Let's Talk About Pete Alonso

$158,000,000 over 7 years. This was the extension offer Joel Sherman of the New York Post had reported the Mets giving to Pete Alonso that he had supposedly turned down sometime this offseason. Having bet on himself Alonso is having a similar year to his 2023 campaign, and in spite of being given his 4th All-Star nod (done purely to put him in the HR Derby) he’s not shown any reason to raise that offer in the slightest. Let me make my stance on this clear, Pete Alonso is a fine ballplayer, by all accounts a great human being and well liked teammate, and gets far too much undeserved hate from other fanbases. I really hated when sports talk radio losers were making Pete out to be a bad teammate or a problem starter back in 2023. I want to be clear, I don’t think Pete is losing them ballgames, I just don’t think he’s doing enough to help them win. I do not believe that he is meant to be a lifelong Met, it just doesn’t seem like those stars are going to align. To break down the numbers, that offer equals around $22.5 million dollars a season. That would put Alonso just above Matt Olson (AAV $22 Million), and slightly below Freddie Freeman (AAV $27 million). Matt Olson, like many of the Braves position players is considered to being having a down year, he has higher bWAR (1.6) than Alonso (1.0) . Freeman has nearly quadruple Alonso’s tally with 3.7 bWAR and will likely find himself in the top 10 for NL MVP voting for a 7th straight season. Since Pete entered the league in 2019, he bests Freeman and Olson in only 2 major stats those being HRs and RBI. Both are better defensively than Alonso, and both have silver slugger awards since Alonso has joined the league, something he has never won (Olson 1, Freeman 3).

Perhaps neither of these are fair comparisons, Freeman is a future Hall of Famer who will go down as one of the best first basemen of all time, and Olson is on one of those “How did Atlanta get away with that” contracts. So let’s go back to the conversation of the All-Star game. The first baseman that should’ve had Pete’s spot, and who I’ve been eyeing for a while, is Christian Walker. Walker will be an unrestricted free agent in 2025, and will likely end up with a similar AAV to the Mets proposed offer for Alonso, only over a shorter period. He has nearly triple the bWAR (2.8) of Alonso this season, and in fact he leads Pete in every major offensive stat outside of stolen bases, where they both have 2. Walker provides the power that you’d lose by getting rid of Alonso, having hit 30 HRs in each of the last 2 season and on pace to potentially hit 40 this year. Walker is also a stellar defender, having won 2 gold gloves in the last 2 years and looking to go for his third. Should the Mets decide to move on from Pete, Walker is the guy they need to target.

In terms of bWAR among first basemen Pete ranks below

• Bryce Harper

• Matt Olson

• Michael Busch

• Freddie Freeman

• Christian Walker

• LaMonte Wade Jr.

• Jake Cronenworth

• Ryan Mountcastle

• Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

• Josh Naylor

• Carlos Santana

In terms of bWAR among his New York Mets teammates Pete trails

• Francisco Lindor

• Brandon Nimmo

• Mark Vientos

• Sean Manea

• Francisco Alvarez

• Harrison Bader

• Jose Butto

• Jose Quintana

• JD Martinez

Ignoring that fact Lindor and Nimmo were both significantly more deserving All-Stars, what does this appearance even do for Alonso? It’s not going to fool Stearns into giving him a higher offer, it’s not going to please the weirdos who have always disliked Pete in spite of him being a seemingly great person, and Mets fans are now going after their own player which is something I’m never in support of. I want to quick make a case in favor of Alonso staying, because I recognize that I haven’t done that yet.

Pete Alonso will break several of the Mets all time offensive records should he return this offseason, he plays just about every game which in this day in age cannot be taken for granted, and has been greatly defended by his teammates as someone they want in the clubhouse. He has proven he can perform in New York, and is the type of power hitter this franchise really rarely sees, if ever. On a similar note so few players end up being lifelong Mets, I think everyone wants Pete to stay because he was the sign of things to come back in 2019, but maybe his time has passed. I think the Mets made the right decision making Nimmo their guy they wanted to bank on in terms of being a lifelong Met. And really the biggest difference for me personally is the mentality at least from an outside perspective.

Nimmo, especially since his extension but even before it, has clearly bought into being a leader in the clubhouse. Lindor has faced some of the most undeserved criticism and lack of respect I’ve seen for any player since he came here, he has handled it like a champ. JD Martinez might have single handedly saved the season in what was possibly the only productive team meeting I’ve ever seen this team have. Pete has never grown out of being the star eyed rookie, both on and off the field. He takes each mistake too seriously and loses confidence, and constantly says what he thinks the fans want to hear in his postgame press conferences. I love Pete’s love and appreciation for the game, but he needs to grow as a player and a leader for me to truly see him as a considerable part of this core moving past this year. Francisco Alvarez is already becoming a leader both on and off the field at 22 years old, and provides talent at his position that you rarely find elsewhere, both at the dish and behind it. Perhaps I’m being to focused on recent performance, and I’ll wish for the best for Pete no matter what happens. But if we’re talking about giving out extensions, I want to focus on Alvarez. And if competing is the focus for the future of this franchise, overpaying Pete Alonso doesn’t fit the plans. Only time will tell and I’m sure plenty of people will disagree, but the core is just too good to be focused on one player, sometimes we need to let things go.