LOS ANGELES—Pete Alonso hit one of the most important homers in New York Mets history in the ninth inning Thursday at Milwaukee to vault them into their current National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The best-of-five series is tied 1-1 with Game 3 at New York’s Citi Field on Tuesday.
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The Polar Bear is a free agent at the end of the postseason, and he’s made it clear he wants to remain in New York.
“I’d love the idea of spending the rest of my career with the Mets, because it’s a special place,” he said at the end of August. “This organization has been home to me. It’s been an incredible life experience, an incredible journey.”
Yet Alonso’s agent, Scott Boras, said he’s had no contact with either Mets owner Steve Cohen or general manager David Stearns about Alonso. And Alonso hasn’t had any conversations with them, either.
“He’s going to free agency,” Boras said. “We’ll be talking to all the teams like we normally do.”
Message to Cohen: You better start negotiating. Alonso is Mr. Met. He was picked by the Mets in the second round of the 2016 draft and has played his first six big-league seasons with them, hitting 226 home runs, third on the all-time list and within striking distance of No. 1 Darryl Strawberry at 252 if he comes back next season. His generous donations to local charities in New York and his hometown of Tampa are well known.
“He’s definitely the core of the franchise,” Boras said this weekend as he watched the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres take batting practice at Dodger Stadium before the start of their NLDS.
The agent is not surprised Alonso wants to remain with the Mets. “Any player who has been with one franchise is going to feel like that,” Boras said. “I have to sit down and talk to Pete, talk about what his course of action will be. That’s not something I do while they’re still playing. I think that’s normal operating procedure. Most teams don’t negotiate during the season.”
Compare that to the Matt Chapman situation. Chapman was a member of the Boras Five—players who all held out until spring training this past season and wound up signing one-year contracts, four of them with player options for 2025.
Chapman signed a contract with the San Francisco Giants that paid him $16.7 million in 2024 with two one-year player options.
In early September the Giants went to the third baseman and told him they’d like to renegotiate that contract. Within days, the Giants and Boras had come to terms on a six-year, $151 million extension. The entirety of the guaranteed deal will pay Chapman $167.7 million over the course of seven years.
Like Alonso, though, the other four Boras Five players haven’t fared as well heading into the offseason. Jordan Montgomery had a terrible season with the Arizona Diamondbacks and fired Boras. Blake Snell pitched well during the second half for the Giants but has indicated he will opt out. Cody Bellinger could also opt out of his deal with the Cubs. And J.D. Martinez, who’s riding the wave with Alonso and the Mets, signed a straight one-year deal for $12 million and will be back out on the market this winter.
It’s expected to be a busy offseason for Boras. In addition to Snell, Bellinger, Martinez and Alonso, he also has Juan Soto, who has excelled this season with the New York Yankees after the Padres traded him to New York in December. Unlike Alonso, Soto has made it clear he’ll go to the highest bidder.
Boras called Soto, only 26, a “generational player with a lot of residual value” because of his age. He’s played well everywhere: Washington, San Diego and New York. He’s still within his prime and is looking for a long-term deal in the $500 million to $600 million range.
Boras confirmed he’d met this summer with Yankees principal owner Hal Steinbrenner to chat about the left-handed-hitting outfielder. They discussed parameters, but not contract terms, which will happen when Soto becomes a free agent.
Alonso is a different story. To reiterate, there’s been no contact between Mets management and the player. “Not that I know of,” Boras said.
Losing Alonso would hearken back to the Mets trading Tom Seaver. In 1977, then-minority owner and chairman M. Donald Grant notoriously traded the franchise hero to the Cincinnati Reds rather than pay to keep him. Seaver ultimately won 311 games and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Alonso often struggled at the plate during the season, finishing with just a .240 batting average and a career-low .788 OPS. That was tempered by his 34 regular-season home runs, and completely forgiven by Mets fans in the euphoria of his series-winning homer against the Brewers.
That home run is the kind of moment that ought to cement his place with the team. They should be able to determine an equitable offer in the hundreds of millions that all parties are comfortable with. Alonso is only 29. Who knows what kind of upside there is to the remainder of his career?
Boras called Alonso’s Brewers blast “a remarkable franchise-turning event for both the Mets and Milwaukee, frankly.”
Whether it was career-turning for Alonso is still be determined.
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