Peter Alonso
In the end, the New York Mets never walked away from Pete Alonso. They offered him one of two deals allowing Alonso to pick one.
Rather than take the three year $71 million deal, Alonso chose the two year $54 million deal with an opt out after the first year.
Looking at it, it’s effectively a one year deal unless Alonso completely craters. Alonso gets $30 million the first year, and he can repeat this process again.
We know Alonso already bet on himself once and lost badly. That seven year $158 deal is gone forever. Maybe if he’s great this year, he could beat it.
Here’s the thing, the 2025 season will likely be it for the Mets and Alonso.
We already know the Mets were actively pursuing Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. on the trade market. They’ve always been pursuing him.
They almost signed him in international free agency long ago, and instead settled for his cousin Gregory Guerrero. During the last IFA, they signed his half-brother.
The worst kept secret in baseball is the Mets will be all out for Guerrero like they were for Juan Soto this offseason. It’s the right decision for the Mets as Guerrero is younger and better than Alonso.
With Guerrero not available for now, the Mets opted for Alonso. It was either him or move Mark Vientos to first so they could pursue Alex Bregman. That plan never materialized, and in reality, was not seriously pursued.
The Mets are giving Alonso the chance to surpass Darryl Strawberry for the team’s all-time HR record. With Alonso behind by 26, he should move to the franchise lead.
Mostly, the Mets are giving Alonso the chance to win the World Series. This should be the best Mets team of his career. If he repeats his postseason heroics, the Mets just might win in 2025.
The Mets are also allowing Alonso to rebuild his value with a safety net. They’re giving him a large pay raise in 2025 to allow him to save some face.
Mostly, the Mets sent a message about the type of organization this is. They could’ve easily walked away and left Alonso in a lurch. Instead, they showed their loyalty and willingness to take care of their own. That probably goes a long way in the future as they pursue other free agents.
Ultimately, the 2025 season should be the last one for Alonso and the Mets. Hopefully, Alonso has a better contract year this time. More than that, let’s hope he leaves with a World Series.
Multiple things can be true at once. In no way should anyone expect Jose Iglesias to repeat his 2024 season or come even close.
That said, the Mets should bring him back for the 2025 season.
Iglesias was a shocking revelation in 2024. In 85 games, he hit .337/.381/.448. That was good for a career best 137 wRC+.
Most of his damage came against left-handed pitching. Over 101 plate appearances, he had an astounding 184 wRC+ against left-handed pitching.
It’s a small sample size for sure, but Iglesias has always fared well against left-handed pitching with a 110 wRC+ over his career.
It’s an important consideration with Jeff McNeil struggling against left-handed pitching in his career. McNeil had a 78 wRC+ against lefties last year and a 104 over the past three years.
Iglesias has been better against left-handed pitching than McNeil. Having both allows Carlos Mendoza to have a platoon and/or late game flexibility. He can find the matchups he wants by having both players.
There’s also the Pete Alonso factor. Right now, Alonso is unsigned, and the way it looks now, he will not be a Met in 2025. As part of the planning for that potentially happening, Mark Vientos will likely move to first.
If the Mets cannot make another move, it would mean yet another chance for Brett Baty. If he fails, maybe Ronny Mauricio, who is returning from a torn ACL. Maybe not.
Whatever the case, Iglesias is a nice insurance policy. He can be a right-handed bat who shields the young players from the tough lefties. He could also take over at third if needed.
Iglesias has always been a very good fielder. He can absolutely handle third as a stop gap until the Mets add someone at the trade deadline. If Iglesias hits somewhere close to a 100 wRC+, he could hold the position all year.
There’s also his presence in the clubhouse. He was a very well liked player by teammates and fans alike. The OMG song and sign was a massive part of the 2024 success story.
It wouldn’t feel right seeing him taking that to another team. It’s forever part of Mets lore, and the good vibes there should carry forward for at least another season.
