Mets' Pete Alonso gets second chance to prove his worth

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — If Pete Alonso learned anything from his first sour taste of free agency, a no-doubt humbling experience in which he was fortunate enough to return to the Mets, it’s that he can’t afford to have another walk year like that.

He’s painfully aware of the consequences now. Last season, he didn’t know for sure what awaited him on the other side.

Obviously, it was a disappointing year for him personally, as he hit a career-low 34 homers and saw his other numbers continue to trend downward for a second straight year. Then again, since his Opening Day promotion in 2019, Alonso’s 226 home runs were second only to Aaron Judge.

In the open market, all it takes is one team, and Alonso got his one team. He just didn’t realize it would be the only one.

Luckily for him, that club was the Mets, who — given their history with the homegrown Alonso and a mega-billionaire owner in Steve Cohen who recognizes when it’s worth a few extra bucks to keep the fans happy — chose to throw him a $30 million life preserver.

Granted, that’s a ton of money, enough to make him the highest-paid first baseman in the sport for this season. Relatively speaking, however, it couldn’t have been a pleasant process for Alonso, who was left hanging until the first week of February, on the brink of spring training, before Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns closed the Hail Mary deal with a face-to-face meeting in Tampa, the first baseman’s hometown.

Based on the agonizing timetable alone, we know it couldn’t have been a joyride for Alonso. After the Mets’ first full-squad workout on Monday, when he was asked about the negotiations, the way he described the talks, it sounded like someone trying to put a positive spin on root canal.

Maybe that isn’t the entire motivation for Alonso to go out and have a monster season, but if it’s not No. 1 — we’re willing to concede a World Series title for the top spot — then it’s not any lower than second. The question now is how he will respond to another round of walk-year pressure so soon after stumbling through the first try.

With that in mind, I asked him Monday if he is better equipped to succeed after already going through it once. The mindset, the adjustments, etc. The experience has got to help, right?

“I think for me the biggest difference between last year and this year is I’ve worked a lot on certain things, like some swing mechanics that kind of persisted, bad habits that leaked out during the game,” he said. “I didn’t have my best year — it’s no secret.”

Alonso does have somewhat of a safety net. After this season’s record salary, the Mets have guaranteed him another $24 million in 2026 if he doesn’t opt out. At age 30, however, Alonso isn’t banking on that. These are the prime earning years of his career, and it’s up to him to either convince the Mets to invest in him again longer term or sign elsewhere.

The Mets not only bailed out Alonso with the lucrative prove-it contract but have set him up for a potential rainmaker season by bringing in Juan Soto, who should multiply his opportunities for run production. There are other factors in Alonso’s favor, too. The Mets will be starting this season with MVP runner-up Francisco Lindor in the leadoff spot — he didn’t get there until mid-May a year ago — along with having dangerous thumper Mark Vientos from Opening Day rather than late April.

Those dynamics should help Alonso, who presumably will bat third between Soto and Brandon Nimmo against a typical righty starter. Ultimately, however, he’ll need to shrug off whatever mental chains were holding him back last season, and there’s no way the walk-year pressure didn’t impact his performance to some degree.

“I didn’t really play to my potential,” Alonso said.

Alonso shifted to Boras-speak in saying how his $30 million salary pushed the market forward for the 30-year-old first basemen crowd. He’s not wrong about that. Duly noted. But that was the highlight from Monday’s 20-minute session with the media at Clover Park. It was tough to glean any other positives, as Alonso was asked a number of questions that were uncomfortable to answer.

To his credit, he didn’t dismiss them outright. He could have expressed a desire to focus on the future rather than relive his winter of discontent. Instead, he abruptly shifted gears on a few answers before things got too dark, such as his response to Cohen’s pointed remarks at the Amazin’ Day fanfest, at which the owner described the negotiations with Alonso’s camp as “exhausting” and “worse” than the talks leading up to Soto’s $765 million contract. Alonso wasn’t sure what to do with that grenade.

“We were good, we were all good,” he said. “I guess that means we’re .  .  . ah .  .  . oh, well .  .  . sorry, Steve.”

Cohen is less interested in an apology than a good return on his investment, and he was genuinely happy to see Alonso back in a Mets uniform as he watched Monday’s workout. On this sunny Florida morning, everyone seemed ready to put the winter angst behind them, but it’s probably going to stick with Alonso for a while.

There’s only one way past it for him, and that won’t start until he steps to the plate again for real.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.