Mets legend makes case for team keeping Pete Alonso

Alonso has been with the Amazins' throughout his first seven seasons of his major league career; shortly after New York's season ended on September 28, he announced his intention to opt out of the two-year, $54 million deal he signed last winter. After the two sides were in long-standing negotiations last offseason until Alonso agreed on that aforementioned two-year deal, the 30-year-old's future with the Mets will once again be uncertain.

The Polar Bear is coming off a great 2025 season with the Mets. Alonso appeared in every regular season game, slashing .272/.347/.524 with 38 home runs, 126 RBI (second in MLB behind Kyle Schwarber) and an OPS of .871.

Alonso's 2025 season was also a historic one for him; on August 12, the slugger surpassed Darryl Strawberry for the most home runs in franchise history when he blasted his 253rd career home run against the Atlanta Braves. He now has 264 career homers.

This season was a stark contrast from what Alonso produced a season ago, when he batted just .240/.329/.459 with 34 homers, 88 RBI and a career-worst .788 OPS. Alonso's disappointing 2024 season resulted in him settling on that short-term contract with the Mets, as not many other suitors across the league showed much interest in the slugging first baseman.

After stringing together a bounce-back season offensively, Alonso is now expected to receive a much larger contract once the offseason gets underway.

Since making his major league debut in 2019, Alonso has cemented himself as not only the most prolific power hitter in Mets franchise history, but as one of the most consistent home run threats in all of baseball. Aside from the COVID-shortened 2020 season (in which he still hit 16 homers in 60 games), Alonso has slugged 30 or more homers in every season.

He has also mashed 40 or more long balls in four of his seven seasons, including his historic rookie season in 2019, when he surpassed Aaron Judge for the most home runs in a rookie season with 53. Over the course of his career, Alonso's 264 home runs are the third most in all of baseball behind only Kyle Schwarber (264) and Judge (285).

It is undoubtedly going to be an interesting offseason for the Mets, who are expected to make many moves after falling well short of their expectations this year. But while there are many needs the Mets have to address, Hernandez speaks for most Mets fans in that re-signing the homegrown first baseman long-term is for the best.