The first base market started to move rapidly late in 2024, as players like Josh Naylor, Paul Goldschmidt, Nathaniel Lowe, and Carlos Santana came off the trade and free agent markets. That movement did not work its way up to the top of the market at the time, but since the New Year started, buzz surrounding Pete Alonso’s free agency has grown louder. Alonso’s camp reportedly approached the Mets to pitch a three-year deal with opt-outs last week. The two parties have since discussed that structure but still face a gap in numbers. Notably, the Mets are said to be pressing for a definitive conclusion sooner than later.
That Alonso’s market has seemingly dropped into the short-term, high annual salary range is notable but not necessarily a shock, given how frequently that approach has been taken by stars who linger on the market in recent years. Shortstop Carlos Correa’s first deal with the Twins is perhaps the most notable example, but it’s become more widespread in the years since that deal with Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, and Matt Chapman signing deals of that nature last offseason alone. This winter, free agents like Jack Flaherty and Anthony Santander have reportedly joined Alonso in beginning to consider short-term offers.
For a Mets club that has tended to avoid making long-term commitments to players already in their 30s (particularly since hiring David Stearns as president of baseball operations), the idea of getting Alonso back in the fold on a short-term deal has to be appealing. It would hardly be a surprise if Alonso was hoping to land a deal that guarantees him $30MM or more annually, or at least is front-loaded in such a way that he could opt out of the deal next winter and walk away with $30MM or more — similar to Bellinger’s three-year deal with the Cubs. The Mets are surely hoping to minimize risk on their end to avoid a situation where Alonso opts in and becomes an anchor on the roster.
While the Mets have long been considered the favorite and most logical landing spot, they aren’t the only club with interest in Alonso. The Red Sox, Blue Jays, Angels, and Giants have all been connected to Alonso since the new year began. Most of that quartet already has a set first baseman, but none sported a top-ten offense in MLB last year and each of the Giants, Angels, and Blue Jays were below-average in terms of home run power. That makes it easy to envision a slugger of Alonso’s caliber making a difference for any of those clubs, even in the event that he doesn’t return to the more well-rounded form he flashed in 2022 as a four-WAR player with a .352 on-base percentage.
The Mets, meanwhile, could theoretically consider a number of alternatives. In particular, Santander has been connected to the Mets as a potential backup. A few budget options seem to be under consideration as well, including a reunion with Jesse Winker. Should the Mets pivot towards adding in the outfield, they could end up using a mix of internal options at the infield corners. Mark Vientos can move to first base, while Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Luisangel Acuna could vie for time at the hot corner. Alex Bregman is still out there in free agency, and Nolan Arenado is on the trade market. But if the Mets can’t find three-year terms with Alonso that are to their liking, it’d be a surprise if they signed another 30-year-old infielder who’s seeking a long-term deal (Bregman) or traded for a 34-year-old infielder who’s still owed $74MM (Arenado).
Given the imperfect fit for Alonso with many of his other suitors and the Mets’ lack of obvious proven alternatives, the most straightforward way for both sides to get what they want is to close the gap in negotiations and work out a deal. That’s easier said than done, of course, and until a deal is in place, another club like the Giants or Blue Jays could swoop in with a compelling short-term offer of its own. If Alonso remains unsigned into spring training, an injury to a contending club’s first baseman could open further possibilities.
How do MLBTR readers think things will play out between the two sides going forward?
Good riddance. Take it or leave it no one is going to sign you for what you think especially with a QO attached. Stop being greedy you’re not all that!
Yawn.
If he’s smart he will resign either way the Mets.
178iq: You keep talking about AJ. Who’s that?
@rjtfd
What a dumb thing to say. This is about his family and trying to make the best deal he can. it’s likely his last big payday. Yes, a third of that is more money that 90% of is well ever make, but you can’t villify the guy over negotiations with a billion dollar company.
Not necessarily his “last big payday” because it’s very possible he eventually returns on a one year deal.
