The Mets and Pete Alonso have been in a staredown for some time nevertheless it appears the membership is blinking. Andy Martino of SNY reviews that they now anticipate him to signal elsewhere, with Thursday’s agreement with Jesse Winker a part of a plan to unfold cash round to varied alternate options. Earlier right now, Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Alonso’s market was heating up, with the Blue Jays and Mets concerned, in addition to a 3rd unidentified crew.
Alonso and the Mets have clearly had mutual curiosity in reaching a brand new deal for a very long time, however with out the power to agree on a value level. The membership reportedly supplied him a seven-year, $158M extension in the summertime of 2023, however a deal didn’t get finished. Since then, there have been adjustments on each side of the negotiations. The Mets employed David Stearns to exchange Billy Eppler atop their baseball operations division in September 2023, with Alonso then hiring Scott Boras the next month.
Through the 2024 season, the edges typically expressed admiration for one another however by no means appeared to make a lot effort to get an extension finished. Alonso turned down a qualifying provide and have become a free agent. Though he was linked to varied groups in current months, he by no means appeared to get a deal to his liking. Alonso’s camp reportedly pivoted to a short-term deal, pitching the Mets a three-year pact with opt-outs. The Mets appeared to be considerably amenable to this framework however a niche on the cash nonetheless prevented a deal from coming collectively.
In current weeks, the Mets have additionally been linked to gamers like Winker, Anthony Santander, Alex Verdugo, Tanner Scott, Luis Arráez and Tim Hill. Additionally they reportedly supplied Teoscar Hernández a two-year deal earlier than he returned to the Dodgers on a three-year pact.
Martino’s report compares the Mets’ present plans to these of the Yankees after lacking out on Juan Soto, spreading cash round to varied gamers versus one huge splash. After Soto went to the Mets, the Yankees gave out offers to Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt, in addition to buying and selling for Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger. They might have finished a few of these strikes along side Soto however maybe had been extra aggressive in these areas since they hadn’t tied up their sources with the one mega deal.
The Winker signing alone doesn’t cease the Mets from bringing again Alonso, as the 2 coexisted on the roster in 2024, with Alonso the common at first as Winker frolicked within the outfield corners and designated hitter slot. However there was some reporting that the membership desires to make use of some inner choices on the corners. Mark Vientos was the common third baseman final 12 months and had a breakout 12 months on the plate, however with subpar defensive metrics. He may maybe transfer over to first, whereas the Mets use Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuna to cowl third base.
Maybe issues will change within the coming days, nevertheless it now appears doable that the Mets are certainly ready to stroll away from Alonso. The sooner reporting from The Athletic indicated the Mets had been in talks with numerous gamers and didn’t need the stalled Alonso negotiations to get of their means. Whereas Winker doesn’t strictly block the trail for Alonso to return again to Queens, it does appear to sign that the Mets are ready to maneuver on.
If it does certainly come to cross, it is going to be a surprisingly lackluster finish to the Mets-Alonso relationship. He was a homegrown star with some New York roots and are available up by way of the membership’s system after being chosen within the second spherical of the 2016 draft. He debuted with an enormous splash in 2019, hitting 53 house runs and in addition successful the house run derby. That marketing campaign is now broadly seen because the juiced ball season, however Alonso continued to be an enormous homer risk in subsequent years.
Alonso now has 226 house runs over the previous six seasons, second solely to Aaron Choose in that point. He received one other derby title in 2021 and was a staple of the membership over their current historical past, not having performed lower than 152 video games in any full season.
Throughout that point, the Mets went from a punchline to a powerhouse. Whereas they had been beforehand recognized for having middling budgets and outcomes, Steve Cohen bought the membership forward of the 2021 season and made them one of many high spenders within the league. They’ve made the playoffs in two of the previous three years, with Alonso enjoying the hero final 12 months. He hit 4 house runs in 13 playoff video games only a few months in the past, together with the series-flipping homer off Williams to get the Mets previous the Brewers and out of the wild-card spherical.
