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The New York Mets are building on their Cinderella run to the National League Championship Series in 2024 by sprinting out to baseball’s best record this season.
The team is being buoyed by a wide range of contributors even as their biggest superstar, Juan Soto, is off to a relatively slow start. But nobody has performed better than homegrown slugger Pete Alonso.
The four-time All-Star is slashing .337/.453/.635 with six homers, 27 RBI and a 1.088 OPS that leads all of the National League. His start is making the Mets front office look great as well, as it reunited with him on a bargain two-year contract that pays him just $30 million this year with a $24 million player option for 2026.
And while the Mets might be tempted to negotiate a new deal with Alonso amid his hot start or hope that he returns for the second year of that contract, team owner Steve Cohen recently announced that Alonso will certainly opt out and seek a new contract as a free agent at the end of the year.
During Monday’s episode of the New York Post’s “The Show” podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, Cohen ruled out a return on the second year of Alonso’s deal.
“Cohen told Sherman and Heyman that Alonso would explore the market at the end of the year, which he said he was ‘supportive of,’ and that the ballclub would ‘see where it goes,’” per the Post’s Christian Arnold.
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While Cohen declared that Alonso will re-test the market in the coming winter, he added that the Mets could look to re-sign him after he opts out of his current deal.
“He’s a great Met, and I said this last year, if we can work it out, but he’s going to explore his market, and you know that’s his right,” Cohen added. “It’s hard to know how those things work out. I know we’re happy with him. I believe he’s happy to be a Met and that’s a good place to start in any future discussions.”
As the Mets look to build on a hot start all the way to the World Series, winning a championship could boost potential negotiations even further.
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Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.
With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.
English (US)