If Alonso returns or leaves, theres a role here for Iglesias. The Mets would benefit from his presence and more OMG. Iglesias was a significant part of the success story of the 2024 season and can be that again in 2025.
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.
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.
The St. Louis Cardinals are doing a “reset” and looking to part with some of their biggest contracts. As part of that, they’re looking to trade Nolan Arenado, who has named six teams he’s be willing to be traded.
One of those teams is the New York Mets. There’s a lot to consider when contemplating such a trade.
First, Arenado has three years $64 million remaining on his deal for whoever obtains him. The three years are broken down as $27 million (2025), $22 million (2026), and $15 million (2027). That’s not an onerous contract for the Mets.
Addressing Pete Alonso for a second, he turned down a 7 year $158 deal ($22.6 million AAV). As such, he’s likely going to carry a higher cost over the next three years than Arenado.
In theory, executing an Arenado trade would be cheaper than re-signing Alonso. As a result, the Mets could free up money to do other things like sign Sean Manae and rebuild their bullpen (again).
Before getting there, let’s analyze what Arenado is and is not; what he would do for the Mets.
First and foremost, Arenado brings defense. No, he’s not the otherworldly defender he was three years ago. He’s regressed into merely being ONLY the third best defensive third baseman in the game.
That addresses a major problem the Mets had. Mark Vientos’ bat was a revelation which took the Mets to new heights. His glove was better than advertised but still not good.
Vientos was the fifth worst defensive third baseman. Moving him to first already improves the Mets defensively. Replacing him with Arenado is like going from the discovery of the wheel directly to a race car.
Arenado and Francisco Lindor would immediately become the best defensive left side of the infield in the game. It could rival Rey Ordoñez and Robin Ventura. It would be that great.
A defensive upgrade like that makes the pitching staff better. With David Stearns optimizing run prevention, this would seem like the perfect move.
It’s far from a no brainer. After all, if you’re going to part ways with Alonso, you better be sure it’s the right decision.
The biggest hesitation with Arenado is the bat. He will be 34 on Opening Day, and he’s clearly in decline.
In 2022, Arenado posted a career best 149 wRC+. In the subsequent two years, he’s posted a 106 and a 102.
He’s coming off a year with a career worst in nearly every offensive metric. He barely barreled any pitches (3.2%), and he had a career low exit velocity. Both appear part of a career decline.
Simply put, he’s not hitting the ball hard anymore. He’s a league average hitter, and in all likelihood, he will soon be a below average hitter.
Now, Arenado’s defense is at a point where it can offset the dip in offense. He will likely be a productive player, and with his salaries deceasing, he should fulfill his contract.
Still, Alonso is a far superior hitter. In a down year, he had a 122 wRC+. He still has game changing power as evidenced in the NL Wild Card Series. Part of the issue for the 30 year old is how many more years he has as a premier slugger.
In an ideal world, the Cardinals would take back Starling Marte in a trade. However, it’s hard to see the Cardinals taking back a 36 year old right fielder making $20.75 million.
That could be the case even if the Mets were also willing to take on Steven Matz and his $12.5 million contract. As an aside, Matz would help in the bullpen.
If the deal makes sense, the Mets should go get Arenado. He will make them better. He probably raises the ceiling more than Alonso would. That all said, if the Mets go this route they better be right.
The New York Mets landed Juan Soto, and it just seems like everything got crazier. The starting pitching market is starting to heat up, and the team is going to be pushed to sign Sean Manae or look elsewhere.
If not, Manae, then who? Walker Buehler? Wait out Roki Sasaki?
Oh, and by the way, are the Mets going to be able to keep Pete Alonso?
While this is all happening, the Mets have yet to address their biggest need – the bullpen.
The bullpen was easily the Mets biggest weakness in 2024. It almost cost the team a chance of being competitive, and later, it almost cost them a chance of making the postseason.
By and large, the biggest disparity between the Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers was their respective bullpens. The Dodgers rode theirs to a World Series, and they annihilated the Mets bullpen en route to winning.
