KANSAS CITY — Pete Alonso has been the face of the Mets franchise since his first month in the majors. How much longer will that be the case?
There are so many far-reaching ramifications to how the Mets maneuvered ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. The most pertinent might be this one: What does it mean for Alonso’s long-term future with the club?
That wasn’t such a pressing question before the last week. Sure, if there have been any substantive extension negotiations between the Mets and Alonso’s camp, word of them has never leaked. But Alonso is the best power hitter the Mets have ever employed, one of the finest homegrown hitters they’ve ever developed. Surely, one of the benefits of having an owner like Steve Cohen is being able to spend whatever it takes to make Alonso a Met for life?
Now, however, every indication is that the Mets are targeting 2025 and 2026 as their next logical window of contention. That puts Alonso in a unique position with New York. The other key parts of the club’s position-player core are all under long-term team control. Francisco Lindor is signed through 2031, Brandon Nimmo through 2030, Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty through 2029, Jeff McNeil through 2026. They’re all still in line to be part of the next great Mets team, as it were.
Not so for Alonso. It was precisely this vision for the future that made Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander opt for more immediately competitive pastures. And of course, the Mets also listened in on offers for Alonso ahead of the trade deadline, as an industry source told The Athletic this week.
Pete Alonso, who talked pregame about showing up each day to win regardless of the circumstances, hits his 31st home run of the season. It's 1-0 Mets in the second.
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) August 2, 2023
General manager Billy Eppler never spoke specifically about players, offering only that the club’s “price points (were) high” and that “if the price wasn’t met, the player stayed.”
The Mets could potentially revisit that idea in the winter, however. Alonso will be 30 starting in 2025; how big will the Mets’ appetite for a long-term deal with him be at that point?
Given his production over his first five seasons in New York, Alonso is headed for the largest contract the Mets have ever given a homegrown player. (I pegged an extension for Alonso at nine years and $207 million before the season.)
For the time being, at least, Alonso is not thinking about any of that.
“I can’t necessarily worry about the team philosophy,” Alonso said Tuesday, minutes before the deadline. “Whatever their vision is, whatever their plan is, it really doesn’t necessarily matter to me. I’m here right now, and I want to be the best player I can be right now and for as long as I’m here.
“We’ll see what happens. I don’t necessarily know what the future holds. As long as I’m here, you’re going to get the best from me every single day.”
“We love having Pete here,” Eppler said. “Such a strong player for this organization and he means so much to the community and just to our identity. What comes beyond that, that will be a discussion that we hold behind closed doors.”
Alonso said he had not been briefed about the team’s strategy at the deadline or its vision for the future. (Lindor and Nimmo, on the other hand, did have conversations with Eppler prior to the deadline.) Eppler said he’d been in touch with Alonso’s agents and hoped to sit down with Alonso himself either in Baltimore this weekend or when the Mets return home next week.
Alonso was true to his word on Tuesday. He took a popup off the face while sliding to make a grab in foul territory. He hit his 31st home run. He drove in another run with a bloop single to right.
Alonso went all-out. Will the Mets be all-in for him?
(Photo of Pete Alonso: Brad Penner / USA Today)
"fit" - Google News
August 02, 2023 at 04:53PM
https://ift.tt/ZV3emgW
Amid Mets’ repositioning, where does Pete Alonso fit in? - The Athletic
"fit" - Google News
https://ift.tt/GQu6M3Y
https://ift.tt/rNHFdjI
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Amid Mets’ repositioning, where does Pete Alonso fit in? - The Athletic"
Post a Comment