Shop Pete Alonso? If the Mets want to shake up things, they should consider it at the MLB trade deadline
New York Mets designated hitter Pete Alonso pumps his fist as he rounds the bases after hitting a two-run homer against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field on Sunday. Credit: Brad Penner
If the Mets are going to become sellers before the Aug. 1 trade deadline — as the standings suggest they should — it might be time to take a long, hard look at what they actually have to sell.
Much of the early speculation has centered around big fish such as Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander and useful pieces such as David Robertson, Tommy Pham, Mark Canha and Daniel Vogelbach.
Here’s a name that should come up seriously in trade talks if the Mets want to get back a franchise-altering haul: Pete Alonso.
Before you gasp too loudly, no one is saying the Mets should trade Alonso.
Just that they have to consider it.
No, more than consider it. The Mets have to initiate the conversation. They aren’t in a position to wait for the phone to ring.
General manager Billy Eppler should take the opportunity now to dial up some of his deal-making brethren and find out what the market would be for a 28-year-old slugger who on Sunday was named to his third All-Star team and hit his 25th home run, who is the only active player other than Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to hit more than 50 home runs in a season, who is a two-time Home Run Derby champion, and who does not have a lucrative, long-term contract weighing him down.
Alonso has a $14.5 million salary for this season and will be a free agent after next season. Don’t you find it odd that with owner Steve Cohen throwing around megabucks at the likes of Scherzer and Verlander and last offseason signing Jeff McNeil to a $50 million extension, there hasn’t been a peep about a long-term deal for Alonso?
Alonso is as close as the Mets have to a captain. He’s the face of the franchise in a way the two Hall of Fame-bound pitchers will never be. Scherzer and Verlander are hired guns. Alonso is a homegrown Met who talks orange and blue, sometimes profanely, but the fans love him for being who he is.
So why doesn’t he already have a long-term contract? Something doesn’t compute there.
What would the Mets’ goals be if they do sell off before the deadline? With Cohen’s deep pockets, it’s not to save money. It would be to acquire prospects, as they did last month when they sent Eduardo Escobar and $5 million to the Angels for two young pitchers.
Paying down part of Escobar’s salary allowed the Mets to get better prospects in return. But with Scherzer and Verlander each making $43 million per year this season and next (Scherzer has a player option for that much), it’s going to be harder for the Mets to sweeten the pot with just cash in a deal for one of the hurlers.
So sweeten it with Pete.
Let’s say Eppler calls the Astros. The defending World Series champions paid Verlander $25 million last season, but $43 million is too much for mere mortal non-Cohen baseball budgets. The Astros have suffered multiple starting pitching injuries this season, putting a repeat in jeopardy.
Maybe they’d take back last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner for another run if the Mets paid part of his salary. But what kind of prospects would the Mets get in return? Probably not that great.
That’s where Alonso comes in: The Mets send Alonso and Verlander to Houston and take back disappointing first baseman Jose Abreu, who has struggled in his first season in Houston after signing a three-year, $58.5 million deal.
So the Mets are giving the Astros an ace pitcher and one of the top home run hitters in baseball and taking back what has so far been a bad contract to help even out the money.
In return, Eppler picks the best of the best of the Houston farm system and says, “I’ll take that one and that one and . . . ”
It’s not entirely out of bounds for the Mets, a team that traded franchise superstar Tom Seaver to the Reds in 1977 for four players.
This, of course, is just one idea. Once the Mets let other clubs know Alonso could be had — could be attached to a Verlander or Scherzer deal — then the real negotiating can begin.
You don’t know if you don’t ask.
Cohen talked last week about the need to improve the farm system and said his wild spending is not “sustainable.” He also lamented how long it takes to develop prospects.
So if the Mets are going to trade for the best prospects, they’re going to have to make their best offer. And that offer has to include Pete Alonso.
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.
