Could the Mets lose Pete Alonso to the Yankees?

The Mets OMG sign heads to Cooperstown. Plus, thoughts on rumors surrounding Pete Alonso and the New York Yankees.

Rich MacLeod

Nov 06, 2024

What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎

The Mets’ OMG sign from the 2024 season will now be a part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (MLB.com)
David Stearns expressed interest in a reunion with free agent 2B José Iglesias next season
INF Ronny Mauricio is progressing from his ACL injury, but has not resumed baseball activities yet — his knee is making progress, and they expect him to be healthy for spring training despite his slow progress

Rumor Mill 💭

The Yankees have “checked in” on Mets free agent 1B Pete Alonso (NY Post)
The Braves are showing interest in free agent RHP Nathan Eovaldi (MLB.com)
Free agent RHP Nick Pivetta has a “surprisingly strong” market (Morosi)

What to make of the Yankees interest in Pete Alonso ✍️

There are a lot of balls in the air for the Mets early on in this offseason, not only with the big free agents that they’re interested in pursuing but also the ones they may be trying to retain from their 2024 roster.

The club officially extended qualifying offers to three of those free agents on Monday, making the $21.05 million offer to Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Pete Alonso. The latter of which may be the most interesting free agent in relation to the Mets of all this winter.

It has yet to be seen whether or not a long-term contract between Alonso and the organization that drafted him is in the cards, as the first baseman played out his contract year without an extension and many up-and-down results. Overall, it was largely a disappointing regular season for Alonso who posted the lowest OPS (.788), lowest slugging percentage (.459) second lowest OPS+ (123), second lowest home runs (34) and second lowest RBI total (88) in his major league career.

Alonso did have a renaissance during the postseason, however, hitting .273/.431/.568 with four home runs, 10 RBI a .999 OPS and a lot of clutch hits over 13 games this October.

Will that be enough for Stearns and the Mets front office to commit long-term money to their former draft pick? Will Alonso’s ties to the organization be enough for him to want to stay or will his eye take him elsewhere as he hits the open market for the first time in his career?

One bit of news that dropped on Tuesday was that the crosstown rival Yankees have officially checked in on Alonso. With the Mets being heavily involved in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, it’s interesting to see the team they share a city with now sniffing around one of their own free agents.

The Yankees do have an opening at first base now after declining their 2025 club option on Anthony Rizzo who had regressed and dealt with injuries in recent seasons. Alonso would be a natural fit there, as yet another right-handed slugger with opposite field power to join Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Now, of course, the counter-argument there would be that you’re adding yet another boom-or-bust type bat to a volatile lineup that has faded in the postseason regularly over this most recent Yankees era.

All that being said – we’re not here to analyze the Yankees side of that fit. We are Just Mets, after all. What we are here to do, however, is to explore how this rumor makes us feel.

Rumors are bound to swirl this time of year, it’s only natural, and just because there’s a rumor that connects a team to a free agent doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s going to be any actual traction there. Alonso is open to all 30 teams on the free agent market right now, which could include the Yankees but it could also lead to him signing in a lot of different places (and, of course, still returning to the Mets).

Even with that said, there’s something about that rumor that just doesn’t sit well with me. The Yankees are running a business, I can’t be mad at them for showing interest in any free agent, but there is a bit of a bitter feeling hearing this when you consider the fact that Steve Cohen opted to take the high road and not pursue Aaron Judge during the 2022-23 offseason out of respect. That was a bidding war the Mets never would have won, of course, but for this organization to opt to sit that sweepstakes out while the Yankees are now immediately taking a look at Queens’ home town star in Alonso kind of grinds my gears.

Alonso winding up in the Bronx would just feel wrong to me at this point. Even if he doesn’t stay with the Mets… I don’t know, does Pete really feel like a Yankees kind of player to you? His personality, his approach, everything about him that Mets fans love feels weirdly out of place in the corporate baseball machine that is the Yankees and picturing him in that pinstripe uniform gives me all kinds of uncomfortable feelings inside.

If the Mets ultimately sign Soto and Alonso takes his place with the Yankees is it something that you live with? Of course. The Mets would still be greatly improving in that scenario. But I also think it’s okay to be a little selfish in your thinking right now and hope that the Mets can sign Soto and Alonso this winter.

If they can’t, at least let him sign with almost any other team but them. Please.

Around the League 🚩

Braves OF Ronald Acuña Jr. and RHP Spencer Strider are not expected to be ready for Opening Day
The Padres and manager Mike Schildt are in the process of finalizing a contract extension through the 2027 season (San Diego Union-Tribune)