Mets' Pete Alonso calls new deal 'a bridge thing just to get to the next contract'

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — After whiffing on his first attempt to land a long-term contract, Pete Alonso is ready to dig back into the batter’s box and stare down another pitch.

Within a series of comments Monday about being excited to be “home” with the Mets and amped for a new year that begins with World Series aspirations, Alonso offered something of an analysis of what went wrong in his first free-agency go-around over the offseason: His recent performance and the qualifying offer depressed his market, he said.

And so he settled for a two-year, $54 million pact with the Mets that includes an opt-out clause after the first season. He is slated to become a free agent again after this season or the next one.

“It’s kind of like a bridge thing just to get to the next contract,” Alonso said of his current deal.

And if that next contract is of the long-term variety, and with the Mets?

“That’d be fantastic,” he said. “I’ve had a great first six seasons, and people have been so receptive. This has been home. That’d be fantastic. This is just such a great organization. There’s such great people here, not just coaches, players, but whether it be clubbies, support staff, analytics, it’s just a fantastic place. And yeah, that could be really awesome.”

Whether the Mets will share that desire — whenever the next negotiation arrives — is unclear. In recent months, neither they nor any other club seemed particularly interested in offering the sort of big contract that some envisioned for one of baseball’s top sluggers.

During a 20-minute news conference at Clover Park, his first public comments since agreeing with the Mets on Feb. 5 and ending a lengthy standoff, Alonso did his best to play down any disappointment in how it all unfolded.

Instead, he pointed to rational open-market thought processes that yielded the result.

“I didn’t have my best year. It’s no secret,” Alonso said. “I couldn’t expect something incredibly mega-long because I didn’t have my best year. In ’23, I didn’t have my best year, either. So the two years stacked up, I didn’t really play to my potential.

“Yet there’s some positive outcomes there. But can’t expect having a 10-year deal when I didn’t necessarily have my best two years in ’23 and ’24. Granted, definitely some positives, definitely did a lot of cool things in those years, but still. It is what it is.”

Alonso batted .217 with an .821 OPS and 46 home runs in 2023.

Those numbers were .240, .788 and 34 in 2024.

Then there was the qualifying offer. Because the Mets made him that one-year, $21.05 million proposition at the beginning of the offseason, any other club that signed him would have lost a draft pick as a result. With the ubiquitous focus in modern baseball on developing homegrown players, the qualifying-offer penalty gives teams pause when considering players in baseball’s middle class.

A player can receive the qualifying offer only once, however, so Alonso won’t have to deal with that variable next time.

“The qualifying offer definitely had an impact,” he said. “That’s one thing I didn’t really expect.”

As Alonso’s winter dragged on, things got awkward, with owner Steve Cohen lamenting in late January that the contract talks had been “exhausting.” A sit-down meeting in Tampa with Cohen, David Stearns and agent Scott Boras helped, Alonso said. And whatever tension existed during the process doesn’t change his relationship with the organization.

“This has been home and it is home,” Alonso said. “Everybody in this organization has believed in me since I was drafted. There’s a reason why I was drafted here and a reason why I’m still here. Ultimately, however negotiations go, you put all that aside.”

On his first day in camp, Alonso was the first one out for the Mets’ workout. He basked in the sun, sitting on the neatly manicured grass of a field he has played on for about a decade. When his teammates joined him, it was go time.

“It wasn’t easy. We didn’t know which way it was going to go. So I’m glad he made that decision [to return],” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It was good to see him walk in this morning, full uni. He walked by the office and I told him, ‘Man, that uni looks good on you.’  ”

Alonso said: “The most fulfilling part is just the story continuing.”

That’s true on an individual level, too. Alonso is 26 home runs shy of Darryl Strawberry’s franchise record (252).

“I haven’t given it any thought,” Alonso said.

He couldn’t keep a straight face.

“Yeah, of course, of course I’ve given it thought,” he said. “To be able to have that is special. Granted, if I stay healthy and go out and do it, if that were to happen, it’s something I’ve been thinking about. To be part of this franchise in that way, that would be really special. I can’t wait.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.