Mets have a fast-approaching deadline to decide on Pete Alonso
Pete Alonso of the Mets reacts after his first-inning three-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series at Citi Field on Oct. 18, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Mets have a deadline when it comes to re-signing Pete Alonso.
It’s not whatever artificial deadline the club sets as part of its negotiations.
It’s not when spring training opens with pitchers and catchers reporting to Port St. Lucie, Florida, on Feb. 10.
It’s not Opening Day in Houston on March 27.
It’s Jan. 25, when the Mets hold a fanfest at Citi Field called “Amazin’ Day.”
If Alonso still is unsigned on Jan. 25 — or if the Mets let him sign elsewhere in the next few days without a quality backup plan — the beloved Polar Bear could be an unwanted focus of what is supposed to be a celebration of the amazin’ 2024 Mets and the promise of the Juan Soto-led 2025 team.
The Mets can’t allow that to happen. It’s time to step up and bring him home — or flat-out announce that the club has moved on, walling off Alonso’s return by signing or trading for another slugger.
Jesse Winker, who agreed to terms with the Mets on Thursday, doesn’t count. Signing him doesn’t stop the Mets from signing Alonso.
Signing Anthony Santander or Alex Bregman? That would mean the end of Alonso’s tenure. Even adding reliever Tanner Scott for big bucks probably would mean the Mets have moved on from Alonso because of the financial outlay it would take to land the talented lefty.
It has been obvious for two years now that the Mets and Alonso don’t agree on his value. Alonso reportedly turned down a seven-year, $158 million extension in 2023 that was offered by the Billy Eppler regime. Eppler is gone, replaced by cool-headed David Stearns, and so is that offer.
Recent reports have the club standing firm at something like a three-year, $90 million contract, with opt-outs and enough bells and whistles for Alonso and agent Scott Boras to claim victory when basic math would call it a defeat.
But most Mets fans don’t care how much cabbage ends up in Alonso’s bank account. They just want him back, even if the analytics say he’s a slow-footed, defensively challenged, aging 30-year-old first baseman whose numbers declined in his walk year. That profile is not what teams are looking to spend on, obviously, or Alonso would be swimming in offers.
The problem for Boras in what has been a robust first- base market this offseason has been to identify that one club that sees Alonso for more than his power numbers, for more than his declining value, and sees one of the best teammates in baseball who plays every single day, who treasures being a big-leaguer and who, with the Mets’ season on the line in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series in Milwaukee, hit one of the most clutch home runs in franchise history.
Oh, right, there is a team that should value all that: The Mets.
Add in what Alonso means to the fan base and it seems a bit cruel that the club is taking such a hard line. The Mets all of a sudden have a budget? But only when it comes to Alonso?
Mets fans fell in love with Alonso’s earnest, goofy personality, and perhaps fans of the Blue Jays — the hottest non-Mets team with Alonso interest, according to media reports on Thursday — or Mariners or Giants or some other heretofore unknown suitor would fall in love with him, too.
But Alonso is a Met. It’s probably why he’ll end up swallowing his pride and taking the final, best offer to remain in Flushing.
It would behoove the Mets to get this resolved before fans swarm Citi Field on Jan. 25 for the club’s first fanfest since 2020.
General admission tickets to the event are sold out. There are a limited number of VIP tickets available at $950 a pop.
Along with the meet-and- greets and autograph signings and other events with Mets players past and present (lineup to be announced), the Mets plan to serve up heaping helpings of goodwill to their fans, who are beyond thrilled about the team’s remarkable playoff run last season and the signing of Soto to a record $765 million contract.
Why spoil all that with questions such as “When are you signing Pete?” or “Why didn’t you sign Pete?”
Mets owner Steve Cohen — who said he plans to attend “Amazin’ Day” — hasn’t posted on X since Dec. 14, when he thanked fans for buying 2025 tickets as if they were going out of style after the Soto signing.
Of the 2,700 responses to that post, a good number of them were along the lines of one user who wrote, “Please sign Pete to a nice extension! He needs to be a Met For Life!!!” followed by four polar bear emojis.
Another X poster told me on Thursday that he will not attend a single Mets game this season if the club doesn’t sign Alonso.
When it comes to Alonso, the people clearly have spoken.
In the next few days, we’ll find out if the Mets are listening. If not, they should expect to get an earful on Jan. 25.
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.