As we know, the Mets are set at closer with Edwin Díaz. Now, they need to work on building the bridge to him.
Ryne Stanek served that role extremely well in the postseason. He had only allowed one earned over his first 5.2 innings, and he had that incredible 2.1 inning appearance in Game 5 of the NLCS picking up the win.
He’s won a World Series with the 2022 Houston Astros. Overall, he has a 2.89 postseason ERA going 4-0 with a 0.821 WHIP and a 9.3 K/9.
He’s a clutch postseason reliever. For Mets fans of old, it’s reminiscent of Dennis Cook. With the goal being to win the World Series, you want Stanek in your bullpen.
Now, the regular season has been a different story. Truth be told, he had a bad 2024, and that included his 6.06 ERA in 17 appearances with the Mets.
Still, he is a quality reliever with a career 114 ERA+. Also, as noted by Eno Sarris of The Athletic, Stanek is one of the best relievers available per that Stuff+ metric.
As noted by Fangraphs, Stuff+ “aims to capture the “nastiest” pitches in baseball, using a decision tree-based model to capture the nonlinear relationships that exist across release points, velocities, pitch movement, and more.” Read the article for more detail.
This is again where Jeremy Hefner factors into the equation. He’s long been a good pitching coach, but this past season was likely his best. He did wonders across the pitching staff. That included his work with Stanek.
Stanek has always had great stuff. He’s at his best in the big moments. He’s shown he can handle the stage. He’s everything the Mets need and want, and the team should make sure to keep him.
There was a time WFAN was the best talk radio station in New York. Probably America. We can pinpoint different moments it started to fall apart.
Dom Imus’ Rutgers scandal probably led to where we are. That was a factor in Mike and the Mad Dog eventually splitting. It brought on Craig Carton which began the tone of the station.
Gone was pure sports talk. Now, it was sensationalism. Pure shtick replaced debate and discussion. It’s been all downhill from that.
That brings us to McPherson. If you’ve heard him, he’s a troll. Mets fans are his favorite targets, but in sum, he’s a troll.
Then, there’s Jon Heyman. He’s an easy target with his typo ridden tweets. He’s seen as a Scott Boras lackey sending out info to help give Boras leverage in negotiations.
Of course, that could also be seen as the strength of Heyman. He has a good relationship with the best agent in sports who represents the best players – players like Pete Alonso and Juan Soto.
With Soto on the verge of getting a record setting deal, everyone is eagerly anticipating to see where he will sign. With Heyman being the reporter with the pipeline to Boras, everyone wants to talk to him.
For his part, Heyman hasn’t been discerning. He’s been willing to talk to everyone and anyone. That includes talking to McPherson on the Friday overnight.
The professionalism is commendable. If only that was reciprocated by McPherson, who probably doesn’t get this caliber of guest (don’t bother correcting me, I’m not interested in listening more than I’ve had to find out I’m wrong).
For his part, Heyman tried laughing along with the “joke” he was on the take with Boras. He tried rolling with the punches over Arson Judge. The thing is McPherson didn’t know when to quit.
That’s probably wrong. He likely knew what he was doing. He didn’t intend to inform his listeners about Soto, and to a lesser extent, Alonso.
Nothing on new Mets starter Clay Holmes. This was just an exercise in getting Heyman riled up and losing his cool. To that, McPherson got what he wanted with Heyman hanging up saying he was quitting WFAN forever.
It’s not too dissimilar from Carl Banks doing the same with Sal Licata. Where there’s a lack of knowledge, there’s pure shock value even if it comes at the expense of the dignity of the guest.
Sure enough, while most were coming down on McPherson for his lack of professionalism, fellow WFAN host Greg Gianotti came swooping in to McPherson’s defense:
I guess the purposeful misspelling was supposed to be funny. In reality, it’s the perfect way to sum it all up. Failed shtick designed for shock value that’s not funny not matter how desperate it tries.
