The final month of Pete Alonso and the New York Mets ‘ season is coming to an end, which could see the team make an unexpected playoff run and consolidate, or end, the slugger’s career in Queens as the latest version of Mr. Met.
De might remain playing his favorite franchise’s final game in a month. A free adviser at the end of the World Series, there’s no guarantee he did re-sign with the Mets.
This make this perfectly clear: The right-handed power-hitting second infielder wants a life area with the Mets at Citi Field, De told Sportico in an interview Wednesday in Phoenix, where the Mets were in the midst of a three-game line with the Arizona Diamondbacks. With only 28 games left, the Mets are three games away from the final National League Wild Card spot, having won two of three games at Chase Field and already had the advantage of winning the series.
” I’d love the idea of spending the rest of my career with the Mets, because it’s a special place”, he said. ” I’ve been a resident of this place.” It’s been an incredible life experience, an incredible journey”.
But none of these negotiations, at least none of them publicly disclosed, have taken place between baseball operations and his agent Scott Boras. As Alonso nears the top of the Mets ‘ list in all-time home runs, the clock is ticking, and the days are dwindling.
Alonso tied with Mike Piazza at 221 this week, passing the Hall of Famer on Thursday, while Mike Piazza tied him at 221. If there is a next season for Alonso in New York, David Wright ( 242 ), and Darryl Strawberry ( 252 ), both are within easy reach next season.
” Mike was a childhood hero of mine, so tying him was very special”, Alonso said. He was one of the people I admired a lot as a child. Do I have any thoughts on that? I think about it all the time, especially in the offseason”.
Especially this offseason.
Alonso, 29, wants a deal akin to Aaron Judge, the team’s crosstown counterpart and New York Yankees captain. That implies a long-term deal well north of$ 300 million.
A nine-year,$ 360 million deal that will keep him a Yankee for life, or at least until 2031, was a deal made after Judge entered the free agent market two years ago. However, Judge never stated in the way Alonso is saying it that it was Yankees or that it was bust that offseason. Judge made a flirtado with the San Francisco Giants and, ultimately, the San Diego Padres to close the deal with the Yankees.
Alonso does n’t seem to have the stomach for that. He might have been traded before the deadline, but that remained a Met, which is a positive sign.
” I’d love it to work out]like Judge ]”, Alonso said. ” But I ca n’t predict the future. Here, where coworkers become your friends and eventually turn into your work family, has been a really good professional environment. That’s what it is. For me, this is my home away from home.
Alonso has earned a total of$ 44.8 million during his first six seasons while his contracts have been managed by the Mets under the auspices of the Basic Agreement. During this time, he has been underpaid. In 2019, when he captured the first of his two MLB Home Run Derby victories, and its million-dollar prize, he virtually doubled his rookie salary of$ 550, 000, then the MLB minimum.
That first derby victory also gave rise to what has since become a long-lasting charity career. Alonso gave$ 20,000 to the Tunnels for Towers Foundation, which supports the families of the first responders killed in the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in 2001. He’s continued to donate to first-responder charities, and this season, he’s given$ 1, 000 for each of his 29 homers thus far to animal shelters, veterans ‘ organizations and groups helping people experiencing homelessness.
Alonso stated,” The reason we started is that we’ve just had a tremendous amount of love and support from New York City.” ” And we want to keep doing that”.
Even if he’s no longer in New York.
Unlike the Yankees, the Mets do n’t have a history of keeping their star players.
In the Bronx, Judge is following Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, Hall of Famers who all played their entire careers in Yankee pinstripes. In the meantime, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada. The Steinbrenner family has unloaded the cash register to keep players even during the contemporary free agency era.
The Mets have n’t had that ethos. Tom Seaver, a franchise hero, was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1977 when free agency first started to exist. In the end, Seaver won 311 games and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Of the franchise’s top four home-run hitters, only Wright played his entire career with the Mets. Strawberry and Piazza did n’t. The verdict regarding Alonso is not yet known. Wright was signed by then owner Fred Wilpon to an eight-year,$ 138 million contract extension in 2013. But Wright’s 14-year tenure ended prematurely in 2016 because of a serious back injury.
The Mets, under different ownership, find themselves at the crossroads again, this time with Alonso. The current Mr. Met wants to stay put. Steve Cohen, the owner, will have to decide how much money, if at all, to make that happen.