Pete Alonso back where he wants to be with the Mets: 'I'm just really happy to be back'

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Feb 17, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Pete Alonso has a message for New York Mets owner Steve Cohen: “Sorry.”

Cohen took the unprecedented step of talking about free agent negotiations publicly a few weeks ago, characterizing them as “exhausting” to a group of fans and media at the team’s Amazin’ Day event. Not long after, Cohen and baseball ops boss David Stearns went to Tampa to meet with the first baseman and finally close a deal.

Alonso is back with the team that drafted him after finally inking a two-year, $54 million deal right before the end of the offseason. The deal was constructed at a private social club in Tampa, where the Polar Bear grew up and where he still spends his offseasons. For that, he thanks Cohen. The hassle of a drawn out negotiation?

“Well, sorry, Steve,” he said.

A reunion always seemed to be in the cards for Alonso and the Mets. Cohen and Stearns have battled rumors about their dislike of Alonso, maintaining a united front in their messaging. Alonso always said he wanted to return to Queens.

“For me, this was it,” Alonso said Monday at Clover Park. “Throughout the entire offseason, we had the best dialogue from the Mets and like, that was it. For us, this was the best opportunity and I’m just really happy to be back.”

Alonso wasn’t necessarily shocked to see that his market had dropped. A perennial MVP candidate until 2023, he’s coming off back-to-back down seasons, he’s a 30-year-old right-handed first baseman and he rejected a qualifying offer, so any team that signed him would have had to forfeit a draft pick.

Still, he hit 80 home runs over the last two years and the Mets were lacking some power without him. Alonso gives the Mets a deeper lineup and with Juan Soto now wearing orange and blue, the Mets needed another big bopper in the middle like Alonso.

“I couldn’t expect something incredibly, mega long because I didn’t have my best year and ’23 didn’t really have my best year last year either,” he said. “So the two years stacked up, I didn’t really play to my potential. There are some positive outcomes there, but I can’t expect a 10-year deal when I didn’t have my best two years in ’23 and ’24. Definitely some positives, I definitely did a lot of cool things in those years. But still, it is what it is.”

Alonso was plagued by some inconsistent swing mechanics last year and worked in the offseason to tighten them up so he can repeat his swing every time. Defense was also an emphasis for him over the winter. For the most part, the Mets haven’t worried about Alonso’s defense throughout his career, but his -9 OAA in 2024 was the worst of his career. He did a deep dive, going back and looking at his errors and misplays to correct them.

“One area I was really critical of is the decision-making and throwing at first,” he said. “There were a couple throws I forced last year. I think I made six, maybe seven errors and four or five were throwing errors. I probably shouldn’t have thrown them trying to force a play or make a play, as opposed to just feeling it, shutting it down and touching the bag.”

Alonso was never far from the minds of his Mets teammates as a free agent. He trained with Sean Manaea in Tampa, and after the left-hander signed his own three-year deal with the Mets, he told Alonso he needed to sign too.

“He was like, ‘Dude, come back,'” Alonso said.

Reliever Ryne Stanek did the same after the Mets brought him back for 2025. Brandon Nimmo checked in, Francisco Lindor lobbied the Mets for his return as well and even Soto played a role, telling the Mets he liked the protection Alonso could provide for him in the lineup.

“It feels really good to have their respect and hear them be like, ‘Hey, this guy, he’s not only a great clubhouse guy, but he’s a guy that can help us win.’ So to have that support from guys you’ve been around a long time, it means a lot. And when you add the component of people willing to come down and meet face-to-face like Steve and David did, it means a lot.”

The meeting gave Alonso valuable insight into how Cohen and Stearns operate. The behind-the-scenes aspect of baseball operations wasn’t something he previously paid attention to, preferring to focus on his own performance. But the lunch negotiation opened a window into another world, showing him how the team balances advance planning with the payroll and talent on the field.

Come November, he may have to put that experience to good use if he opts out to try for that elusive long-term contract. He won’t have the qualifying offer attached, so it could be easier. He said a multi-year contract with the Mets would be “really awesome.”

But for now, he’s happy to be in a place he considers home, ready to finish what he started.

“The most fulfilling part is the story continuing,” Alonso said.

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