Pete Alonso reportedly returns to Mets on 2-year, $54 million deal

First baseman Pete Alonso is right back where he belongs: with the New York Mets.

According to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, Alonso and the Mets agreed on Wednesday to a two-year, $54 million contract. The deal reportedly includes a $10 million signing bonus and an opt-out after the first year, which will pay him a salary of $20 million.

Before and during the 2024 season, Alonso made it known that he wanted to remain with the Mets long-term. Even though he's returning to Queens, he didn't quite get his wish.

A down year by his standards in 2024 — slashing .240/.329/.459 with 34 home runs — plus a concerning combination of age, peripherals and defensive value limited his value far below what slugging first basemen used to get in free agency. He and his agent Scott Boras spent months waiting for someone to meet their asking price, but they opted to take a shorter-term deal once February rolled around, just like Boras did with some clients last offseason.

Negotiations got contentious enough that Mets owner Steve Cohen publicly aired out his frustrations, calling them an "exhausting conversation." He will now be welcoming that player back.

Alonso also reportedly had a three-year, $71 million deal on the table, but took the shorter one to bet on himself.

Alonso was ranked No. 8 on Yahoo Sports' list of this winter's top 50 free agents, and he will be playing in his seventh MLB season in 2025. If it's productive, he can re-enter free agency, though the structural issues of his value will remain. He can only play first base, the least valuable position on the diamond and a position he doesn't play particularly well, he's on the wrong side of 30 and his strikeout rate has been trending in the wrong direction for years.

He made his debut in 2019, three years after the Mets took him with the 64th pick of the 2016 MLB Draft. Alonso's rookie year was the type of rookie year first basemen dream of. He smashed 53 home runs, the most in baseball, and hit .260/.358/.583 on his way to the National League Rookie of the Year award.

Alonso has a .249/.339/.514 career slash line but can sometimes produce some ugly rate stats. For example, his .217 average and .318 on-base percentage in 2017 were hideous, but he delivered enormous power at the plate, hitting 46 home runs and 21 doubles.

While Alonso's stats have been up and down, one thing remains true: He's durable. He has never played in fewer than 152 games in a full MLB season, and he played in 57 of 60 games during the shortened 2020 season. The Mets will likely be counting on that to continue in 2025 and beyond.

Mets add Pete Alonso to a standout offseason

The Mets and every other MLB team were wary of committing to him long-term, but New York will now add him to the best offseason MLB has seen outside of Los Angeles, and perhaps even the best.

The headliner is, of course, the $765 million man Juan Soto, who now stands to be in the middle of the Mets' lineup for the next 15 years, and likely enter the Baseball Hall of Fame wearing a Mets cap. Veterans Jesse Winker and Jose Siri also signed to fill out the lineup and bench.

The Mets made notable deals elsewhere too, securing a quartet of starting pitchers to a rotation that badly needed arms in Sean Manaea (three years, $75 million), Clay Holmes (three years, $38 million), Frankie Montas (two years, $34 million) and Griffin Canning (one year, $4.25 million). In the bullpen, they added left-hander A.J. Minter (two years, $22 million) and brought back Ryne Stanek (one year, $4.5 million).

The Mets are coming off an 89-win season in which they reached the NLCS, then lost 4-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series then get even better, but the Mets can at least look in the mirror and say they're better too.