The New York Mets remain in contact with representatives for Jacob deGrom after the pitcher opted out of his contract to hit the open market.

"We had another conversation or a couple of conversations actually leading up to the decision date," Billy Eppler said of talks with agent Stephen Veltman. "We just kind of made a pact to stay in touch. ... I think there's a good deal of interest there on his part, so that was articulated a number of times through the season and reiterated in our most recent conversation."

deGrom, 34, had a 3.08 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 64.1 innings this season.