Boras: Michael Conforto Injured Shoulder During Lockout

The biggest mystery of the post-lockout free agency world was the lack of a market for Michael Conforto, the six-year veteran who manned right field for the Mets since the start of his career. Well, according to his agent Scott Boras, that’s of his client’s own volition after injuring his throwing shoulder in a workout during the lockout.

According to a report from The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal, Conforto landed on his right shoulder “irregularly”–Boras’ words–in January. It’s the opposite shoulder that Conforto tore when swinging a bat at the end of his breakout 2017 season.

Boras told Rosenthal that Conforto wanted to wait to get healthy until he started talking with teams again, and those discussions resumed “last week,” per the report. “Everyone has been wondering if it’s economic,” Boras said to Rosenthal regarding why Conforto hasn’t signed yet. “No, it’s just him getting back to normal (physically).”

Conforto was expected to be one of the top outfielders on the free-agent market this offseason. Contemporaries like Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos signed for around $20 million per year (both with the Phillies). Starling Marte got right around that number, too, and Seiya Suzuki arrived from Japan at the price of $17 million per year. That presumably was Conforto’s market.

However, there has barely been a whisper before or after the lockout about teams talking to Conforto, who was extended a qualifying offer worth $18.4 million by the Mets after the 2021 season. We now know that’s in part due to the shoulder injury. (A team would have to give up a draft pick if it signed Conforto due to the qualifying offer.)

This comes after a rough 2021 campaign, when Conforto posted just 0.8 fWAR and a 106 wRC+ over nearly 500 plate appearances. He was just barely average after four seasons in a row of above-average play in right. While not ideal to perform like Conforto did in a contract year, it’s still surprising his market wasn’t as robust as the likes of Schwarber, Castellanos and Suzuki.

Teams like the Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants could be in the market for Conforto’s services, and a reunion with the Mets isn’t likely, even on a one-year deal. If the 29-year-old does look for a shorter-term deal, he’ll likely head to a spot where he’s playing every day and not in a four-man rotation with Marte, Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha.

The post Boras: Michael Conforto Injured Shoulder During Lockout first appeared on Metsmerized Online.