Unless first baseman Pete Alonso endures an unexpected offensive collapse this summer, he almost certainly will opt out of the two-year, $54M contract he signed this past offseason to return to the New York Mets following the ongoing campaign.
In an article published on Tuesday, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan discussed how much it could cost Mets owner Steve Cohen to re-sign Alonso before the 2026 season.
“Alonso has put himself comfortably into the $100M category with a shot at $200M assuming he opts out of his current deal after the season,” Passan said. “The same issues teams had last winter remain. He’s in his 30s. He plays a position teams don’t prioritize. But it’s impossible to ignore his production and ability to stay on the field as well as his evolution: Alonso actually has more walks (25) than strikeouts (24) this season, an exceedingly rare quality for a hitter with so much power.”
A combination of sharing a lineup with outfielder Juan Soto and standing closer to the plate has resulted in Alonso looking much more comfortable during at-bats this spring than he did when he seemed to press throughout 2024 before he reached free agency. Per ESPN stats, the “Polar Bear” began Tuesday afternoon ranked second in all of MLB with a 1.143 OPS, second with a .674 slugging percentage, third with a .349 batting average, tied for second with 33 RBI and tied for seventh with nine home runs.
From 2021 through 2024, Alonso played in a total of 628 games. This spring, he appeared in each of New York’s first 36 contests as the club went 23-13.
History shows that Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns likely won’t want to lock a power-hitting right-handed first baseman who turns 31 in December down via a lucrative multi-year contract. It’s worth remembering that Cohen responded to fans who angrily made it known this past winter that they wanted him to re-sign Alonso by getting a deal done in February.
Many of those same paying customers could demand this coming November that Cohen does whatever is necessary to ensure that Alonso stays a one-club man for the foreseeable future, especially if the slugger remains the most valuable player for what becomes a division-winning squad.