This is a far cry for what WFAN used to be. No sports were discussed. Just unfunny trolling. It’s all just lame. We deserve better, but sadly, nothing will change.
Old friend, Michael Mayer of MMO and MMN, reports the New York Mets have reached out to Willy Adames to see if he would switch to third base for the New York Mets. For his part, Adames seems amenable to the switch.
Adames, 29, is in the prime of his career. Over the past four seasons, he’s been a 3+ WAR player, and he’s had a 119 wRC+ or better in three of the past five years.
Looking deeper at the stats at Baseball Savant, his strikeout rate has been steadily decreasing while his walk rate has been improving. His exit velocities and barrels are consistent with his sweet spot rates improving.
Defensively, he can still play short. Thats important because as we saw with Francisco Lindor’s back, it’s good to have a real backup shortstop option. Being fair, Luisangel Acuña did a great job, but if he’s going to be an everyday player for the Mets, he’s obviously going to need a position change.
That said, we did see Adames go from a 10 and 16 OAA at SS to a 1 in 2024. That was more in line with the negative OAAs he posted with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Looking at the whole picture, he has a strong arm and moves well to his right. That would allow Lindor to play up the middle more to compensate for his not moving as well up the middle and his weaker arm for the position.
Having Adames and Lindor on the left side of the infield promises to be the Mets best left side of the infield since it was manned by Rey Ordoñez and Robin Ventura. This helps with run prevention and makes their pitching staff stronger.
This also improves the defense by moving Mark Vientos from third to first. Even with Vientos’ defensive strides, he was still a -5 OAA there. Truth is, long term, he needs to move to first.
Yes, this would all hurt because it means losing Pete Alonso. However, when all is said and done, the Mets infield and team is better with Adames over Alonso. That’s not said with any enthusiasm, and it’s still true even if it will be a deeply unpopular opinion.
Again, if you want to blame someone here, blame the Wilpons. Alonso should’ve been a Met in 2025.
Stearns is going to value run prevention. Adames does that far better than Alonso. Adames’ 119 wRC+ will offset losing Alonso’s 122. Truth is, Adames is the better and more complete player.
The Mets should forward and sign Adames because it makes the Mets better. It moves them closer to winning the World Series. Adames is the better option as much as it hurts to admit.
Back in 2019, the Wilpons hired Brodie Van Wagenen as GM. Knowing what we know now, their previous financial situation was going to force them to sell, and Van Wagenen’s directive was apparently to get the Wilpons a World Series trophy with zero regard to the future of the franchise.
During this time, Van Wagenen strip mined the Mets farm system. Most of the trades made zero to no sense. Who else remembers the Keon Broxton trade?
Worse than any of that was putting Pete Alonso on the Opening Day roster.
We heard the platitudes. You do the right thing. You can’t risk losing games in April while Alonso is in Vegas. Your owe your fans the best possible roster with the best 25 players.
It sounded good, but like most things with the Wilpons, it was pure BS. They were lying, and they didn’t care about the long term ramifications because they wouldn’t own the team then.
Yes, Alonso being up at the beginning of the season allowed Alonso to break Aaron Judge’s rookie home run record. It certainly helped Alonso win Rookie of the Year.
Make no mistake. This all meant a lot to Mets fans at the time. Alonso deserved all of it. Still, it made little to no sense.
Remember at that trade deadline, the Wilpons (shockingly) went cheap and did not address the bullpen or the bench. The Washington Nationals would, and they would beat out the Mets for the Wild Card en route to winning the World Series.
The Mets were “all-in” when it came to Robinson Cano. They were all-in when it came to giving up a year of control to Alonso. They weren’t all-in when it came to finishing the roster at the trade deadline.
Those two weeks are bow proving far more damaging than we ever could have imagined.
Right now, Alonso should be locked in for the 2025 season as the first baseman. They could’ve had the luxury of having him securely in place as the Mets worked around the edges to make this a World Series contending roster.
Instead, they have to address Alonso and his power production while sureing up their rotation, bullpen, and outfield.
