Bora$ has eyes on big Alonso contract
Don’t expect any hometown discount — or any other type of discount — for the Mets when it comes to Pete Alonso.
Alonso is a year away from hitting free agency, and though some point to deals signed by other first basemen in recent years — whether it’s Freddie Freeman (six years,
$162 million) or Paul Goldschmidt (five years, $130 million) — as signs Alonso shouldn’t expect to break the bank, his new agent, Scott Boras, knows he’s seen some of his own clients — also first basemen — do much better.
“We all work in different markets, and I got Mark Teixeira a contract, where he became a world champion with the Yankees, for $180 million in 2007,’’ Boras said on “The Show” podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.
“And I also understand I got Prince Fielder a contract at [$214] million in 2011,’’ Boras said. “There are different markets, different representation [and] different dynamics you look at.”
Boras also noted the increase in revenue throughout the game, which he is confident can put Alonso in a higher bracket.
“The revenue system of the game has dramatically changed over the last few years,’’ Boras said.
As Boras also pointed out, Goldschmidt signed an extension with St. Louis prior to hitting free agency.
“I don’t think those recent contracts, certainly negotiated by others, are really relevant to anything that has to do with what’s going to happen in the future,” Boras said. “Particularly with Pete Alonso.”
Boras praised Alonso’s “power quotient,” as he’s hit at least 37 homers in every season he’s played other than the 2020 COVID-shortened season, as well as his “durability,” having never missed more than 10 games in a season, as aspects of his game that set him apart.
And though it seems unlikely Alonso, who turns 29 next month, would sign an extension with the Mets this offseason, Boras wouldn’t rule it out entirely.
“We welcome all offers,’’ Boras said. “We certainly present them [and] discuss them with the players we represent and we really try to have as open a dialogue as we can and also have an exchange of information, because … even if you don’t get a deal done, it helps the parties understand one another. So we invite negotiations, we invite discussions [and] we invite offers.’’
The Mets tried to extend Alonso last winter, but the two sides “weren’t in the same ballpark,” Heyman reported, and trade rumors involving the first baseman started to emerge toward the end of the regular season.
But new president of baseball operations David Stearns said at his introductory press conference that he expects Alonso to be a Met at least to start the season.
Boras, asked about the possibility of Alonso — or another major client of his that is set to hit free agency following next season, Juan Soto — being traded this offseason, said, “I think it’s hard to say for a franchise, that if you want to win, you trade these players. I just think it’s a very difficult thing for ownership and baseball operations to explain.’’