However his star energy within the media and common public appeared to outpace his reputation in right now’s analytically inclined entrance workplaces. Whereas the house run energy has been actual, Alonso’s different contributions have been muted. His stroll charges have been first rate however not excellent, he’s not a burner on the basepaths and his protection hasn’t been effectively regarded. His total offense has additionally declined. Whereas he hit .261/.349/.535 for a 137 wRC+ by way of 2022, he slashed simply .229/.324/.480 for a 121 wRC+. FanGraphs thought of him to be value 2.1 wins above substitute final 12 months, a stable however not elite quantity. There have been 119 place gamers who had been at 2.2 fWAR or increased final 12 months.
It subsequently appeared doable from the beginning of the offseason that Alonso would discover his affords missing in free company. As a part of MLBTR’s annual Top 50 listing, we thought of predicting Alonso for a deal alongside the traces of the three years and $80M that Bellinger acquired from the Cubs final 12 months after he lingered in free company into February. We backed down from that prediction, placing 5/$125M on Alonso, nevertheless it now seems he might effectively find yourself getting one thing like that deal. It simply may be someplace apart from Queens.
It’s a little bit of a stunning pivot, because the Mets haven’t been shy about spending since Cohen purchased the crew. Whereas Stearns was in Milwaukee, he by no means spent some huge cash on first basemen, however he by no means had the sources he now has. Regardless of the deeper checking account, it nonetheless appears as if Stearns would favor to put money into methods he considers smart. The membership additionally didn’t play on the high of the beginning pitching market, not signing guys like Fried or Corbin Burnes, as an alternative taking dangers on guys like Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes. Montas is coming off a down 12 months whereas Holmes will likely be attempting to pivot from the bullpen to the rotation.
All this may seemingly go away Alonso wanting elsewhere for his subsequent gig, with Toronto one risk. The Jays have already got a primary baseman in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. nevertheless it doesn’t seem as if the plan could be to commerce him. Per the reporting from The Athletic, the plan could be for Guerrero and Alonso to share first base and DH, with Guerrero often crossing the diamond to play third base. Though the article from The Athletic says the Jays would “want” to hold onto Guerrero, Rosenthal made an appearance on “Foul Territory” and extra emphatically shot down the potential of Guerrero being traded.
Although the match could be a bit awkward, the Jays may use the facility. Toronto’s offense was near league common final 12 months, however loads of that was because of having a stroll charge that was bested by solely six different groups. Within the house run division, they had been really one the worst golf equipment, forward of simply the Marlins, Rays, Nationals and White Sox.
They don’t actually have a strict designated hitter, which maybe gives a path for Alonso and Guerrero to share a lineup. Justin Turner was their main DH for the primary half of final 12 months however he was traded to the Mariners on the deadline. It will make it a bit more durable for the membership to relaxation somebody like George Springer, nevertheless it appears the Jays have some openness to it regardless. Guerrero taking the recent nook may enable larger flexibility, however he solely has 104 innings there over the previous 5 seasons. Most of that got here late final 12 months because the Jays had been enjoying out the string on a misplaced season. It’s unclear how a lot willingness they should put Guerrero there in significant video games.
Financially, it appears the membership nonetheless has powder dry. They reportedly had a powerful provide on the desk for Burnes as of some weeks in the past, earlier than he signed with the Diamondbacks. Since then, they signed Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33M deal, however that’s certainly effectively shy of what they had been keen to pay Burnes.
It’s theoretically doable that signing Alonso may give the Jays some cowl for the occasion they will’t signal Guerrero, an impending free agent, to an extension. Nevertheless it appears extremely seemingly that Alonso will likely be securing a cope with the power to choose out after 2025, that means he would solely stick round for 2026 if he has a down 12 months. They’d seemingly want to have Guerrero locked up long run, since he’s considerably youthful than Alonso, whereas seeing Pete stroll away earlier.
There are certainly different golf equipment within the combine as effectively. Alonso has been linked to the Giants, Purple Sox and Angels in current weeks. Groups just like the Tigers, Athletics and Mariners make sense as speculative suits. Since Alonso rejected a QO, the Mets will obtain a draft choose after the fourth spherical if he indicators elsewhere. The penalty for the signing membership will rely on their revenue-sharing standing and whether or not they paid the aggressive steadiness tax final 12 months. Maybe we could have readability quickly because the staring contest with the Mets seems to be ending.
