Keith Hernandez wants to keep working. He just needs SNY to work out a new deal.

The Mets legend revealed during a Q&A with the New York Post‘s Mike Puma that his contract with SNY has expired after 20 seasons in the booth. But Hernandez made clear he’s not ready to walk away.

“My contract has run out, but I would love to continue in the booth,” Hernandez told Puma. “I enjoy what I do.”

This isn’t the first time Hernandez has found himself in contract limbo with SNY. His deal expired after the 2022 season, leading to a prolonged negotiation that stretched into February 2023 before he eventually signed a three-year extension. That deal took him through the 2025 season, which just wrapped up.

The Wilpon family still owns SNY despite selling the Mets to Steve Cohen in 2020. That ownership structure has led to past tension during contract negotiations, with Mets fans often expressing frustration about the process dragging on longer than necessary. SNY offered Hernandez a deal in 2023, he rejected it and countered, and the network didn’t respond with another offer for weeks.

Hernandez has been contemplating a reduced workload as he approaches his mid-70s. During an appearance on The Show podcast in April 2024, he mentioned doing around 110 games and said he might cut back to 90 or 100 games after 2025. But he also made clear he wasn’t planning to “pack it in” anytime soon.

“I always loved playing on the road, and I always like as an announcer going on the road to the different ballparks and seeing the different fans,” Hernandez said at the time. “So, I don’t see in the near future — as long as I have my mental faculty — of packing it in, not for a while.”

Earlier this year, Hernandez told Puma he hoped to follow Ralph Kiner’s path by signing another three-year deal that would allow him to gradually scale back. That would take him through age 75 while giving SNY time to transition Daniel Murphy into a larger role. Murphy has been working part-time in the booth this season as the network prepares for Hernandez’s eventual departure.

Hernandez has been part of SNY’s broadcast team since the network launched in 2006. Alongside Gary Cohen and Ron Darling, he’s called Mets games for two decades. The trio ranked as the best booth in baseball in Awful Announcing’s 2024 local MLB announcer rankings, and came in second in this year’s rankings.

Whether SNY and Hernandez can work out another deal remains to be seen. But based on past negotiations, Mets fans shouldn’t expect a quick resolution.