Maybe Pete Alonso Should Leave Mets
Go back to October 3, 2024. It’s a deciding Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series. No one knew what was going to happen, but New York Mets fans were convinced Pete Alonso would not be a factor in the game.
Check that. Mets fans wouldn’t have been surprised by a big error or strikeout. We just didn’t think it’d be a big hit. Fortunately, Alonso proved us wrong.
Up until that point, Mets fans were very okay with Alonso walking in free agency, and they were increasingly vocal about it. It’s not thar anyone truly wanted Alonso gone. It’s just that it seemed to be the right time.
As luck would have it, Alonso would have a good postseason. He’d hit three more homers and was one of the driving forces of the Mets surprising run.
Behind that run was a lackluster 2024 season. He had a career low in homers, RBI, SLG, OPS+, and WAR for a full 162 game season. He also posted the second most strikeouts in his career.
The barrel rates and exit velocities are trending in the wrong direction. He had a career worst OAA. He’s become a worse base runner.
This wasn’t just the pressures of a contract year or wanting to do better than the Mets extension offer. This is a negative trend with Alonso having turned 30.
The calls to bring Alonso back started with a fervor when Juan Soto was signed. Somehow people believe Alonso, and only Alonso, can protect Soto in the lineup.
Put that nonsense aside. The question is what makes the most sense.
Short term, it’s worth keeping Alonso. Let’s see if the decline is a blip. It’s worth the investment. After all, Alonso plays everyday and works tirelessly to improve as a player.
Long term? That just seems like it’s a risk not worth taking.
Taking the fan perspective, this may be the exact right time for Alonso to leave. No, fans don’t want him to leave. Rather, it’s the right time.
No one. Absolutely no one wants to ever be in a position to boo Alonso or beg the Mets to release him. Alonso has been special to fans, and to be put in that position would be cruel.
That is the exact risk in giving Alonso a big deal. The risk is the decline is real, and the fans will want him gone.
If Alonso leaves today, everyone will have fond memories of Alonso. The recording setting rookie season. The Home Run Derbies. LFGM. The homer off Devin Williams.
It would be a fond farewell instead of a good riddance. To a certain extent, it’s what’s best for both sides. It may just be time for Alonso to leave even if it’s impossible to imagine Alonso in another uniform.
Perhaps there’s no love affair with his personality and that’s his undoing for a return. The power is likely to rebound but Alonso’s incidences of arrogance, followed largely by the burying of these things under the rug by media, fans, Pete and the team, could be playing a part. He selfishly self-promoted to get into the 2024 All Star Game for the home run derby, which ended opportunity for the more deserving Nimmo or Lindor to get selected as All stars. And then he beat his chest about it in triumph even though he knew his teammates were disappointed not getting in – which would have been Nimmo’s first ever, and Lindor’s first as Met.
He also proclaimed he was on pace in the final months of 2024 to hit 40 homers – when he clearly wasn’t.
Then remember a few years ago when Mets coughed up a division lead in August, and Pete chastised the fans for being wrong and misguided, essentially disloyal, while he proclaimed the playoffs as certainty. At the end of the season, the Mets went home with a record below .500 and we fans were very correct.
Then there’s the reported 7-year 158 mil extension he turned down in 2023, believing he was worth more. Now the Mets perhaps are returning the favor, unwilling to give anywhere near that and very willing it appears not to want him back enough to sign him now.
Alonso has history of denial, and at times, not being forthright…or considerate in the case of Nimmo and Lindor. He tries to come off as unassuming and humble sometimes, but there are times I question how forthright he’s being even when he says the right things. The difference between Nimmo and Alonso in authenticity when speaking with media, is notable in my view.
I actually agree with most of this, and I think it goes to my overriding point.
Right now, Alonso is beloved. If he signs an extension much of that will go away.
I agree those issues would go away but I also think those issues could be part of a broader reason the Mets really don’t seem like they want him back. If they truly did, they would raise their offer and he would be back unless Alonso/Boras have a floor on salary the Mets will not meet because the ask is absurd, like high 20’s or 30 mil per, if not more. They’ve offered 23.3. I think 25 mil average AAV is fair. I don’t know what Alonso is thinking that 23.3 isn’t fair even though he wants opt out (s). It’s a raise over 2024 salary and he should go out and prove the Mets wrong and then hit free agency again.
And I agree, if the Mets don’t view Alonso as career Met, maybe it’s better to make the break now. But another of his problems is that he’s run his mouth over the years about wanting players to break salary records and now he sees that at least in this offseason, it’s almost surely wont happen with him. Now he may embarrass himself should he sign for less than record breaker and perhaps this is delaying any decisions.
I think the Blue Jays are bona fide threat and I could see him signing opt out 5-year deal with them.