NEW YORK -- When the New York Mets acquired Neil Walker from the Pirates last December, he was a stop-gap measure. Now the club sounds interested in a more permanent arrangement.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said Tuesday that he plans to talk to Walker’s representatives about a new contract before the end of the season. The second baseman has played solidly in replacing Daniel Murphy with a .268 average, 19 home runs and 49 RBIs entering Tuesday’s game against Arizona at Citi Field.
“I have not had any conversations with his agent at this point. I expect that there will be some conversations before the end of the season,” Alderson said. “He's been a terrific player for us on the field. He’s been excellent in the clubhouse.”
Specifically, Alderson said the 30-year-old had helped fill the leadership void after David Wright was lost for the season.
Walker is slated to become a free agent after the season. The Mets' plan had been to give Dilson Herrera one more year in the minors before he took over second base for the big league club. That changed when the Mets dealt Herrera to Cincinnati in the Jay Bruce trade on Aug. 1.
Asked about possibly signing a deal and giving up the chance to be a free agent, Walker called it a “double-edged sword.”
“Everyone wants, kind of, the certainty of your future ... but it certainly is interesting to think about what could happen this offseason as far as teams’ interest and things like that,” Walker said. “But when you look at the big picture and you look at what’s going on here and you look at how I fit in here and how happy I’ve been ... this is a really good fit for me.”
