source confirmed to the New York Daily News.

While there isn’t any deferred money, the contract includes opt-outs after the first and second seasons, allowing Bichette to seek a bigger deal if he chooses. It’s a relatively safe play for both parties, especially since the Mets have a glut of infielders already, and a few coming through the minor leagues that the organization would like to hold on to.

Bichette may not be an ideal fit for the Mets, but Tucker wasn’t either. As a left-handed hitting right fielder, Tucker overlapped with Juan Soto. Bichette gives the lineup more balance, even if he comes at the cost of either Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio or Mark Vientos, since he’ll likely play third base to accommodate shortstop Francisco Lindor.

Marcus Semien, Bichette’s former teammate in Toronto, is expected to be the everyday second baseman, and Jorge Polanco, a free-agent acquisition, will transition to first base.

An outfielder is still needed, with only two on the current roster.

The son of former MLB outfielder Dante Bichette, Bo was a two-time All-Star for the Toronto Blue Jays and often received MVP votes. Last season, the 27-year-old Bichette hit .311 with an .840 OPS, 18 home runs and 94 RBIs, amassing 3.5 bWAR.

A late-season knee sprain sidelined Bichette during most of Toronto’s World Series run, but he returned for the World Series. Bichette hit .348 and drove in six runs, playing in all seven games of the series. He also played second base for the first time in his Major League career.

Bichette’s one postseason home run came off Shohei Ohtani in Game 7 of the series, a towering, three-run blast that traveled 442 feet and gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers, who eventually won in 11 innings. It’s arguably the second-most important home run in franchise history, behind Joe Carter’s walk-off shot that clinched the 1993 World Series for Toronto.

Over seven seasons with the Blue Jays, Bichette slashed .294/.337/.469 with 111 home runs. Drafted in the second round of the 2016 draft out of Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Fla., Bichette was part of a group of young hitters that became key in Toronto’s most recent rise. He was also one of three hitters whose fathers had been MLB All-Stars, playing alongside Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio.

Bichette and Guerrero Jr. are still close friends, and with Guerrero having signed a massive extension last spring, the Blue Jays appeared poised to lock up their core hitters for years to come until Friday.

Toronto was also interested in Tucker, who agreed to a massive, four-year $240 million contract with Los Angeles on Thursday night, a contract that made Tucker the highest-paid player in baseball in terms of AAV ($60 million). The Mets also offered him four years, but at $50 million per year. It set a precedent for high-AAV, short-term deals with opt-outs, much like the one the Mets awarded Bichette.

These types of contracts aren’t popular with the fans, who want to know that they’re going to be able to see their favorite players in their team’s jerseys year after year. But with pitchers and catchers less than a month away from reporting, and not to mention, a lockout potentially looming at the end of the year, we could be seeing more deals like this get done in the coming weeks.