Mets Rumors: Marcus Stroman Leading Toward Rejecting $18.9M Qualifying Offer

After electing to sit out the 2020 season, New York Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman may not be returning to the team.  

Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that the 29-year-old is "leaning toward rejecting" the team's $18.9 million qualifying offer in favor of testing free agency.  

With a Wednesday deadline, Stroman has just under a week to issue a decision.

Puma reported that the 2012 first-round pick out of Duke is seeking a multiyear deal in free agency rather than sticking with the Mets for a full season after he was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays at the 2019 deadline.

Typically, a seasoned star coming off an All-Star campaign in 2019 in which he posted a 3.72 ERA with 159 strikeouts in 184.1 innings would command much more on the market. But given the league's loss of revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic, he may not be able to find the deal of which he is dreaming. 

Stroman's reported decision would leave the Mets with Jacob deGrom, David Peterson and Seth Lugo as starters while Noah Syndergaard works his way back from Tommy John surgery. Syndergaard's rehab is expected to continue through the first two months of the season, per Puma. 

"I would accept the qualifying offer," a National League executive told Puma. "He sat out a year, he's not a big guy and he's from [Long Island]. In a world where nobody claims a $10 million Brad Hand, it's hard to turn your nose up to one year and $18.9 million."

At the end of October, the Cleveland Indians ditched Hand, who posted 34 saves in 2019, buying out his contract for $1 million and moving him to the waiver wire.