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The New York Mets made an attempt to extend their superstar slugger last season, but were unsuccessful.
According to Joel Sherman of The New York Post, the Mets offered first baseman Pete Alonso a deal hovering around seven-years for $158 million before the trade deadline last season. Alonso turned down the contract offer, and decided to follow in New York Yankees superstar outfielder Aaron Judge’s footsteps by betting on himself in a walk-year, as Judge did in 2022 before landing a nine-year, $360 million deal last year to remain in the Bronx for the foreseeable future.
Inside the Mets reported last September the Mets and Alonso were close financially, but differed on the length of the contract. The source also reported Alonso’s side of the negotiation was seeking a 10-year term length – three years longer than the offer the organization presented.
Sherman recently reported the details on Alonso’s contract offer in a column for The Post. He revisited the topic with fellow New York Post insider Jon Heyman while interviewing former Mets team president and GM Sandy Alderson in the latest episode of their baseball podcast The Show.
Alonso left his agency in the offseason and hired Boras Corp to represent him, as super agent Scott Boras comes along with a highly esteemed résumé when it comes to getting his clients life changing contracts.
Alonso is shooting to become one of, if not the highest paid first basemen in the history of the game, and no slugger has hit more home runs or driven in more runs since he entered the league in 2019.
The 29-year-old has made it clear that his goal is to be a Met for life and he is hoping to go down as the best player in franchise history. Should he stick around in Queens for the long haul, he will likely become the all-time home run leader for the Mets, as he currently sits in fourth place beind Darryl Strawberry (252), David Wright (242) and Mike Piazza (220).
Alonso is off to a bit of a slow start this season through 41 games, slashing .226/.309/.452 with a .761 OPS, nine home runs and 22 RBIs. However, he is beginning to heat up as of late, hitting .333/.385/.685 with a 1.070 OPS and a homer in his past seven games.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso “isn’t too likely to be traded,” according to the New York Post‘s Jon Heyman.
“That doesn’t mean the Mets won’t listen again, though,” Heyman added.
Alonso is slashing .218/.309/.445 through 31 games in his sixth season with the Mets.
The three-time All-Star is playing on a one-year, $20.5 million deal and is currently set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2025.
Heyman’s statement slightly walks back another report from him earlier this week, in which he said there was a “decent chance… not more than 50 percent” that Alonso would be traded.
Spotrac pegs the 29-year-old’s market value at an eight-year, $263 million contract, worth an average annual value of $32.9 million per year.
Alonso is a reliable home run hitter, with 40 homers in each of his past two seasons. He has eight already in 2024.
A long-term contract could raise some concerns as to his overall consistency at the plate, however, especially after he finished the 2023 season with a career-low .217 batting average. Through 31 games of the 2024 season, his strikeout rate as increased to 22.9 percent, his highest in three seasons, per Baseball Savant.
The question of what Alonso’s next contract will look like might not matter for the Mets until the offseason, however. For now, what matters is that they are winning.
The Mets currently sit above .500, if barely, with a 16-15 record. They are five games back of the NL East lead and remain well in contention for a ticket to the postseason.
If the Mets are still competing for a spot by the time the July 30 trade deadline rolls around, the club could decide to stick with Alonso even at risk of losing him for nothing. After missing the postseason despite a historically high payroll in 2023, this team seems likely to attempt a run if given any opportunity.
