Report: Mets land Bichette on 3-year, $126M deal

After months of trying, Steve Cohen finally lured another superstar to Flushing. It just wasn't the guy anybody expected.

The New York Mets landed infielder Bo Bichette on a three-year contract, a source told Will Sammon of The Athletic. The deal is worth $126 million and includes full no-trade protection, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Bichette receives opt-outs after the 2026 and '27 seasons and also gets a $5-million opt-out bonus, a source told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. There's apparently no deferred money in the deal.

Completion of the agreement is pending a physical, Sammon adds.

A natural shortstop, Bichette will shift to third base for the Mets, sources told Heyman. The 27-year-old has never played a professional inning at the hot corner and hadn't played anywhere but shortstop in the majors until shifting to second base during the 2025 World Series. Bichette has consistently ranked as one of the worst defensive shortstops in baseball but expressed an openness to moving off the position throughout the offseason.

New York already had a star shortstop in Francisco Lindor and acquired veteran Marcus Semien - Bichette's onetime double-play partner in Toronto - to play second base earlier this winter.

Brett Baty had been projected to man third before Bichette's arrival. Now he's expected to shift into more of a super-utility role, according to Heyman. Baty has mostly played third and second in the majors but did man left field for one inning in 2023.

Offensively, Bichette instantly improves the Mets' lineup, giving them more left-right balance plus some additional punch at the top of the order alongside Lindor and Juan Soto. The Florida native is a two-time AL hits leader and was on pace to do it for a third time in 2025 before a knee injury halted his regular season in early September.

Mets' projected 2026 lineup

Bichette, a lifetime .294/.337/.469 hitter, has averaged 196 hits, 24 homers, and 41 doubles per 162 games over his seven-year career. His .311 average was tied for second in the majors last year.

The Mets' deal with Bichette comes barely 12 hours after they were spurned by Kyle Tucker, who signed his own short-term contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. New York reportedly offered Tucker $220 million over four years but came up $20 million short of the Dodgers' final offer.

The club beat out NL East rivals the Philadelphia Phillies for Bichette's services. The Phillies had been seen as the favorites to land Bichette following a reportedly positive meeting earlier this week. The Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Blue Jays were also connected to Bichette this winter.

His signing also comes after the Mets saw franchise pillars Pete Alonso and Edwin Díaz depart in free agency. The team responded to those losses by signing Jorge Polanco to play first base, trading for Semien, and adding relievers Devin Williams and Luke Weaver.

Bichette had spent his entire seven-year career to date with the Blue Jays and had previously expressed a desire to remain in Toronto alongside fellow star and good friend Vladimir Guerrero Jr. However, he became squeezed out of the Blue Jays' crowded infield after their signing of Kazuma Okamoto. It was also reported Friday that Bichette had some long-term concerns about Rogers Centre's artificial surface, likely due to his history of leg issues.

Because he rejected their qualifying offer earlier this winter, the Blue Jays will receive a compensatory draft pick after the fourth round of the 2026 draft. New York, meanwhile, will forfeit its second- and fifth-highest draft picks, along with $1 million from its international bonus pool, as a penalty for the signing, per MLB Pipeline.