Pete Alonso and his agent, Scott Boras, are willing to take a short-term deal and are giving the New York Mets the first crack at getting something over the finish line in the coming days.
The slugging first baseman has told the only team he knows, the team that drafted him nine years ago, that he would accept a three-year deal with opt-outs — something that suggests mutual benefits for both parties.
The length of the deal should grease the wheels for the Mets to bring back the 30-year-old and plug him into the middle of a lineup that suddenly becomes significantly deeper behind Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Mark Vientos. Alonso and Boras had kept most of his market at bay throughout the winter after reports first came out that he wanted a nine-year contract reminiscent of the $214 million deal Prince Fielder signed with the Detroit Tigers in 2012. Just days later, Boras’ camp brought that number down to six years.
A shorter deal would present the opportunity for the Mets to give him a higher average annual value (AAV). A three-year deal worth $90 million plus would allow the slugger to flirt with a record-setting contract for a first baseman. Miguel Cabrera holds the current record with the eight-year, $248 million extension he signed with the Tigers in 2014, which held an AAV of $31.1 million.
Opt-outs would then provide Alonso a chance to hit the open market if he saw fit — mainly if he recaptured the 40-homer-plus campaigns that had become commonplace across the first five years of his career from 2019 to 2023.
Those should not necessarily concern the Mets and president of baseball operations, David Stearns. If Alonso wanted to test out the market again next winter, they could either flex Mark Vientos over to first base or go for another big-name free agent like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is projected to be available.
For more on Pete Alonso and the Mets, visit AMNY.com
