New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso seems to be on track to opt out of his existing contract after the 2025 campaign so he can test free agency for the second straight offseason.
On Monday, Alonso was asked by reporters during his All-Star Game media availability if he wants to commit his long-term future to the Mets.
“I mean if it works out, you know, it would be really special to,” Alonso responded, as shared by Colin Martin of SNY. “But again, there’s a lot of things that happen business-wise and a lot of unpredictable things that happen in free agency. Yeah, this time around, like last year, there’s no guarantee, but happy I stayed. This is a great team. It’s a great group of guys. We’ll see what happens business-wise, nothing’s guaranteed, so we’ll see.”
Alonso reportedly rejected
a seven-year, $158M extension offer from the Mets during the 2023 season before he endured multiple slumps the following year. He ultimately slashed .240/.329/.459 with a .788 OPS, 34 home runs and 88 RBI over 162 regular-season games before he turned 30 years old in December 2024. Alonso and agent Scott Boras then found the market for the “Polar Bear” wasn’t as robust as they had hoped.
In the end, Alonso accepted a two-year, $54M contract with a player opt-out after this season to stay with the Mets in February. He has only played for the Amazins since he made his MLB debut in 2019, and he’s five homers away from tying club legend Darryl Strawberry for the franchise record in that category. Meanwhile, the 55-42 Mets trail only the 55-41 Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East standings as of the halfway point of July.
“Right now, I’m just thinking about what I can do to help my team every single day,” Alonso added. “The free-agency stuff, I’m not really worried about that right now. I’m sure at the end of the year I’ll have plenty of time to think of that.”
Per ESPN stats, Alonso entered the All-Star break leading the 2025 Mets with a .280 batting average, a .908 OPS and 77 RBI. He’s second on the club with 21 home runs, and Baseball Savant shows that Alonso is ranked fifth in MLB with a .416 expected weighted on-base average (xwOBA) for the season. New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge leads the league with a. 467 xwOBA.
“The key thing to Pete is two things that always make teams better,” Boras told Newsday’s David Lennon on Monday. “When you have something at a position that most teams don’t have, and the fact that you have durability. When you look at the number of first basemen that have played just 120 games five years in a row, you’re going to be down to four guys. Then, when you say who has 30-home-run power to go with that durability, you’re going to find out that a first baseman like that is like a No. 1 starter — we don’t have many of them.”
It certainly sounds like Boras is preparing Alonso for a bidding war regarding the slugger’s services that could get underway shortly after the 2025 World Series concludes. Mets owner Steve Cohen listened to paying customers who made it known in January that they wanted the club to bring Alonso back, but the fan-favorite may not be willing to give teams much of a discount during his next free-agency journey.
