Will Mets pay Pete Alonso in the offseason?

Pete Alonso will be worth every penny and then some

Having one of the best seasons of his career and bouncing back compared to 2024, whatever team signs the five-time All-Star and former Rookie of the Year (2019) will be getting what it paid for. 

2024 was Alonso’s worst season from a power perspective, having the lowest slugging percentage (.459) and home runs (34) of his career. That changed this season, increasing his slugging percentage by 67 points (.524) and hitting more home runs (38). Alonso also hit 41 doubles, a career high, and tied him for third in baseball with the Red Sox's Jarren Duran and the Braves' Matt Olson. 

Alonso also had more success getting the barrel to the baseball, ranking in the 89th percentile in 2024 for his barrel percentage and jumping to the 98th percentile in 2025. He has also been durable during his career, never playing below 150 games a season (outside of 2020). This season also saw Alonso have back-to-back years of playing 162 games. The only player with more games played since 2022 than Alonso (638) is Matt Olson (648), who has four consecutive seasons of playing in every game. 

Has this been Scott Boras’ strategy for Pete Alonso all along? 

Like many stars in the big leagues, Alonso is a client of Scott Boras. Boras is known for signing his players to lucrative and long-term deals. Occasionally, Boras employs a strategy of having his players sign a short-term contract with the money front-loaded, which contains an opt-out after the first year, if they have had a down year. 

Boras deployed this strategy with Blake Snell, who signed a similar deal to Alonso (two years, $62 million) with the San Francisco Giants. Snell then opted out after the 2024 season and signed a five-year, $182 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Boras had Boston Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman do something similar, with him also likely to opt out. 

Alonso appears on a similar trajectory, with Boras determined to get his power-hitting client paid, as the market for first basemen this winter is slim pickings. Outside of Alonso, Josh Naylor is the best free-agent first baseman available, and he is nowhere near the player Alonso is. 

Many teams will need a first baseman this offseason, but few teams will have the money available to sign someone like Alonso. Teams that need a first baseman and can also afford Alonso are the Red Sox, the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, who will be star hunting this offseason after making the postseason for the first time in five years. 

Alonso won't come close to making what Vladimir Guerrero Jr. makes. Guerrero is the highest-paid first baseman, making a little over $37 million (average annual value). Alonso could likely be the second-highest-paid first baseman.