The New York Mets have a lot of work to do this off-season, but one of the first orders of business should be re-signing Keith Hernandez.

Mets fans are clamoring for the team to bring back Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz, as they should be. But there are more viable plan B’s to replacing Alonso and Diaz than there are for replacing Hernandez, who has been part of the best booth in baseball alongside Gary Cohen and Ron Darling on SNY since 2005.

Hernandez recently joined The Show with hosts Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman where he was asked about his contract status with SNY.


“Well, we haven’t begun negotiations, but we will,” Hernandez told Sherman and Heyman. “And I’m not ready to retire. If I do another three years, they’ve always been three-year deals, and then the three-year deal will take me to 75. I just turned 72 and I’m ready to do another three.

Hernandez also noted there is the added lure of this Mets team being “kinda fun to watch.” Despite missing the playoffs this season, the Mets are likely to return next year with championship expectations, which should have Hernandez excited about continuing to call games.

While the Mets are now owned by Steve Cohen, who has no problem showing off his deep pockets, SNY is still controlled by the Wilpon family. The Wilpons, who sold the Mets to Cohen but retained SNY in 2020, were notoriously cheap during their time owning the franchise. During Hernandez’s last contract negotiation with SNY and the Wilpon family, the process was seemingly dragged out with the Mets Hall-of-Famer not hearing back for weeks after submitting a counteroffer.

Ultimately, Hernandez signed a three-year contract with no hard feelings. Earlier this year, Keith Hernandez even spoke highly of the Wilpons, crediting them for allowing the beloved Mets trio to be so honest and unfiltered on-air.

This negotiation similarly might not be quick. But with Hernandez already making it clear he wants to return for at least another three years while maintaining a positive relationship with the Wilpons, there’s no reason to expect it won’t eventually get done. And if it doesn’t, it could go down as one of the Wilpons’ worst off-season Mets decisions ever.