In what must go down as a big loss for uber-agent Scott Boras, Pete Alonso, one of the last remaining high-profile free agents, has agreed a two-year, $54 million deal to rejoin the Mets.
This was not the conclusion that Alonso had expected when his talents were marketed to the other 29 teams after the Mets had made it clear that he wasn’t a candidate for an extension. After all, he is one of the game’s most powerful hitters, and he was still only 29 when he hit free agency.
To say that the 6-foot-3 slugger is underappreciated is an understatement. Since he debuted in 2019, he is…
So, that’s a guy who has just recently turned 30, who shows up every day, has demonstrated a skill to avoid injury and has averaged 43 home runs, 94 runs, and 112 RBI over a 162-game season. Surely, it was a slam dunk for Boras.
Alonso’s desire to continue in New York was obvious. He only needs 16 more home runs to equal David Wright in second place on the Mets all-time leader board, and only 11 more after that to surpass Darryl Strawberry to become the greatest home run hitter in Mets history.
He is not the greatest defensively, strikes out a bit too much, and he is coming off a relatively poor campaign (for his standards) of 34 home runs, 94 runs, and 88 RBI with a 123 OPS+, which probably gave Steve Cohen, the Mets owner, enough ammunition to play hardball with Boras.
Sportrac, the useful resource for contract information, projected Alonso to secure a seven-year, $206M deal ($29.5M average), while MLB Trade Rumors were a little more circumspect with their projection of five years, $125MM ($25M average). It certainly seems like Boras overplayed his hand.
Settling on two years for $54 million ($27 million average) feels like a big hometown discount the Polar Bear gave the Mets. It is possible that he can opt-out after the first year and test the market again, but he will be one year older, and teams will still have their concerns about his skillset deteriorating with age.
Apart from the Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees and Braves, every other team would have been improved by acquiring Alonso for first base or DH, so it’s frustrating as a neutral that Seattle or Toronto or San Diego or San Francisco or Detroit or Minnesota or Arizona or any other team failed to take the opportunity to acquire some serious firepower.
You would imagine there are many front offices looking at the deal today and thinking, “Wow, we could have easily beaten that.”
MLB’s salary structure – three years of minimum wage followed by three years of arbitration – means that the Mets clearly underpaid Alonso for the production of the first six years of his MLB career. Come on, 19.8 WAR for $43 million is daylight robbery. The $8 million per WAR calculation suggests that the Mets owe Alonso just shy of $120 million.
Oh, and he hit one of the most memorable home runs in Mets history in the 2024 Wild Card against the Milwaukee Brewers.
But regardless of the money or contract, Alonso is back with New York, which always seemed as inevitable as Roki Sasaki ending up in Los Angeles. Alonso will reclaim his third-in-the-lineup position, with Francisco Lindor leading off, and Juan Soto, the Dominican God of Walks, hitting second. Amazingly, Soto has taken 134 more free passes since 2021 than second-place Aaron Judge.
Who is taking the over on 150 RBI for Alonso?
The move makes the NL East competition even more interesting now. It had appeared that, even with the signing of Soto, the Mets were slightly adrift of the Braves and the Phillies, so the upgrade from Brett Baty to Alonso will make this mouthwatering division to follow.
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Featured image of Scott Boras by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images