The Mets are obviously not interested in a multi-year pact or they would have signed one, and his agent giving the Mets, and allegedly only the Mets, various short-term options wreaks of desperation to stay.
The Mets are going to go hard after Vlad Jr. next winter if/when he hits the open market and a big money deal to Alonso keeps them from being able to do that
@Rsox
He obviously wants more than 1 year.
*He* does, they obviously don’t
He has an offer of 90 mil but wants 93 supposedly cause that would make him highest AAV. You really think it’s about his family. Stop.
When you are going to get 30 million a year but want 1.5 more it’s not about family. He is not worth that money. I’m a Mets fan and would like to see him stay a Met but his drama is just too much. Good riddance and let us know how the KBL works out for you.
@rjtfd
I don’t either side would quiver over $1 mil per. Please..respectfully, so acting like you know the numbers.
If it was about his family he would’ve jumped on 158 million.
This. It seems to me Boras has a tough time reading the room when it comes to certain players and their skill set. If guys like Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman couldn’t lock down 10 year $200-300 million dollar deals (particularly in Olson’s case who was younger than Pete and is superior defensively) then why would Alonso. You had a good offer and turned your nose up to it and then went out and had a lousy platform year, yet want even more money
@rjtfd
You seldom jump on the first offer in November.
I don’t know the numbers only what gets posted so who knows what is factual or made up. His offer was prior year 158/7 years and that was posted by Mets org. He overplayed his hand thought he was worth more than any team willing to pay. His performance has declined last two years and that’s black and white. Could it be because he put way too much pressure on himself for that mega deal? I don’t know. I do know he didn’t come through in big spots all season. His post season HR no doubt helped but that was it. If he wants it for his family at this point take a short term deal with opt outs and prove your worth more or you’ll be spending a lot more family time this summer.
10% of MLBTR makes over $90M?
Doubt it.
“This is about his family and trying to make the best deal he can”
I’m tired of people just adding “family” to any conversation as some sort of adequate excuse. He’s already made over $40M lke his family is fine gtfoh with that.
agreed Johnny – pretty sure it is his family that is gassing him up thinking he is worth more than he has been offered
If it was abt family he would have taking the 7/158 offer he received two years ago.
Now say it crying harder please
Not on topic but it was just reported that the great Bob Eucker has just past. RIP and it was a true honor to listen to you.
@deweybelongsinthehall
Very sad day for baseball fans. He was a true pleasure to listen to.
Dewey: UECKER. Give the man the basic respect of correct spelling.
I don’t see another team “swooping” in for anything long term. The market seems to be saying that. Will Alonso offer the high AAV multiple opt-outs to other teams? If he has to, but they don’t have to accept it. As to the Mets, CBT payer, is he really the place they want to invest in? Costly, with the tax, and even more so if he’s at a new, lower level of performance
He seems to be worth more to another club than the Mets if he will go short term.The problem is few clubs may be inclined to pony up at this point. For Boston for example, they would in my view need to first sign Bregman or trade for Arenado as well as trade both Casas and Yoshida. I’d love to have a defensive 3Bman with Devers at DH and on a three year deal with an opt out each year for Alonso.
Another team might be better off with a conventional, say three year, no opt-outs. That’s a more tradable commodity if the need arises, and leaves a lot of uncertainty out of it, Or a 3 year deal with one opt-out that can be voided by the team by adding a year to the contract. Not sure, of course, about the RS
You’d have to pay him more without the opt outs which I don’t see anyone doing at this point.
Agree, in general, but I wonder how much elasticity there is in this market for his kind of player. You have to hope he has a good enough year to trigger it–and then leave. So I guess the question comes down to whether you are willing to live with the cost/risk–and pay the QO price as well
Stearns back, still back, STILL back…See ya! Ahahahahaha!
What does this mean>?
No, he’s going to play in Japan.
Japan! I can’t go to Japan!
