The worst nightmare of New York Mets fans — at least, as it pertains to their best player in Pete Alonso — appears to be becoming a reality.
During a press conference Monday, David Stearns, the Mets' new president of baseball operations, said that slugger Pete Alonso becoming a free agent next offseason is "probably the most likely outcome."
David Stearns says that Pete Alonso hitting free agency after the season is the "most likely outcome" pic.twitter.com/g9OGaNdWbJ
— SNY (@SNYtv) February 12, 2024
"When you have a really talented player, who's really good, who's entering his final year of club control, who happens to be represented by Scott Boras, these things generally end up into free agency and we understand that," Stearns told New York media. "This is an organization that's dealt with that before with really good players and has ended up in a perfectly fine spot."
Stearns mentioning that Alonso is represented by Boras is probably because Boras almost always encourages his players to hit free agency to maximize their value on the open market.
While Stearns was clearly trying to appear calm when talking about his three-time All-Star first baseman — who has hit 15 more home runs than any other MLB player since entering the league in 2019 — this is not good news for Mets fans.
Last month, Alonso agreed to a one-year, $20.5 million contract that avoided arbitration — a contract that favors the Mets, considering that Alonso is one of the MLB's best power hitters. Yet, Alonso signing a one-year deal then seemingly refusing to negotiate a long-term contract with his current team doesn't bode well for New York.
Stearns added, "I have not seen Pete here yet, haven't talked to him here yet, but what we're going to talk about is, look, let's go out and have a great year together. You go out have a great year. Let's have a great year as a team, and if we do that we're both going to be set up, the organization and Pete, are going to be set up very well going into the offseason."
We were already aware that contract negotiations weren't going well between Alonso and the Mets. Yet, Stearns' press conference shows that the two sides are further apart than we had initially imagined.
Perhaps this nightmare scenario will work out for the best — for Alonso and his agent.
