With his four postseason home runs last year, first baseman Pete Alonso played an indispensable role in propelling the New York Mets to within two games of the World Series, the closest the franchise had come since getting there and losing 4-1 to the Kansas City Royals in 2015, the year before the Mets drafted the 6-foot-3, 245 pound power hitter in the second round of the University of Florida.
Since then, Alonso â nicknamed “Polar Bear” by teammates â has gone on to become the Mets all-time franchise record-holder in home runs with 256 â with 28 games still to play in the season; the all-time MLB record holder for home runs in a rookie season (53 in 2019); and the hitter with the third-most home runs over the first seven seasons of a career.
Only Ralph Kiner with 294 and Albert Pujols at 282 ever hit more in their first seven seasons than Alonso has in his.
Difficult Free Agency Journey For ‘Polar Bear’
With a resumé like that, it would seem that the Mets would want to keep Alonso wearing the white, blue and orange for as long as possible.
But when the 30 year old dove into the free agent market after the 2024 campaign, the Mets appeared to show no serious interest, and neither did anybody else. At least, not at Alonso’s hoped-for price tag which would have been somewhere north of the $158 million over seven years the Mets reportedly offered him in the form of a contract extension in 2023.
In the end, Alonso did, in fact, re-sign with the Mets â but on a short-term, deal worth $54 million over two years. More importantly, the two-year contract is effectively a one-year contract because it grants Alonso an option to forego his second year and reenter free agency after the 2025 season.
Return to Free Agent Market On Tap
Alonso is widely expected to exercise his opt-out clause, meaning he will hit the open market and can sign with any team â possibly even the Mets once again.
According to New York Post MLB insider Jon Heyman, “the Mets will try to bring back Alonso, who could draw interest from Texas, Boston, Seattle, the Yankees and others.”
But Heyman’s list of potential Alonso destinations also includes a surprise landing spot for the Tampa native in 2026 â the Houston Astros. Heyman’s Thursday report in the Post appears to mark the first time that the two-time World Series winners, who appear headed for their eighth American League West Division pennant in the last nine years, have been linked to Alonso.
“The Astros would be a surprise because they signed Christian Walker to a three-year, $60 million deal last winter, but they continue to show their willingness to spend to win, with the trade for Carlos Correa the latest example,” Heyman reported.
Alonso Would be Upgrade Over Walker
Walker is also a righty-swinging first baseman, but he has put together a rather disappointing first season in an Astros uniform, with 21 home runs, nine fewer than Alonso â and a mediocre .718 OPS. Walker’s OPS translates to an OPS+ of 97 which, with the average set at 100 means essentially that Walker’s production has been about three percent lower than the average MLB hitter.
Not great value for the $20 million the Astros are spending on him this season, and in each of the next two.
Alonso’s OPS of .861 this season gives him an OPS+ of 144, or 44 percent better than the average hitter.
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