@YourDreamGM
No, you’re going to play for the Dodgers but have your whole yearly salary deferred until 2060. You should be able to live off sponsorship money.
I was convinced he’s going back to the Mets, but it looks like he’s destined to take a shorter term deal now, and I could see the Giants wanting to make a splash and signing him. Maybe the Cubs too.
Stop with where he’s going it’s back to Flushing New York. It’s inevitable and unfortunate how his team didn’t take care of him before Soto. This has dragged on long enough.
They tried to take care of him. They offered him a maybe extension that the market has shown was well above his actual value and he was dumb enough to decline. He forgot to take care of himself. The Mets were too generous and he overplayed his hand out of greed and stupidity.
Ok sorry
He’ll get 3/90 with opt out after 2nd
We’ll deserved contract.
You mean more like 3/80 with opt out after 1st year.
I’m thinking 3/85 with opt out after 1.5 years
In free agency, you better hope the Mets, Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Giants or Padres like you enough because you likely aren’t getting paid well by any other team
Pete wants nothing to do with California … and rightfully so.
The longer Alonso waits,the less likely he comes back. The clock is ticking. Stearns won’t hesitate to move on
Pretty sure that Stearns is hesitating. They need a big bat to compliment Soto, and Pete fits the bill. They are also probably waiting to see where Sasaki falls. If it’s not Toronto, they should offer up some prospects and MLB level talent and just get Vlad now; and then extend him during the season.
Stearns moved on in October.
As for Alonso getting opt-outs, that’s genuinely funny. Do people really not know Alonso is the worst candidate for an opt-out of nearly any player?
He’ll be back. They’re the only team who wants him.
NY media is really making a spectacle out of this. Also NYM are probably in top few clickbait teams. Hence the onslaught of these type articles. Stearns front office doesn’t leak and it’s driving the writers, bloggers and the 2 sports radio stations bananas. They have nothing new to report every day so they have to fabricate stories like “walls closing in on Alonso”
Man, what a situation this has become.
First off, let’s talk Scott Boras. Yes he got Soto the big money, yes he got Burnes and Snell their bags as well, so he’s already doing better than last offseason. When dealing with franchise icons, though, he’s pretty bad at advice. Both Alonso and Bregman should have been Mets and Astros lifers. They were offered very decent deals! But Boras doesn’t care about franchise icons, he cares only about the money. Which hey it’s fine, it’s business, but not every player thinks like this. These two especially seemed like the types that would have accepted the extensions had they had another agent. Then again, they did hire Boras…
So getting to Pete and the Mets, it’s an odder situation because it’s more than rumor that they want Vlad. So there’s this thing happening where the Mets are so confident they can land Vlad that they’re now hardballing Alonso, and the fans are caught in the middle of who to support. I hate hearing them say they only want him back for a price. What, he didn’t enough for yall? What exactly has Vlad done?
If I were Pete I’m not sure I’d WANT to come back at this point. Your FO is treating you badly, and now so are your supposed fans. Everyone is looking passed him even if he does come back anyway. It’s a terrible situation.
Best case scenario as an outside observer, Pete goes elsewhere, and Vlad does as well. Deserved. Your players should mean something more to you. The flip side of course is that Pete brought this upon himself, and he deserves this as well.
I think the answer lies in the middle.
@Salzilla
You’ve raised some compelling points, Salzilla. It’s true that Scott Boras’s approach often prioritizes maximum financial value over a player’s emotional connection to a franchise, and that’s a double-edged sword. For players like Alonso and Bregman, who seemed to have strong ties to their teams, it’s hard not to wonder if a different agent might have led to a different outcome. But as you said, they chose Boras, knowing his reputation.
The Mets’ handling of this situation is frustrating, though. Pete Alonso has been a cornerstone of the team, and it’s difficult to watch a franchise appear to undervalue someone who has given so much to their success and identity. It’s a tricky balance between valuing players financially and appreciating them as icons who resonate with fans.
