Chants of “We want Pete” started among Mets fans as the team’s key decision makers sat down Saturday for a panel at Citi Field.
The chants grew louder about 20 minutes later with the panel’s first mention of Pete Alonso’s name.
But the chants stopped suddenly when Mets owner Steve Cohen candidly expressed his frustrations with how the free-agent negotiations with Alonso’s camp have transpired.
“This has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation,” Cohen said at the Mets’ Amazin’ Day fan festival.
“[Juan] Soto was tough. This is worse. … We made a significant offer. I don’t like the structures that are being presented back to us. I think it’s highly asymmetrical against us, and I feel strongly about it.”
Alonso, who is represented by agent Scott Boras, remains at an impasse with the Mets, with whom he’s spent his first six MLB seasons. The Mets’ reported offer of three years in the $70 million range is believed to be far from what the first baseman is seeking.
The Mets appeared to begin pivoting this month, signing outfielder Jesse Winker to a one-year, $8 million contract and reliever A.J. Minter to a two-year, $22 million deal. Earlier in the offseason, the Mets signed Soto, another Boras client, to a record-setting 15-year, $765 million pact.
“I will never say no,” Cohen, who is baseball’s richest owner with a net worth of $21.3 billion, said of Alonso. “There’s always the possibility, but the reality is we’re moving forward and we continue to bring in players.
“As we continue to bring in players, the reality is it becomes harder to fit Pete into what is a very expensive group of players that we already have. That’s where we are, and I’m being brutally honest. I don’t like the negotiations. I don’t like what’s been presented to us.”
Cot’s Contracts projects the Mets to have a $296.1 million payroll, the fourth-highest among MLB teams.
Alonso is the only Met with multiple seasons with at least 40 home runs — a feat he’s achieved three times — and his 226 homers rank third in team history.
But the fan-favorite first baseman is coming off of a 2024 season in which his 34 homers, 88 RBI and .788 OPS all represented career lows, not including the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.
He turned 30 in December, and more and more MLB teams have become reluctant to make significant investments in first basemen on that side of 30.
Alonso reportedly rejected a seven-year, $158 million extension offer during the 2023 season, before Boras was his agent and before David Stearns was the Mets’ president of baseball operations.
“We all love Pete,” Stearns said during Saturday’s panel. “As we’ve gone through this process, we’ve continued to express that. We also understand that this is a business, and Pete, as a free agent, deserves the right and earned the privilege, really, to see what’s out there. We also feel really good about the young players who are coming through our system.”
Earlier Saturday, third basemen Mark Vientos and Brett Baty said the Mets recently asked them to begin taking reps at first base. The Mets also asked middle infielder Luisangel Acuña, who flashed during a late-season call-up last year, to take reps at third base, manager Carlos Mendoza said.
The Toronto Blue Jays are among the teams to be linked to Alonso recently.
“Pete’s been here since I’ve been here,” shortstop Francisco Lindor, a teammate of Alonso since 2021, told reporters Saturday.
“He’s been before me, so yeah, it would be different if he’s somewhere else. It would be different for sure, but I think he should take his time. I think he should make the best decision for himself and not feel like he’s rushed into a decision, and I’m sure he will.”
Alonso’s place in Mets history only strengthened during last year’s playoff run, when his go-ahead three-run home run in the ninth inning of the Mets’ Game 3 win in the wild-card round pushed them past the Milwaukee Brewers and into the NLDS.
“I would love to see Pete back with us, but I also understand that I don’t make those decisions,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said Saturday.
“I’m still hopeful that we’ll sign him, but even if so, we’re really happy with what we’ve done this offseason. I think we’ve made our team a better team. Obviously, I love Pete. I’ve been with him for a long time, so would love to see him back.”
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