The Mets and Pete Alonso have been in a staredown for some time however it appears the membership is blinking. Andy Martino of SNY studies that they now count on him to signal elsewhere, with Thursday’s agreement with Jesse Winker a part of a plan to unfold cash round to varied options. Earlier as we speak, 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 workforce.
Alonso and the Mets have clearly had mutual curiosity in reaching a brand new deal for a very long time, however with out the flexibility 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 either side of the negotiations. The Mets employed David Stearns to interchange Billy Eppler atop their baseball operations division in September 2023, with Alonso then hiring Scott Boras the next month.
In the course of the 2024 season, the perimeters 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 supply and have become a free agent. Though he was related to varied groups in latest 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 spot on the cash nonetheless prevented a deal from coming collectively.
In latest weeks, the Mets have additionally been related 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 massive 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 may have finished a few of these strikes along with 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, however 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 varied 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 come back again to Queens, it does appear to sign that the Mets are ready to maneuver on.
If it does certainly come to go, will probably 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 profitable 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 latest 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 identified for having middling budgets and outcomes, Steve Cohen bought the membership forward of the 2021 season and made them one of many prime 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 just some 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 normal public appeared to outpace his recognition in as we speak’s analytically inclined entrance places of work. 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 general 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-about 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 due to this fact 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 record, we thought-about predicting Alonso for a deal alongside the strains of the three years and $80M that Bellinger bought 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, however 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 shocking pivot, because the Mets haven’t been shy about spending since Cohen purchased the workforce. 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 sensible. The membership additionally didn’t play on the prime of the beginning pitching market, not signing guys like Fried or Corbin Burnes, as a substitute taking dangers on guys like Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes. Montas is coming off a down 12 months whereas Holmes will likely be making an attempt to pivot from the bullpen to the rotation.
All this can seemingly go away Alonso trying elsewhere for his subsequent gig, with Toronto one chance. The Jays have already got a primary baseman in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. however 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 sometimes crossing the diamond to play third base. Though the article from The Athletic says the Jays would “favor” to hold onto Guerrero, Rosenthal made an appearance on “Foul Territory” and extra emphatically shot down the opportunity 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 plenty of that was because of having a stroll price 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 tougher for the membership to relaxation somebody like George Springer, however it appears the Jays have some openness to it regardless. Guerrero taking the new nook may enable better 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 supply 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 absolutely effectively shy of what they had been prepared to pay Burnes.
It’s theoretically doable that signing Alonso may give the Jays some cowl for the occasion they’ll’t signal Guerrero, an impending free agent, to an extension. Nevertheless it appears extremely doubtless that Alonso will likely be securing a cope with the flexibility to decide out after 2025, which means he would solely stick round for 2026 if he has a down 12 months. They’d doubtless favor to have Guerrero locked up long run, since he’s considerably youthful than Alonso, whereas seeing Pete stroll away earlier.
There are absolutely different golf equipment within the combine as effectively. Alonso has been related to the Giants, Pink Sox and Angels in latest 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 upon their revenue-sharing standing and whether or not they paid the aggressive stability tax final 12 months. Maybe we could have readability quickly because the staring contest with the Mets seems to be ending.
