The New York Mets won the Pete Alonso sweepstakes last offseason, but the slugger opted out of his contract, so the Mets will need to win it again if they want him back in Queens for the next few years.
But the Mets will certainly have some competition to re-sign Alonso this winter. He’s coming off a career year and seems to be as good as ever right now.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel recently projected Alonso would sign a huge four-year, $110 million deal in free agency.
“There’s some of the Schwarber logic here — everyone in baseball would like to have Alonso for the next few seasons, but then the interest gets more mixed around season three or four,” McDaniel wrote. “I could see some teams offering a fifth year, but for a number about half of the AAV listed above, so something more like $120-125 million guaranteed.
“The industry values a left-handed bat (Schwarber) more than a right-handed one (Alonso), so that combined with Schwarber’s better 2025 numbers makes up for him being older than Alonso. I think all that adds up to Schwarber securing a bigger guarantee than Alonso, but it might be quite close.”
The Boston Red Sox seem like they will be the Mets’ biggest competition this offseason.
Boston needs to add an impact bat at first base, and Alonso is among the best in the league. The Red Sox’s interest will likely hinge on whether they can sign Alex Bregman, but if they whiff on Bregman, pivoting to Alonso at first base would be a huge response.
But the Mets have the money to match any offer made to Alonso if they wanted to.
It’s going to be an interesting offseason for the Silver Slugger first baseman.
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