Imagine if Mets hadn't saved season — Pete Alonso trade rumors would be swirling
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso blows a kiss as he runs on his solo home run against the Minnesota Twins during the fourth inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Monday, July 29, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
On Sunday, Pete Alonso called the days and hours leading up to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline “really exciting.”
“Who knows what'll happen next?” Alonso said. “But hopefully we continue to add and keep continuing to play good baseball.”
Alonso said this after the Mets had lost their second straight to Atlanta to split a four-game series. Still, the Mets entered Monday’s home tilt against Minnesota holding the National League’s third and final wild-card spot.
The Mets have already added relievers Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek and outfielder Jesse Winker in pre-deadline deals as they make a move for a playoff push.
Who knows what else David Stearns has up his tailored sleeve? One thing we know he doesn’t have in mind is something that was on every Mets fan’s mind going into the season:
Trading away Alonso.
Imagine if the Mets hadn’t recovered from their 9-19 May to firmly enter the playoff picture. Whether to deal Alonso for prospects would have been the hottest of hot topics around Citi Field in late July.
Alonso, 29, will be a free agent after the season. Going into Monday, he was batting .244 with 21 home runs, 55 RBIs and a .789 OPS.
Not his best season, but the optimistic view is that he has a lot of big flies left in his bat for the stretch run — like the 409-foot leadoff home run he hit off the restaurant in the second deck in left in the fourth inning of Monday night's 15-2 win over the Twins.
That blast, which tied Francisco Lindor for the team lead, was good for the Mets' first run of the game and opened a six-run inning. The next six batters also reached against Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson and the Mets batted around to take a 6-1 lead. Alonso ended the inning by striking out.
After the season, Alonso will join a free-agent class that also should include power-hitting first basemen in Arizona’s Christian Walker and St. Louis’ Paul Goldschmidt.
Alonso’s value to the Mets is higher than it might be to another club because of how beloved he is among the fan base. But the Mets and Alonso’s agents (formerly Apex Baseball, now Scott Boras) haven’t agreed on his value enough to even come close to a contract extension over the last few years.
Stearns, the Mets’ first-year president of baseball operations, constructed this roster with the idea that if the Mets were lousy, he could unload veterans such as Luis Severino and Sean Manaea and Harrison Bader and J.D. Martinez at the deadline.
But Stearns hoped he had built a contender, and in today’s watered-down expanded playoff reality, he succeeded.
The Mets are one of nine teams to enter Monday within five games of the final NL wild-card spot.
On July 29, 2023, the Arizona Diamondbacks were not in playoff position. The Diamondbacks ended up earning a wild-card berth with 84 wins and made it to the World Series.
That’s the sweet and sticky nectar that executives from many major league clubs can’t help but sip as the deadline approaches. Why can’t we be this year’s Arizona?
“We’re playing really good baseball,” Alonso said. “Adding and winning, I think that’s going to be a great combination coming down the stretch here.”
Winker got his first start for the Mets on Monday. Maton and Stanek were acquired to buttress a bullpen that continues to get a makeover as the Mets designated Jake Diekman for assignment and called up lefthander Matt Gage.
When asked what he thought might happen before the deadline, Alonso — in his typically folksy, glass-way-more-than-half-full manner — said: “I really don’t know. I'm just focused on just coming to the yard and doing the best I can to help this team win. I mean, it's really awesome to have a couple of new faces because Phil's been throwing the ball really well. I know Ryne. Ryne, I’ve had plenty at-bats off him and he's got really nasty stuff, and Jesse’s a great ballplayer as well. I think that we made some great additions.”
Stearns will have a phone pressed to his ear likely right up until 6 on Tuesday night as the Mets search for more pitching. They’re probably done adding position players, but a starter to replace injured ace Kodai Senga could be the final cherry on top of Stearns’ first Mets trade deadline.
The Mets saving their season in June and July also saved Stearns from having to contemplate trading away Alonso at the deadline. And saved Mets fans from having to live through what would have been a very painful — but very real — possibility from a franchise that once traded away The Franchise.
Trading away Alonso wouldn’t have been as painful as the June 15, 1977 trade of Tom Seaver to the Reds. But it would have been hard to bear, for sure.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.