Pete Alonso is already a fixture in New York Mets history. Will he remain a fixture of the team’s lineup next season?
Alonso’s free agency last year was exhausting for everyone involved. It took until February, right before spring training opened up, for the five-time All-Star to agree to a two-year, $54 million contract to return to the Mets, with an opt-out after the current season.
This season, Alonso has broken the Mets’ all-time home run record, driven in 25 more runs, and raised his OPS by 75 points in comparison to a year ago. It’s a virtual guarantee that he hits the open market again, and one has to wonder if he and the Mets can find a way to broker something more permanent.
While one never knows what a baseball operations department is thinking, Alonso peeled back the curtain on his own mentality on Wednesday.
During an interview for “The Show” podcast with New York Post insiders Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman, Alonso was asked whether he was hoping to return to the Mets, and for all intents and purposes, he said he was indeed.
“We’ll see what happens. I love it, it’s great, but you can’t really predict anything,” Alonso said. “I am focused on trying to get this thing across the finish line so we can go to the playoffs and do damage. I haven’t really thought about the free-agent thing until we talked about it right now.
“I mean, yeah, it’d be great to stay, but… whatever happens happens, you know? I can’t get the crystal ball. I wish I could, but we’ll see,” he added, laughing at the end.
Alonso turns 31 in December, and this may well be his best chance to cash in a long-term deal. One would figure for him to leave New York, that deal would have to be on the table from another team, but not his current team.
It’s long been obvious that Alonso loves being a Met. This winter will be the ultimate test of how much the team’s decision-makers love him back.
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