The Vladimir Guerrero Jr. rumors only add fuel to the fire. While Vlad is undoubtedly a great player, Alonso’s track record speaks for itself. He’s been consistent and loyal, and treating him as a “fallback option” sends a poor message. If the Mets truly want Alonso back, they need to act decisively rather than creating unnecessary distractions.
Your suggestion that the answer lies in the middle feels apt. Pete might find himself in a better situation elsewhere if the Mets don’t step up, but it would be a shame to see both sides lose out on a partnership that could have lasted a lifetime. Here’s hoping cooler heads prevail, and the Mets recognize Alonso’s worth before it’s too late.
Honestly, I’d love to see them come together, but I think there’s already a sourness there that will eventually lead to a split anyway.
If he lands back with Mets, no one will be happy. Alonso’s ego will feel underpaid; Mets front office will feel they overpaid. And chucklehead media will throw accelerant on both sides’ negative feelings.
@Salzilla—Your observations are spot on, but I hope that you’re wrong, and Pete does come back. Stearns needs to bend on the money a little bit to get Pete back.
“Consistent and loyal” except for turning down an extremely generous offer and prioritizing $$$ over finishing his career with the team he started with.
Pete’s easily in the tier of the least loyal players in MLB.
–Great offer? “No—give me more.”
–Close to what Nimmo was offered even though Nimmo was 2x as valuable in his walk year and at CF? “No—give me more.”
Instead Alonso chose the greediest sleazebag agent as exists in MLB. He deserves to begin the long slow wandering that is the fate of so many greedheads.
@Sal
You have a basic misunderstanding of how agents work. I’m an agent, but not in sports. I work for my client. I have a fiduciary responsibility to bring all offers to my clients. I can give my informed opinion and try to break down the landscape, but it’s the CLIENTS’ decision on what they pass on and what they accept. The tail does not wag the dog.
The one area Boras MIGHT be vulnerable to is his desire to set precedent for the next guy. But I’m sour he’ll happily take 3% of $158 mil of that was what the Mets previously offered.
See I’m not talking about any agent, and you’d be right if I was and obviously I take your experience respectfully, but Boras is another animal. He’s a manipulator and more than an advisor. The way he carries himself makes him feel above the client. There’s never been a Boras guy that’s not had the same attitude and results. He’s a very much the captain of this team, and it’s his ideals that pushes forth. Sometimes it aligns with the player, but sometimes it does not. You saw it finally come to ahead with Montgomery firing him after that last season disaster.
@Sal
Can we agree that Monty probably had better offers? If the answer is yes, then the next question would be, “Did Boars do his job by bringing it to him to consider? If the answer is “no, he didn’t,” then Monty has cause to sue him for not living up to his fiduciary responsibility to bring all offers to the client. If he did, then Money had the right to accept our decline, irrespective of what Boss may have advised him. We have to do villanizing agents. We do our job. Their interest last erythromycin the client minus the emotional attachment to any team.
The way Boras deals with teams prior to getting said deals back to players is the question here. There’s a reason why teams and GMs do not like dealing with him. There’s less deals coming back more because of the agent, than the players.
Boras is a villain, dude. No other way to put it. We don’t see or hear squat about anyone else. We can disagree here because we have different perspectives, but beyond the job experience and description you can’t throw away all you hear as mere conjecture. Where’s there’s smoke there’s usually fire (and sorry for using that during this time).
The Mets dont want another long term contract – they are already beholden to Lindor, Soto and Nimmo. So I don’t think that the Mets are not falling over themselves to sign Alonso bc they have their eyes set on Vlad Jr. Give Pete’s declining metrics and his unidimensional skill set he is worth little more than 23 million for one season. And under no circumstances would Stearns offer a contract longer than 3 years. I suspect that the hold up might concern opt-outs. In that case Mets could up their offer to say 27 but decline all opt outs.
sorry for the horrible grammar and typos. I meant to say that the Mets potential pursuit of Vlad Jr has no bearing on how they’ve treated Alonso. Also, my sense is that Stearns’ thinking about 1B is similar to his thinking about SP.: No longer term contracts, ever, to 30+ year olds. Unidimensional 30+ year old 1B are probably more replaceable than any other position player. Not quite a dime a dozen, but nearly.
