Mets avoid arbitration with Pete Alonso and others, and a legendary Met passes away
Also, it's time to lock up Pete Alonso once and for all to a long-term contract
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets and first baseman Pete Alonso agreed on a one-year, $20.5 million deal to avoid arbitration (ESPN)
New York also avoided arbitration with RHP Adrian Houser, LHP Joey Lucchesi, LHP David Peterson, RHP Drew Smith and outfielder Tyrone Taylor
Bud Harrelson—who won World Series rings as both a player and a coach with the Mets—passed away at the age of 79 after a battle with Alzheimer’s Disease (Release)
Rumor Mill 💨
Prior to signing Marcus Stroman, the Yankees were in on lefty Blake Snell (NY Post)
Locking up Alonso is the only way the Mets can salvage a disappointing offseason, and potentially their future… ✍️
What a difference a year makes , huh?
Last winter, the Mets were being praised for their ability to pivot after losing Jacob deGrom to free-agency and replacing him with Justin Verlander, who was as it turns out recently ranked by MLB Network as the fourth-best starting pitcher in baseball. The move—on paper at least—helped the Mets retain the top veteran starting pitching duo in the game, and most pundits predicted the club would again be an October participant.
We all know how that turned out.
This team is endured a transitional whirlwind over the last several months, with a plethora of veteran players getting traded away, a new manager again, a new front office decision maker again, and heading into 2024 the turnover on this roster is immense, at one point paring the 40-man roster down to 28 players.
But the one thing this club absolutely does not need is a new face of the franchise.
Slugging first baseman Pete Alonso is the Mets’ primary attraction and everything an organization could ever want in its most prestigious player. Alonso is personal, gregarious, engaging, and downright fun, and has been able to connect with this fanbase the way very few players before him have.
He’s also been sensationally productive.
Since debuting and winning NL Rookie of the Year in 2019, Alonso has blasted more home runs than any other hitter in baseball. He’s eclipsed 40 home runs three times, and driven in well over 100 runs in three separate campaigns—and he almost certainly would have reached both milestones a 4th time had the 2020 campaign not been truncated.
Alonso is the type of player the Mets fans crave to be a Met for life, a la David Wright.
Alonso currently trails Darryl Strawberry by only 60 home runs for the Mets all-time franchise record, and with 117 RBI in 2024 he’ll slide into the team’s top five in that category.
Simply put, Alonso should own just about every major Mets offensive record before he’s done—provided the business side of baseball doesn’t get in the way.
On Thursday, he and the team agreed on a one-year contract worth more than $20 million to avoid arbitration—but it would be difficult to find a Mets fan celebrating.
Alonso is still set to become a free-agent following 2024, and the prospect of him hitting the open market gets scarier by the day.
This winter, the Mets have failed to land Yoshinobu Yamamoto. and while they’ve added some peripheral pieces, they haven’t brought in a single player that moves the needle on their 2024 prospects. And they’ve reportedly not even discussed the possibility of extending Alonso this winter.
Center fielder Harrison Bader will certainly help with run prevention, though I’m also curious if his addition had as much to do with Alonso as it did between the lines. Bader was a college teammate of the Polar Bear at Florida, and the two are close friends.
Was bringing his buddy to Queens part of a long-term plan to convince Alonso to stay? For his part, the right-handed slugger has consistently said he wants to remain in New York, but he also wants to be compensated like the elite home run hitter he is.
Obviously, money is not an issue around here anymore, which in some ways makes the fact that this deal has not been done yet more concerning.
As we inch closer to spring training, signing Alonso to an extension has to be priority number one and while most Mets fans understand the expectations this season are lower than they’ve been in a while, and we may be thinking more about 2025 or 2026, making sure Alonso will still be here to help see that plan through would go a long way towards changing people’s perceptions of this offseason.
Hot Stove 🔥
The Yankees landed RHP Marcus Stroman on a two-year, $37 million contract (ESPN)
The Yankees also agreed with OF Juan Soto on a one-year, $31 million contract, a record for an arbitration-eligible player (New York Post)
The Reds signed LHP Brent Suter to a one-year, $2.5 million deal (SI)
Catcher Andrew Knizner found a new home in Texas, agreeing to a one-year, $1.8 million deal (New York Post)
Call me a bit crazy, but I'm not worried about the extension not getting done this winter. Then again, I don't expect it to get done at all. I think Pete is going to test free agency to see his worth and the Mets will match/beat whatever he's being offered. It's certainly scary having that uncertainty of losing him. But it's what happened with Nimmo and elsewhere with Judge and I expect it to happen with Alonso.
It would be nice to have it as something exciting this off season, but I don't expect it.
You mentioned, aptly, the fans' perspective. Surely the Met F.O. knows the fans perspective - or should by now. Problem is, the Met fan is a fatalist. We've seen this show before - many times. We know what the radio silence tends to indicate, and we're too familiar with the lack of emotional attachment to our players from the F.O.
Tom, Straw, Doc, Rusty (I), even K Mitch were all shipped out to continued glory elsewhere - we still have the scars from where those bandaids were ripped off our skin.
This sure looks like another one waiting to happen - complete with a new GM who conveniently has no emotional attachment to the team. Don't get me wrong - I like the Stearns hire - but I can see Pete being shipped out after yet another June swoon in '24. So maybe the marketing slogan for 2024 should be: The Mets - Come see them while they're still here!