With the winter meetings less than a week away, the Mets have a glaring area of need. No it’s not starting pitching, but that’s a big one on the list too.
It’s run production. Without Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso, it’s not clear where that run production is going to come from. The best way to solve this problem is to re-sign Alonso.
The Mets aren’t going to be able to replace his production in the lineup easily. Alonso regularly hits 30-40 home runs and drives in more than 100. His 141 wRC+ in 2025 tied for the second-highest output of his career, showing that he’s back on track after a few down seasons at the plate.
Since he debuted in 2019, he’s hit 264 home runs, the most-ever by a player in a Mets uniform, and more than every other player in baseball in that time span except for two: Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber.
Mark Vientos and Jeff McNeil are expected to take over at first base in the event Alonso signs elsewhere. Even if Vientos can shake off 2025 and hit 27 home runs again, and even if McNeil can capitalize on the power he tapped into last season, they aren’t two halves that will make a whole. President of baseball operations David Stearns is adept at strengthening rosters around the margins, but a handful of marginal upgrades aren’t going to come close to replacing Alonso as a player or a person.
The focus of the offseason is on run prevention and defense, which is one of the reasons why the Mets haven’t been aggressive when it comes to re-signing the five-time All-Star first baseman. Alonso, who will be 31 on Sunday, has never been a glove-first player, but his defense at first base has always been good enough that the Mets never felt the need to move him off of the position, or to give him a significant number of DH at-bats to keep him in the lineup.
He’s reliable, having made 162 starts in 2024 and playing in all 162 games in 2025. Alonso has never played fewer than 152 games in a full season.
If Alonso is willing to play more DH, as his agent, Scott Boras, indicated last month at the MLB general manager meetings in Las Vegas, then the Mets could get creative at first base. They could sign third baseman Alex Bregman, finally filling a spot that has been taking on water since David Wright’s back started giving him problems a decade ago. Or, they could sign Cody Bellinger to have him split time at first base and center field. Isaac Paredes or the sure-handed Christian Walker could be available through trades.
However, Walker is 35 and still has two years left on his contract with the Astros, and he’s coming off of a down season offensively. Paredes doesn’t have the same pop as Alonso, and the Mets don’t appear to have interest in Bregman, Bellinger or Schwarber.
Then, there is the issue of Alonso’s immense popularity. Fans also aren’t going to come to Citi Field to watch someone like Walker, or even Bellinger. They aren’t going to be buying Marcus Semien jerseys, and they won’t be enticed to sit in frigid April weather to watch a Jared Young/Rhys Hoskins platoon at first base. This is a city driven by stars.
The Mets have already dealt away a fan-favorite in Nimmo and Edwin Diaz remains a free agent. The longtime faces fans have grown to appreciate are slowly leaving Flushing, just like their heroes have done throughout the franchise’s turbulent history. This era was supposed to be different.
Francisco Lindor and his wife, Katia, have made tremendous inroads with the community. Juan Soto was tremendously popular before coming to the Mets, and remained so after signing a 15-year contract a year ago. The two will continue to enjoy well-deserved fan support and have all of the media opportunities they want at their disposal being in New York.
But this isn’t about Lindor and Soto, unless you’re talking about lineup protection for them. And not for nothing, that protection sure is lacking at the moment.
This is about a player who is extremely popular with the fanbase and connected to them as well, and he gives the Mets a chance to win. There will be harsh backlash if the Mets let Alonso walk, especially if the club declines to make a competitive offer. Mets fans view Alonso as one of them — someone who loves the team and the community as much as they do, and someone who desperately wants to see the team win a World Series.
They still view owner Steve Cohen in that regard. They used to view Stearns like that as well, but after last season, that’s not the case anymore. Stearns isn’t going to factor what the fans want into his decision-making, and has already shown that he has no use for sentimentality by trading Nimmo. Giving Alonso a long-term contract, however, would be good for baseball and a boon for business.
There is no slam-dunk replacement for Alonso. The best move they can make to create runs and keep fans coming to the ballpark next season and beyond is to re-sign the Polar Bear.
