After the Toronto Blue Jays signed former Baltimore Orioles slugger Anthony Santander to a $92.5 million free agent contract over the weekend, it appeared Toronto was off the table as a destination for another big name free agent home run hitter, Pete Alonso.
At that time, Alonso’s return to the New York Mets, the club that made him a second-round draft pick out of Florida in 2016, seemed like the most likely fate — though according to most reports the team was offering him only a three-year deal rather than the seven to nine years he was reportedly seeking. So why does Alonso remain unsigned?
That is what Jim Duquette, the former Mets general manager who now writes for The Athletic, wondered in an interview on Tuesday with the Mets’ cable television network SNY. Duquette speculated the reason might be that the Mets have competition for Alonso in the form of a “mystery team.” That team is not the Blue Jays, however, according to Duquette.
“That’s out of the equation, I think, with Toronto,” Duquette said on the SNY “Hot Stove” program Tuesday afternoon. “They say they’re going to be in on the offensive side, but it doesn’t seem like they’re going to be in for Pete Alonso. Another team that may have had interest in Pete is off the board.”
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In addition, the Blue Jays would likely need to exceed the third competitive balance tax threshold of $281 million in payroll to sign Alonso, hitting them with “an even steeper surcharge” on the amount over that line, according to an MLB.com report on Monday.
Where, then, remains a possible destination for the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year?
“Is it the Angels? Is it the Giants?” Duquette asked. “Where is the mystery team the Mets are supposedly competing with for his services?”
The Monday report by MLB.com also mentioned the Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco Giants had been “linked” to Alonso, but neither was confirmed to be the “mystery team” still willing to go head-to-head with the Mets to win Alonso’s commitment.
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