{"id":86855,"date":"2024-09-30T20:31:50","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T00:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=86855"},"modified":"2024-09-30T20:31:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T00:31:50","slug":"mets-pete-alonso-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/09\/30\/mets-pete-alonso-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Destinations For Mets Slugger If New York Lets Him Walk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso is weeks away from free agency, with two new teams emerging as favorites if New York fails to re-sign him. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/alonspe01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pete Alonso<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is set for free agency this winter, and despite envisioning himself as a &#8220;lifelong Met,&#8221; there is no guarantee that he will stay in Queens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Top Destinations For Mets Slugger If New York Lets Him Walk<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alonso has had a down year to his standards, but he has undoubtedly been one of baseball\u2019s most prolific power hitters over his six-year tenure. He ended the regular season, slashing .240\/.330\/.462 with a .794 OPS and 34 home runs in 160 games. Alonso\u2019s 226 home runs since entering the league in 2019 are the second-most in baseball trailing only <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/j\/judgeaa01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aaron Judge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (232).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/05\/18\/sports\/pete-alonsos-free-agency-blueprint-to-stick-with-mets-still-evolving\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joel Sherman of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Post<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reported that Alonso turned down a seven-year, $158 million extension from the Mets last season. The 29-year-old switched agents to Scott Boras and avoided arbitration by signing a one-year, $20.5 million deal for 2024. Boras is known for encouraging his players to test the market in free agency rather than signing extensions. Even though the four-time All-Star would like to stay in New York, Mets owner Steve Cohen might have other plans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;I love it here,&#8221; Alonso told reporters during Spring Training. &#8220;I definitely have envisioned myself being a lifelong Met; that&#8217;s something I&#8217;ve definitely thought about. But I can&#8217;t predict the future. I just want to focus on this season and be the best person I can be.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Potential Landing Spots For Mets Star Pete Alonso<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/mlb\/columnist\/bob-nightengale\/2024\/09\/29\/mlb-awards-2024-shohei-ohtani-aaron-judge-mvp\/75437739007\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bob Nightengale <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">also reported that if Alonso leaves, rival executives believe he could sign with the Seattle Mariners or Chicago Cubs. Alonso would certainly fit in either Seattle or Chicago, as both teams lack power in their lineups. With <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paredis01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Isaac Paredes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at third, Chicago could move the emerging <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/buschmi02.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael Busch<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to second base to make room for Alonso.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/09\/26\/sports\/mets-figure-to-be-in-play-in-juan-soto-free-agency-sweepstakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Post\u2019s<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Jon Heyman also linked the power-hitting free agent-to-be to both the Nationals and the Astros. Washington has lacked production at first base and general manager Mike Rizzo plans to sign a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/09\/20\/nationals-hitters-free-agency-targets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">middle-of-the-order bat<\/a> this winter. First base has been a revolving door for the Astros this season. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/singljo02.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jon Singleton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has seen the most work at first base after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/14\/houston-astros-release-jose-abreu\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Houston parted ways<\/a> with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/abreujo02.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jos\u00e9 Abreu<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in June, but the 33-year-old is not a long-term solution. Alonso would give the Astros an everyday first baseman and another power bat in an already formidable lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the Mets remain the favorite to sign Alonso, rivals believe he can find a new home with any of these four teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso is weeks away from free agency, with two new teams emerging as favorites if New York fails to re-sign him. Pete Alonso is set for free agency this winter, and despite envisioning himself as a &#8220;lifelong Met,&#8221; there is no guarantee that he will stay in Queens.\u00a0 Top [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4975,"featured_media":86897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1071],"tags":[246,2402,158,38],"class_list":["post-86855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mets","category-mlb","tag-houston-astros","tag-pete-alonso","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-washington-nationals"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}