Times are tough for the New York Mets, something the organization likely didn’t expect entering the year. At times, the Mets have looked like one of the better teams in Major League Baseball, but for much of the second half, they’ve been one of the worst.
The simple fact of the matter is that the Mets have to improve, and if things don’t change soon, there could be significant changes coming in the offseason. The biggest question the Mets will have to answer will be regarding Pete Alonso.
Alonso has done plenty to suggest that he should stay in New York, but after a strange offseason a year ago, when David Stearns and Steve Cohen obviously didn’t want to give him the money he was seeking, some believe that moving on from him could be in the works.
Could Pete Alonso leave New York?
Sports Illustrated’s Mike Phillips believes it could happen this offseason, but not because of Alonso’s play, more so the fact that the team has to change its core after the 2025 campaign.
“A five-year sample size suggests there is good cause to shakeup the core, and it is worth noting that Stearns has extended very few of the team’s core players since he arrived. The biggest example has been with Alonso, who wanted a multi-year commitment from the team but only received a two-year deal with an opt-out after this season that Steve Cohen helped steer to the finish line…
“While there is no question that Alonso’s power production offers value to the Mets and protection for Soto in the lineup, he is on the wrong side of 30 and has never been a great defender. The Mets’ philosophy around Alonso’s next contract likely won’t change since players of his archetype don’t age particularly well, and he has much less value to the team is he is delivering around 35 home runs a year than if he is hitting over 40 a season,” he wrote.
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Phillips has some very fair arguments in his assessment, and indeed, some of them will be factors in the Mets’ decisions.
Ultimately, however, blaming all of this, or even some of it, on Alonso might be unfair.
