David Stearns and co. played their hand perfectly last offseason when they waited out the market for slugger Pete Alonso. Of course, Pete was coming off a down year and had the qualifying offer attached. This offseason, Alonso is coming off a bounce-back 38-homer and 126-RBI year and no qualifying offer.
However, Alonso struggled defensively in 2025 –his -8 fielding run value by Baseball Savant was tied for last in the league–and Stearns is focused on better run prevention for the 2026 Mets. With that in mind, a beat writer asked Scott Boras on Wednesday at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas if Pete would be willing to DH if he goes back to the Mets, and the answer was a dandy.
“I think Pete, at this point in his career, he’s about winning, no doubt. Had that question a lot. There’s no doubt that Pete’s pursuers are primed to pay the power piper. Pete picked a perfect period to play preeminently at really a primary position. A playoff-parched plethora will pounce to participate in the polar plunge.”
Alonso, 30, will certainly be looking for a bigger deal than the two-year, $54 million one he received from the Mets last offseason. Pete made $30 million this year and then decided to opt out of the final year of the deal in search of a long-term agreement.
“Pete has been a lifetime Met, and obviously, when he reflects on his career, it’s all he has to look to. The one thing I think Pete understands – playing in New York is not something most can do. To become a star-level player in New York, even fewer can do it. I think the New York fans recognize it and they’ve been very, very outward and appreciative of him,” Boras said.
The free agent market will feature two other pure sluggers: Kyle Schwarber, coming off a 56 home run season with the Philadelphia Phillies, and Japanese 1B/3B Munetaka Murakami, who hit 56 home runs in 2022.
