MLB Network’s Jim Duquette sounded confident last week that the Toronto Blue Jays landing free-agent first baseman Pete Alonso was “out of the equation” after Toronto agreed to a five-year deal worth at least $92.5M with outfielder Anthony Santander.
During Monday’s edition of the SNY “Baseball Night in New York” program, MLB insider Andy Martino suggested the Blue Jays will not match what the New York Mets already offered Alonso during what Mets owner Steve Cohen recently referred to as “an exhausting conversation and negotiation” process.
“The final Mets offer that Alonso turned down, that’s going to be tough for him to beat with the Blue Jays,” Martino explained. “That was the $70M that we talked about for three years, additional deferred money. That could have been a real win, probably, in what the ultimate dollar figure would have looked like for Alonso. Given what the Blue Jays gave Santander, which was in the 60s after the deferred money, [Alonso] is probably not going to get as good an offer from Toronto as they’ve already gotten from the Mets and turned down.”
Cohen raised eyebrows when he revealed during this past Saturday’s “Amazin’ Day” fan event that he didn’t “like the structures that are being presented back to us” amid contract talks with Alonso’s camp. Per SNY’s Phillip Martinez, Martino reported last week that the Mets’ latest three-year proposal that included opt-outs was worth “more than $70M” total in “deferrals and stuff.”
Martino added at that time it’s unclear if that offer is still on the table in the event that Alonso experiences a change of heart and contacts Cohen directly about putting pen to paper on a contract.
While numerous stories have linked Alonso with the Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels, there remains no indication any of those teams are in a hurry to equal or better what the Mets offered the 30-year-old slugger who thus far has only played for the Amazins’ during his MLB career.
“I am still getting an expectation that if he comes back, it is going to take a while,” Martino said about the Mets possibly re-signing Alonso. “It seems like we could easily get to spring training where this is still a topic, and if Pete re-signs, it could be when the Mets are already in camp. There’s no reason for the Mets to rush.”
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns won’t bid against himself regarding Alonso, but both Stearns and Cohen were reminded during Saturday’s event that many paying customers want the “Polar Bear” to be part of a 2025 lineup that will also feature All-Star outfielder Juan Soto. Assuming Martino is correct, it appears the Alonso saga could drag on through at least the middle of February.