The Mets and first baseman Pete Alonso have agreed to a $7.4MM salary to avoid arbitration, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). That wraps up the first of three arb years for Alonso, who remains controllable through 2024.
Alonso’s salary is right in line with the $7.3MM figure projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz entering the offseason. It marks the first significant payday of his career, as he’d played the past few seasons on deals a bit above the league minimum. In both 2019 and 2021, Alonso earned more for winning the Home Run Derby ($1MM in each season) than he did in salary from the Mets.
That he’s a two-time defending Home Run Derby champ (the 2020 event was canceled due to the pandemic) speaks to the massive power he’s shown throughout his career. Alonso has hit 53 and 37 homers, respectively, in his two full seasons. He popped 16 more in the shortened 2020 season, a mark that tied for third in the National League. Altogether, he’s a .256/.347/.542 hitter as a big leaguer; he’s coming off a .262/.344/.519 showing last year.
The Mets recent run of arb agreements has brought their estimated 2022 commitments to a little under $277MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. They have a competitive balance tax number in the $286MM range, just shy of the newly-instituted $290MM tier that triggers the highest level of penalization in the CBA. The Mets will pay a 20% tax on their first $20MM in overages, a 32% tax on their next $20MM and a 62.5% fee on any money spent between $270MM and $290MM. If they exceed $290MM, they’d be taxed at an 80% rate on any expenditures thereafter.
I so hope the Mets crest $300M this year….
Me as well and miss the playoffs. The spending equals winning people then will have to make excuses as to why the team didn’t win.
Missed WAR will be the excuse
I’m a Met fan, Iverbure, but I almost want them to lose for the very reason you give. I do think they are going to disappoint a lot of fans.
Awww, they have a good ballclub, @Cosmo.
(Don’t get used to me saying that kind of stuff though, serious.)
Would that ease your shame of outspending every team in either league for decades?!!
You must have me confused with someone who cares. No, no, I’d rather they:
A) Spend wisely
B) Keep spending
I would be proud if they outspent everyone, just on the right players. If spending doesn’t equal winning, it should hurt your self-confidence either, my friend.
Pirates fan?
I know I’d be much more proud of my team’s owner if he pocketed money that was specifically designated funds for competitive balance – you got me……………. Lol.
No shame in spending so big. It’s dumb, but not shameful. The Yankees dynasty that started in the 90’s? The secret wasn’t George’s money, it was Gene Michael, the scouting and development.
George’s money allowed them to keep the dynasty together. The Core 4 doesn’t stay toget when on any other team. George’s money allowed them to sign Roid Rage Roger for $20 million every year. Ignoring George’s money is not being fair.
Yea that’s true. If the Yankees were the Pirates there would have been no dynasty. You DO need to spend more than many teams in order to maintain that. But, without someone like Gene Michael (and Cashman) that money doesn’t turn into success.
Just ask Arte Moreno.
It’s definitely a big advantage to have money. You can keep the players you develop and bring in the pieces you need.
The key is you have to develop. Not even the Yanks or Dodgers can just buy every piece. You look at any of their good runs and the cores were largely homegrown.
Mets fans accused past ownership of being cheap but rarely did a Mets player take theM to an arbitration hearing.
Believe me, if Cohen falls short of a 300 million dollar payroll there will be fans calling him cheap now. I guarantee it.
It would be wise for him to leave that organization immediately. He should demand a trade.
Well, 48, he’s in a team that had a meeting with him, & the purpose of the meeting was to keep him, not trade him. So, coming from the A’s that’s a big change, so I get his confusion. By year 2 he may be demanding said trade… lol
Do you just come to every Mets article and do this? Get a life, dude.
I said the same thing, dude lives on these Mets pages spewing all types of idiotic nonsense religiously
Ever get the feeling that 48 and Metsfan22 are the same person?. I mean almost certainly not but two they’re sides of the same coin anyway.
It’s sad how the Marlins play in our division and yet Mets fans are the ones who constantly take the bait…
We’ve got nothing else to do. Marlins fans are all out fishing or drinking neon or something. Or trying to make sense of those awful uniforms.
Not nearly as sad as you constantly trolling bait
Worth about 4x that in open market. Based on $8MM/ war
Look around at the deals players get. They’re not getting $8mil/WAR
He should of been cut!
When you can make more in a one night exhibition than a full year of work there’s something wrong.
I believe they had to up the winnings for the derby after so many stars started turning them down over fear of it changing their swing