It’s not like the Steve Cohen led Mets haven’t tried. They offered Alonso a seven year $158 million extension. Alonso, now represented by Scott Boras, turned it down.
The Mets tried, but Alonso wanted more. There is no blame here on either side. That goes double with Alonso, who will likely only get one true crack at free agency.
Just remember, the Mets are in this spot because of the Wilpons. Instead of Alonso and Juan Soto, the Mets may be in an either/or situation. Worse yet, they may not sign either player.
This has also created the unfortunate circumstance of having to debate the merits of keeping Alonso. It feels dirty and wrong to point out he’s lost some exit velocity and barrels.
He’s a player who is leaving his peak, and you don’t want to be on the hook for big dollars. Worse yet, with his defense, he will be a DH sooner rather than later. That will mean big bucks to a reluctant DH who may not be anywhere near this caliber of power hitter midway through his next deal.
The best thing for the Mets was to keep Alonso another year and see if he rebounded from the 2024 regular season. They needed to see if he was the player reborn in the postseason.
https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1842019321888821370?s=46&t=C-cAjvMjkzGA7iCb6Xr6ng
Sadly, that won’t happen because the Wilpons tried to mortgage everything to win the 2019 World Series. However, they were too over leveraged to actually accomplish that goal.
Now, we are pondering life without Alonso. We’re pondering if it makes sense to keep him. We’re pondering if the money for him is better spent on other players.
We’re doing all of this when Alonso should be a Met in 2025. However, he’s not because of another Wilpon grift. Hopefully, this will be the very last time the Wilpons can ever harm this franchise, its players, or the fans ever again.
When looking at the New York Mets free agents, it’s obvious they need to push to keep Sean Manae. Of course, fans want to keep Pete Alonso.
However, when you break it all done, Jesse Winker might just be the most important free agent to re-sign this offseason.
Winker has had an interesting relationship with this franchise. First, he was an irritant. Then, he joined a Mets franchise he said he long wanted to play for. He following a massively disappointing post-trade deadline regular season with a great postseason.
With the postseason, we saw Winker slot nicely in as a platoon DH option. It was from that position, he did the most damage as a Met including his NLDS homer against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Looking at this Mets team, there isn’t a pure DH option available. Digging deeper into free agency, there isn’t a clear cut better option than Winker, and no, we’re not going to consider that horrendous human being, Marcell Ozuna, as an option.
Winker, 31, has been a solid hitter and on-base machine in his career. Over his eight year career, he has a 121 wRC+ and a .367 OBP. In many ways, you could describe him as Brandon Nimmo lite.
He’s at the tail end of his prime. After a troubling decline in his metrics the previous few seasons, he rebounded in 2024 showing an improved exit velocity, hard hit percentage, and barrel rate.
Mostly, with the Mets, he brings something different to the table. He brings an edge they haven’t had in years, and he has a way of getting under everyone’s skin the way he used to irritate Mets fans in previous seasons.
Going back to Nimmo for a moment, the Mets do need other everyday outfield options to help keep him healthy. For his part, Winker can play left field but can’t everyday. In all honesty, he’s one of the worst corner outfielders in the game as evidenced by the Mets keeping a hobbled Nimmo in left over him.
That said, it’s a 162 game season. The Mets can find spots for Winker to give Nimmo a day. There’s certainly value in that.
The other downside is he’s really just a platoon option at DH with a career 88 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. However, when looking at the Mets roster, that might be a benefit for them.
Starling Marte is 36, struggles against right-hand pitching, and might actually be a worse fielder than Winker. The Mets always need Mark Vientos in the lineup, but they don’t need his glove in the field. Francisco Álvarez can benefit from more days off behind the plate while getting consistent plate appearances.
All told, whether or not the Mets sign Juan Soto, Winker is a fit at DH. The team can use his bat from the left side at DH, his flair for the dramatic, and his edge. He’s the rare player built to thrive in New York, and the Mets should work quickly to keep him here.