"It’s more unlikely than likely" - MLB analyst doubtful of Mets moving on from Pete Alonso before trade deadline as team gets back into wild-card race
MLB analyst Jim Bowden has recently shared skepticism over the New York Mets trading away All-Star slugger Pete Alonso before this season's trade deadline. The 29-year-old first-baseman signed a single-year contract worth $20.5 million at the start of 2024 to avoid salary arbitration.
Alonso's contract is set to expire at the end of the season, following which he will be a free agent unless he signs a contract extension with the club to extend his stay at Queens. In case of an extension, there have been rumors that the star would only accept a long-term contract if offered by the club.
But that won't come cheap to the Mets as the player reportedly would ask for an Aaron Judge-like contract. Thus he was highly anticipated to part ways with the team, either by a trade move, which would see the team not losing him for free, or as a free agent after his contract ends.
However, after the Mets' current uprise and becoming part of the wild-card race again, Bowden believes it's more 'unlikely than likely' that the team would let go of their star slugger before this trade deadline.
"After they jumped back into the wild-card race, execs now feel it’s more unlikely than likely that they’ll trade Alonso, unless they are overwhelmed with a trade offer from a team such as the (Houston Astros) or (Seattle Mariners)." - Bowden noted about the Mets.
He went on to say:
"It’s also thought that some in the Mets front office believe they’ll have a better chance to re-sign Alonso in the offseason if they don’t trade him."
The Mets have surely found some breeze of fresh air with their latest performances. The latest of their dynamic success came against their city rivals, the New York Yankees. The Yanks were swept clean by the Metropolitans in their latest Subway series on the 25th and 26th of June.
The Queens-based club is currently standing in third place in the NL East division (39-39), just after the Philadelphia Phillies (53-27) and Atlanta Braves (44-34).
Alonso himself has been experiencing a decent run of form till now its season. He has played 78 games so far this season. In his 299 at-bats, he holds a batting average of .241, and an OPS of .791, along with 16 HRs and 43 RBIs.
Pete Alonso rejected a multi-year contract extension from Mets
MLB insider Joel Sherman recently revealed that before signing a single-year contract with the Mets in January 2024, the team offered the 3-time All-Star a seven-year contract back in June 2023, which the player rejected.
"An offer was made through his then agency, Apex Baseball, at seven years for $158 million. The Mets baseball operations, at that point led by GM Billy Eppler, were trying to do a multi-year deal with Alonso that would include his final arbitration season in 2024 then six more years”
The star 1B's agent back then, Adam Karon, stopped Pete from publicly discussing this matter and later neither of the parties reached any conclusion or agreement over this deal.