Seems he bet on himself, and so far, it appears he’ll likely lose money in the long term. It was a gamble turning down the Mets offer, & thus far, it appears he lost. It’s tough to gain sympathy from ordinary fans when discussing such large sums of money. How much is enough?
I’m not sure why there’s so many folks hating on Pete right now. He’s what MLB teams look for nowadays.
I don’t see a long term deal coming from anyone this offseason, but a high AAV 1+1 like other Boras clients signed for last offseason seems like the best move for Pete his likely landing spot which is re-signing with the Mets.
@greg1 Really? I hadn’t noticed teams looking for greedy players prioritizing squeezing every dollar from a club rather than taking what was clearly a generous offer for far longer than anyone else is offering, and from the team that not only brought you along but didn’t manipulate your service time in any way.
This is all on Pete. The defense of him has collapsed into versions of ‘Boras is an evil Svengali who hypnotized Pete into prioritizing greed over everything else.’
It’s amusing, anyway, that some fans are complaining that the Mets aren’t being loyal enough to the homegrown player when that’s exactly what they did in
(A) signing Nimmo to a generous 8/162m deal to ensure he remained with the Mets his entire career
(B) offering Alonso a very similar deal even though Pete was a bad 1Bman who put up a 2.7 fWAR year in 2023 then a 2.1 fWAR 2024, whereas Nimmo was a good CFer putting up a 5.4 fWAR season in 2023, after which he signed the 8 year deal.
But Alonso rejected the highest offer by far he’ll see this offseason, evidently NOT valuing loyalty over $$$ the way the Mets did with him, but this is somehow the Mets fault?? Ridiculous.
I don’t mean that they look for players like him as a personality, I am referring to his on field performance.
He has no other place to go at this point. Boras strikes again.
I think that the luxury tax hit will be a significant deterrent to Alonso signing with the Mets. They’re looking at a $60 million outlay for a single year. Too pricey – I think he’ll sign with a team with a payroll short of luxury tax territory.
This is why as much as a hard or hard-er cap makes sense, a better salary floor would be amazing also. I mean you can’t tell me teams like Pittsburgh, Washington, Sacramento, wouldn’t be better and more entertaining teams with this guy in the lineup. There’s legit contenders too that would benefit very much adding Pete to their every day lineup, obviously the Mets, you don’t spend damn near a billion on Soto to cheap out on the rest of your roster and half ass try for a championship. San Diego would be a great landing spot, Seattle could really use him. Idk if it’s the QO, the soft cap, a combination, but it’s a shame to see. I’d have loved to see him on the Yankees instead of hoping Goldy isn’t shot, I mean, the WS window is on borrowed time with judge and Cole getting older.
Players don’t want a hard cap, and for good reasons. They have no obligation to take less from another team just so “Baseball” seems better. It’s the nature of the CBA that younger players are bound to their teams, without the opportunity to fully monetize their performance, until most are around 30. Once “freed” they ought to be able to play where they want for whatever money they get offered.
@Mikenmn Well said, though it would be interesting to see the CBA land on some very different arrangements. Say every team gets 300 million BaseballBucks to play with each season.
Teams sell tickets, make profits, take losses with US dollars, but BaseballBucks create a level playing field where the small market teams have the same shot as the big market teams.
Each year a median salary is stated, and players get more money or less money compared to where they rank in various stats. Good players are well paid. Poor players hope they can hang onto a job. Etc.
Will it happen? Of course not. But it’s interesting. Teams that spend their BaseballBucks wisely put a winning team on the field and see the consequences in their revenue streams. Make dumb moves, win 75, and the fans stay away. Intelligence, foresight, and cleverness are rewarded. Short-term thinking is punished just as it is in contemporary MLB.
