DALLAS — The Mets are leaving the Winter Conferences with just one new participant, although that one participant, star outfielder Juan Soto, arguably makes them the winners of the week. Whereas they have been hoping to land a couple of others, the market has been extra sluggish than anticipated, particularly in terms of the high-end place gamers.
This makes it difficult to find out what first baseman Pete Alonso is value. In keeping with sources, a marketplace for the Polar Bear has not but emerged. Nonetheless, his agent, Scott Boras, stated he’s assembly with groups.
“Pete Alonso is open to listening to a lot of teams, and has been doing so,” Boras stated Wednesday on the Hilton Anatole throughout his annual press convention. “His experiences with the Mets were extraordinary, both for them and him.”
Some within the trade anticipate him to return to the Mets, however some simply aren’t certain the best way to gauge a good contract for a 30-year-old right-handed hitting first baseman like Alonso. Nonetheless, the opposite place gamers in Alonso’s tier haven’t signed both and there doesn’t seem like a lot motion.
That may very well be altering quickly. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns stated there’s loads of discuss between brokers and groups about that group, even when there was little motion exterior of the Soto deal.
“I think there’s ongoing dialog,” Stearns stated Wednesday earlier than departing Dallas. “Tough for me to contextualize exactly where it is, but in all segments of the free agent market, top or or lower tiers, I think this was a very active Winter Meetings in terms of discussion. And we probably have a little surprise that throughout the industry, there hasn’t been more actual signings, but I think it was a pretty active discussion meetings.”
As for why there hasn’t been a ton of signings, Stearns isn’t precisely certain.
“I have no idea,” he stated. “I think both sides are always trying to operate with as complete information as possible. From the player side, he wants to know what his complete market is so that he can make the best choice. From the club side, we also want to know what our complete market is and what our choices are. Sometimes that leads to a lot of information gathering and a lot of discussion, and that seems to be where the industry is.”
Alonso is a novel case examine. A four-time All-Star, the NL Rookie of the Yr and the league’s house run chief in 2019, Alonso was a perennial MVP candidate till 2023, when his manufacturing dropped off.
That was the yr he hit solely .217, a career-low common, however he nonetheless smashed 46 house runs, surpassing the 40-homer threshold for the third time. Final season, he got down to enhance his common, and introduced it as much as .240, however his energy numbers have been down. Alonso hit solely 34 house runs and posted a career-low .788 OPS. Much more regarding, a once-prolific run producer drove in solely 88 runs and hit .232 with runners in scoring place.
He completed each seasons with an OPS+ of 123 and a wRC+ of 121 and 122. He went from being a 4.7 fWAR participant in 2019 to a 2.1 fWAR participant in 2024.
Nonetheless, he did play 162 video games final season, and has by no means performed fewer than 152 in a full season. He was additionally an emotional chief for the Mets and a postseason hero. The Mets are conscious that Alonso is a fan favourite and a cursory look at social media reveals followers begging the workforce to deliver him again. He’s marketable, energetic in the neighborhood and well liked by teammates and coaches.
However the Mets should separate their private emotions about Alonso when wanting on the numbers.
“We all have emotions. I mean, I have emotion, Steve [Cohen] has emotion, we all have emotions. It’s one of the reasons we’re drawn to this game,” Stearns stated. “While making decisions, it’s also my job to try to strip that away a little bit and try to implement processes and systems within our organization that allow us to make the best decisions possible, both near- and long-term.”
The Mets know Alonso higher than some other workforce and have their very own valuations. Nonetheless, it’s truthful for them to need to learn how different groups worth him and different free agent first basemen like Christian Walker. Whereas sure, they could want extra lineup safety for Soto, it’s doable that it comes from some place else.
The ready recreation does little to consolation followers, however generally it’s crucial.
“I think we’ve made ourselves better,” Stearns stated. “We have been in play in a number of different situations, we talked about starting pitching being a priority, and we’ve been able to add multiple starters already and are still engaged in starting pitching. I think, clearly, we’re working hard to add to our position player group as well.”
