There’s been a lot of talk swirling around Lucas Duda over the past few days as talk of a potential contract extension between he and the Mets has surfaced. We now may have an idea of what said extension could look like, per ESPN’s Adam Rubin.
According to Rubin, Duda could receive a 4-year extension between $30 and $34 million if the team and his representatives reach an agreement within the next week. A major league executive relayed to Rubin multiple contracts–including Allen Craig, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler–that were signed within the last few seasons and could be used to help structure a potential extension for Duda.
Extending young players prior to free agency is becoming the norm more and more in baseball of late, just see Christian Yelich‘s 7-year, $49.57M extension with the Miami Marlins. The thing that’s different with Duda is that he is not of the age that these players normally get these extensions, so it will be interesting to see how this develops. Lucas, now 29-years-old, is the same age as reigning AL Cy Young award-winner Corey Kluber, another somewhat older player seeking an extension from his team.
Coming off a 30 home run, 92 RBI season in 2014, Duda is owed $4.2M this upcoming year and will not have any contract discussions during the regular season if an agreement isn’t met by then, according to his agent.
Just Mets 