The Mets announced Saturday they have agreed with left-hander Jon Niese on a five-year, $25.5 million contract extension that includes options for 2017 and 2018 that could bring the total deal up to $46.5 million, underscoring the club’s attempt to build through youth.
“Jon Niese is going to be a good pitcher for a long time and it’s a great move by us to lock him up,’’ manager Terry Collins said.
Collins said Niese’s addition of changeup to his huge breaking ball should help him improve on last year’s 11-11 mark.
Niese’s season was cut short Aug. 24 with an intercostal strain of his right side. But the Mets viewed locking up the 25-year-old as a valuable move for their future, opening discussions with agent Tom O’Connell in early March and completing the deal just before the end of spring training.
“A quality left-handed starting pitcher is a not rare commodity, but certainly a very valuable commodity. We’re very pleased with what he’s done through 2011 and we feel he’s got the potential to improve substantially,’’ general manager Sandy Alderson said. “What we’re looking to do is build a core of players that can be Mets and make the Mets competitive for a long period of time, and I think Jonathon fits into that mold.“In our case it’s a good idea, part of our overall approach long term, which is to develop and retain our core players. … We have a lot of good young players on this team, and what I’d hope is that we’re able to retain many of them as we go forward they’ll become the core of a very competitive winning team.’’
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David Wright drilled Jair Jurrjens’ 2-1, 87-mph fastball 430 feet into the visiting bullpen in right-center for a solo home run. The Mets are 22-0 at Citi Field when they hit three homers, as they did yesterday. Wright is six RBIs shy of Darryl Strawberry’s franchise record of 733.
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Kirk Nieuwenhuis made his major league debut, starting in center field and going 2-for-4. His first hit was an infield single.
“It was fun. I wish it was hit a little harder, but I’m taking that,’’ Nieuwenhuis said. “It’s just fun to be back out here on the field after a couple of injuries, and get a good win.’’
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After an R.A. Dickey knuckleball got away from catcher Josh Thole in the first and Michael Bourn tried to score from third, Thole threw out the speedy outfielder.
The Mets bullpen, which was 28th in the majors last year with a 4.33 ERA, has thrown seven shutout innings.