So Pete Alonso is again with the Mets and everyone seems to be blissful.
The Polar Bear is blissful as a result of he by no means needed to go away the Mets, particularly after he grudgingly got here to comprehend he didn’t have a market. Steve Cohen is blissful as a result of he received to appease Mets followers in bringing again their favourite son — at his value. David Stearns is blissful as a result of the Alonso contract is inside his analytics creed of three or fewer years. And Scott Boras is blissful as a result of although he failed mightily on his promise to get Alonso considerably greater than the seven years, $158 million provide from the Mets he turned down in June 2023, he was in a position to save face by getting him an AAV of $30 million for 2025 that’s the highest of any first baseman within the recreation.
However make no mistake, until Alonso has a dramatic turnaround season in 2025, his capability to decide out after the primary 12 months of the two-year, $54 million deal might be moot. He by no means realized he had a lot going towards him on this negotiation with the Mets: (1) He was coming off his worst season, (2) all of the metrics confirmed participant in decline, and (3) he was shackled by a qualifying provide from the Mets and no groups have been keen to shell out an enormous bucks 5-6 12 months contract for a 30-year-old one dimensional first baseman — and in addition sacrifice a second and fifth spherical draft decide as compensation to the Mets. At the very least if he decides to decide out after this season, the qualifying provide goes away, however he’ll be a 12 months older with the identical negatives.
A great “one dimensional” comparability to Alonso in 2024 is Chris Carter, the hulking first baseman for the Brewers in 2016. Alonso hit 34 homers, struck out 172 occasions and had an OPS of .788 final 12 months. When Carter was 30 in 2016, he hit .222 and led the majors with 206 strikeouts, but additionally led the league in homers with 41, drove in 94 runs and had an OPS of .821. But on the finish of the season he was launched by the Brewers. And the GM who launched him was David Stearns.
That ought to give Alonso a reasonably good thought the place he’d nonetheless be proper now if Cohen hadn’t bowed to the pleas of Mets followers. And it’s a must to imagine Stearns was additionally wanting ahead to these qualifying provide compensation draft picks as soon as Alonso signed elsewhere. Certainly, the gamers have come to comprehend what a handicap these qualifying gives will be to their free company. Possibly not for the highest tier gamers like Juan Soto, Max Fried and Corbin Burnes, however second tier gamers like Alonso discover their markets restricted as so a lot of baseball’s analytically-inclined GMs right this moment are fiercely protecting of their draft picks.
Considerably surprisingly, the house owners truly supplied to put off qualifying gives late within the 2022 collective bargaining negotiations with the gamers in alternate for a global draft, however the union flatly rejected it. The explanation, I used to be advised, was the Latin gamers are significantly against it after the buscones of their native nations satisfied them they may get a lot extra on the open market.
IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD
Relating to that much-anticipated, much-debated new domed stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, you possibly can kiss it goodbye. Now the query is whether or not Tampa Bay may also be kissing the Rays goodbye themselves. Nobody is saying it out loud, nevertheless it’s develop into clear Rays proprietor Stu Sternberg has concluded the unfeasibility of going by way of along with his share of $700 million for the deliberate $1.3 billion redevelopment plan within the Historic Fuel Plant District of St. Petersburg subsequent to the Rays’ current hurricane ravaged Tropicana Area residence. “Having the money and putting it in are two different things,” Sternberg advised the media on the house owners conferences in Palm Seashore final week. Privately, Sternberg advised the house owners due to the delays in approving the bonds for the stadium which can incur an estimated further price of $150 million, the St. Pete deal is all however lifeless. And apparently St. Pete mayor Ken Welch, the driving drive behind the brand new stadium, which might be the centerpiece of a large redevelopment undertaking, is OK with that. “We will not pursue a deal at any cost,” Welch stated final Tuesday. “The greatness and future of St. Pete does not depend solely on this deal.” At the very least St. Pete officers have lastly give you a timeline and authorised the funds to restore hurricane-damaged Tropicana Area for the beginning of the 2026 season. For this season, the Rays might be enjoying their residence video games at Steinbrenner Area in Tampa, the place I’m advised, the season and group gross sales tickets are practically all bought out regardless of the Rays doubling the worth. What must occur now could be for Sternberg to promote the crew — Rays followers are uninterested in him investing nothing within the crew and continually buying and selling off their greatest gamers once they begin to develop into costly. However bleak and unsure as issues appear proper now, Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred doesn’t need to lose Tampa Bay, the No. 11 media market, which is why the hope is for a deep pocket proprietor (or house owners) from Tampa to emerge and the Tampa stadium plan close to Ybor Metropolis will be revived. “That’s where the Rays need to be,” a baseball one who grew up in Tampa advised me. “Ybor City, walking distance from the stadium, would become one of the great attractions in the country. It would be home run for everyone.” Additionally, ready within the wings is the Orlando Dreamers group, organized by the late Orlando Magic CEO Pat Williams and Corridor of Famer Barry Larkin, who’ve working tirelessly to deliver main league baseball to the Magic Kingdom.
