Bo Bichette exercises player option for 2027

In a move that should hardly come as a surprise to anyone who watched the 2026 Mets, Bo Bichette is expected to exercised his player option and return to New York in 2027, according to sources cited by Will Sammon. Bichette will earn $42 million next season, and also carries a player option for the same amount for 2028.

The Mets signed Bichette within 24 hours of whiffing in their pursuit of Kyle Tucker (Tucker eventually signed with the Dodgers). Bichette joined the Mets shortly after the team let Pete Alonso go and traded Brandon Nimmo away, so the move was, in part a measure of appeasing the fans who wanted the team to make a splash and in part a move to fortify a lineup that needed someone to protect Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. Bichette was coming off a 2025 season in which he posted a 134 wRC+, a career best in a full season, and 3.8 fWAR while leading the Blue Jays to the American League pennant.

Bichette hit the market presumably seeking a long-term deal as he prepared to enter his age-28 season, he failed in that endeavor. As a result, he landed a short-term contract with the Mets, with the expectation that he would perform close to his career norms and exercise the opt out to get that long-term deal the following offseason. That scenario did not play out as expected.

Bichette started out slow, slashing .213/.271/.229 with five homers and a 61 wRC+ through June 2, but he picked it up after that point, hitting .289/.337/.447 with 13 home runs and a 117 wRC+ over the final 99 games of the season. He finished the year hitting .260/.312/.390 with 18 home runs, 76 runs scored, 78 runs batted in, a 96 wRC+, and 1.9 fWAR in 160 games.

Mets fans got a glimpse of the player Bichette could be from June 3 onward, but the surge following the slow start and overall numbers made opting out a foolish move for Bichette. With the lockout looming and an uncertain 2027 season ahead, taking $42 million guaranteed is a no-brainer. Combine that with his final stat line, and you have a recipe for a second year in New York. That doesn't mean Bichette can't rebound, and doing so would give the Mets another solid weapon in a lineup that already includes Lindor and Soto—both hoping to bounce back from injury-plagued seasons—and youngsters like Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing (as well as a couple of impressive prospects waiting in the wings).

Bichette exercising the option is the first domino to fall in what is expected to be a frenetic offseason leading up to the anticipated lockout on December 2. With a flurry of activity expected between now and then, you can expect many more moves to follow before all transactions and activity are shut down.