Getty Pete Alonso
With rumors continuing to swirl around the New York Mets, multiple general managers expect them to trade Pete Alonso, the three-time All-Star and arguable face of the franchise.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported in his June 4 trade deadline preview that a meager reward for losing him in free agency may be the impetus behind a deal.
“Considering he makes $20.5 million and the Mets would get only a fourth-round draft pick in draft compensation for letting him sign elsewhere in free agency because of their exorbitant payroll, multiple general managers said they expect new president of baseball operations David Stearns to trade the All-Star first baseman,” Passan wrote.
Despite boasting the highest payroll in baseball, per Spotrac, the Mets have stumbled to a 27-35 record, putting them 16.5 games behind the first-place Phillies. They are still just 3 games out of a National League wild-card spot, but the Mets must now weigh the odds of claiming that spot — and of doing anything significant in October — against what they could gain with an in-season fire sale.
Barring an unexpected turnaround, the Mets will likely opt for the latter.
The Pete Alonso Trade Market
Alonso turned down a seven-year, $158 million extension last year from the Mets, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported. With his current deal expiring after the season, Alonso could be a half-year rental for a contending team, both opening his list of possible destinations and lowering the asking price for his services.
If traded, his new team would get a guy who has hit 40 or more home runs each of the past two seasons, and just as importantly, has stayed mostly healthy his entire big-league career. Discounting the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Alonso has played in at least 152 games every year since 2019. It makes him an attractive extension candidate that may tip the scales back toward big-market teams that could offer a little bit more for a chance to lock him up — even though The Athletic’s Jim Bowden said he’s widely expected to sign back with the Mets in the offseason anyway.
Bowden also speculated in late May about where Alonso could end up, listing the Astros, Mariners, Guardians, Twins and even the Yankees as possibilities.
Teams may be concerned about Alonso’s apparent dip in hard contact; he boasts a 40.1% hard contact rate compared with 47.7% in 2021, MLB Trade Rumors’ Anthony Franco pointed out. That hasn’t seemed to make much of a difference, however. Alonso is still hitting for power in a pitcher-friendly park.
The Mets’ Trade Chips
There’s a reason all eyes are on Queens as the July 30 deadline creeps closer. Aside from having the highest payroll in the game, the Mets also have the most assets that could reasonably become available.
Alonso will be the headliner no matter what, but Franco says the Mets could trade Sean Manaea, J.D. Martinez, Luis Severino, Harrison Bader, Adam Ottavino, Jose Quintana or Jake Diekman.
The possibility of a Mets fire sale increases even more given that they may be preparing to take a run at Juan Soto in the offseason. Don La Greca of “The Michael Kay Show” speculated as much on June 4. Even though La Greca is a Mets fan, his reasoning is sound.
“If it gets ridiculous, where you start dancing around $60-plus million a year, I think the Yankees are gonna tap out,” La Greca said. “And the more embarrassing the Mets are; and the more dysfunction that happens there; and the more losing that happens there, Steve [Cohen] may be willing to go that extra mile with the money.”
Cohen has long demonstrated his willingness to do just that, and if it means embarrassing the cross-town Yankees, it’s certainly a possibility.
Soto left the Yankees’ June 6 game against the Twins with pain in his forearm, so we’ll have to see what happens when his MRI results come in before going overboard on the speculation with him.