Sources: Mets, batting champ Jeff McNeil reach $50M extension

National League batting champion Jeff McNeil and the New York Mets agreed Friday to a four-year, $50 million contract extension, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN, ensuring one of the team’s core players will remain in Queens as it looks to win its first World Series since 1986.

The deal, which is pending a physical, includes a fifth-year club option that could take the overall value to $63.75 million, sources told ESPN.

McNeil, who turns 31 a week after Opening Day, was scheduled to go to an arbitration trial with the Mets, where he was requesting $7.75 million and they offered $6.25 million. Instead, the gap spurred conversations about keeping McNeil past his remaining two years of arbitration and landed on buying out two free agent seasons.