Everywhere you listen, they say Pete Alonso is a must sign for the New York Mets. The theory is he’s the big bat who can protect Juan Soto in the lineup.

The protection theory is all well and good, but we need to stop pretending Alonso is anywhere near the level of Aaron Judge. For the rest of his career, Soto will never have the level of protection he had with the New York Yankees.

Taking a step further, Alonso is in no way going to force teams to pitch to Soto. They’re not taking their chances with Soto to avoid Alonso.

Put another way, Soto is not your excuse for Alonso.

That’s not to say Alonso wouldn’t help this team. He’s a 40 HR bat who would slot in well in the lineup. With as studious as he can be, he may well benefit from being able to share notes with Soto.

That said, we can’t pretend Alonso is the only option remaining this offseason. For a point of reference, he’s coming off a 121 wRC+, and he had a 122 wRC+ the previous season.

Internally, Brandon Nimmo has a 119 wRC+. If teams are pitching around Soto to get to Nimmo, they know have a pitcher not throwing strikes facing a hitter with a great eye. Soto followed by Nimmo is an instant rally.

If you want the power quotient, look no further than Mark Vientos. He’s coming off a breakout season with a 133 wRC+. In fact, he was a better hitter than Alonso and may very well continue to be that for the next decade.

Of course, the Mets need someone at either first or third. Vientos would be better at first giving the Mets some other options.

Alex Bregman is still a free agent. Over the last three years, he has a 122 wRC+, and he’s a far superior defender. In an overall picture, the Mets don’t lose with the bat, and they get better in the field.

On the trade market, Nolan Arenado is still available. He also presents a superior glove, but he has slipped offensively with a 104 wRC+ over the past two years.

With Arenado, we’re obviously looking at Vientos and/or Nimmo as protection in the lineup for Soto. The Mets can also have the option to move Nimmo back to lead off with Francisco Lindor as Soto’s protection.

There’s also the possibility Francisco Álvarez emerges. Of course, while the Mets would like for that to happen, they can’t make hope their plan.

The plan should be something concrete. There are definite options beyond just Alonso.

For Alonso, the real question is what is he thinking? He turned down a seven year $158 million offer, and he doesn’t seem to be able to reach anything near that this offseason.

There’s also the rumored three year $90 million deal he turned down from the Mets. The discourse is he wants more years but also wants to remain a Met.

At some point, there’s just no avenue for Alonso to be a Met anymore, and maybe, it’s just pride. He can’t handle accepting fewer years, or he wanted better money. Who knows?

Whatever the case, he may feel it’s better to take a short term deal for a high AAV with another team. This way, he’s not taking less from the Mets that they once offered.

Put another way, the Mets need to prepare for Alonso being too frustrated and accepting a deal elsewhere. They need to fully assess all of their options and do what is best for 2025 and beyond.

Whatever the case, it’s not Alonso or bust. It’s whatever makes the Mets better. Fortunately, there are still plenty of good viable options.