The difference is, you’re not punished or limited for being in a small market. Only for being ignorant and foolish.
Not many players in MLB have Petes Power. He’s being undervalued right now. 4 years for 100, 5 for 125 would be a steal and I’d be shocked if he didn’t get that. Seattle should be foaming at the mouth for Alonso at that price
Stop. Alonso’s lone skill, slugging, was .459, 40th in all of MLB—and that’s the ONLY thing at which he’s above average. It was just .011 points better than the SLG of the Mets’ 34 year old backup infielder.
He’s Dave Kingman. If anything he’s wildly overvalued particularly by fans. If he put up the same results only with more doubles and fewer HR, but generating the same runs and RBIs, he’d be in line for what everyone else with his profile rates to get: 3/50m to 3/60m .
Christian Walker put up more overall value in 2022-2024, same OPS+ the last two seasons, also in decline from his peak, but CW began from 5.0 bWAR in 2022 compared to Alonso’s 3.8 bWAR.—and w/ the same OPS+ the last 2 years Walker also won Gold Gloves, and Walker still only pulled down 3/60m.
Pete doesn’t deserve even that. The only reason we’re talking about ANY of this is because Pete’s lone skill is the wildly overvalued HR.
If Pete and his agent would stop sleeping outside of Stearn’s door and start reaching out to other teams he *might* find a team willing to take one of those short-term offers.
We know the Angels had at least a little interest. You may get team’s like the Tigers or Mariners interested on a 2 or 3 year deal, same for the Twins and now that the Reds have a tv deal in place they too may look to spend some money
Alonso to Red Sox
Bregman to Red Sox
Arenado and Contreras and Helsey to Red Sox
For bello, mayer , Campbell and Casas
“I’ll have what he’s having”
He will sign after spring training starts and hit for a sub .200 average for the season with 24 HR.
Every article should come with a poll
One year at the record AAv with a team option for 2/60 that he can opt out of after one year
Tell Pete, you have 24 hours to sign the 3 year deal if not they’re moving on already ! Move Vientos to 1b, Mauricio/ Iglesias to 3b, sign Santander to play LF moving Nimmo to CF, resign Winker to DH.
Sign Tanner Scott and Trevor Bauer. Trade McNeil and Marte for whatever, put Acuna at 2b.
He can’t move that quickly. Polar bears are big slow white animals who are graceful but lack the agility to move on a dime. Needs at least a week to maneuver the boat around.
Bauer isnt pitching for a major league club until Manfred no longer calls the shots.
Winker signed. Trade Marte and McNiel now.
Nobody wants them
They’re borderline useless
We’d be lucky to get a middle innings lefty for them and that’sif we paid off 80% of their salary
Yeah, Nimmo’s plantar fascitis in CF is brilliant.
Hand the kid who couldn’t crack an wRC+ of 80 in AA and AAA for the Mets the major league job. Those first 19 PA in MLB? The shizzz!
Bauer? Christ.
Iglesias is a FA.
Big Steve gave Scotty everything and more in the Soto deal. The man isn’t a doormat.
The problem with the Mets retaining him is the luxury tax they’d be paying.
It’s not a, say, 3/100 deal. It’s more like 3/190 because of the tax.
I thought the Mets would keep him going into the offseason, but now I believe Stearns is ready to roll with internal options.
I mean where else is he going to go?
well if the mets didn’t sign soto then maybe Pete would have e signed by now or it could be a boras thing where he tells his clients to wait it out.
He is welcomed here in Cincinnati
Tim, the Edge browser now blocks all your polls. I cannot even see them. No idea if they consider it an ad and no idea how to turn it off.
I always found the results of the polls to be enlightening. Can you post a link to the poll results in the articles for those of us that are forced to use Microsoft Edge as our browser?
“Meanwhile” has to START the sentence. It can’t come in the middle between commas.