RISKY: Michael Conforto rejected Offer of almost 20 million and goes to Free Agency

By Robiel Vega / @ robielcuba87

Outfielder Michael Conforto, 28 with a poor season in 2021, declined the Qualified Offer from the New York Mets and he maintained his decision to go to Free Agency in search of a better contract, a rather risky move, since, despite showing a good record of seven seasons, his performance last season was well below expectations.

New York Mets outfielder Michael Conforto will decline the qualifying offer and head to free agency, sources familiar with the situation tell ESPN.

– Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 8, 2021

It is important to explain what a Qualified Offer is: then «When a player is eligible for free agency, his former team has the option of offering him a qualifying offer, which represents the average salary of the 125 highest paid players. This year, the value is US $ 18.4 million. Players have 10 days to accept or reject it. If they say no, their old team will receive compensation in the Amateur Draft«. (Taken from MLB.com)

That said, the offer of 18.4 million is not negligible for the outfielder, taking into account that during 2021 he achieved his salary cap with 12,250 million dollars, a figure that he did not enforce on the field, with an offensive line of (232 / .344 / .384 / .729) (AVE / OBP / SLG / OPS), remaining in just 14 homers, 55 RBIs, 52 runs scored and 94 hits in 125 games played.

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Despite this, Conforto had very good offensive seasons during 2017 and 2020, in which he managed to attend the All-Star Game in 2017 and surpassed the 30-homer barrier in 2019. Similarly, in the short season In 2020, he achieved a batting line of (.322 / .412 / .515 / .927) and it is these results that this still young outfielder clings to, because at 28 he still has a ceiling to reach.

They say that he who does not risk does not win and today Conforto, who has played his entire career with the New York team, rejected an excellent offer to find a better one that also guarantees him a long-term contract, taking into account that he is close to 30 and will not have a better age to achieve it.