Mets Could Listen To Trade Offers For Superstar According To Insider

What will the Mets do this offseason with their superstar slugger?

The New York Mets are in a peculiar spot.

New York had a very underwhelming season in 2023 but could be in a much better spot next season. The Mets have plenty of money to spend and already have brought in former All-Star Joey Wendle and Luis Severino. 

The club is looking into landing a few bigger names -- mainly Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto -- and they will be busy throughout the coming weeks. Although this is the case, the future of superstar slugger Pete Alonso is still in question.

He will be a free agent at the end of the 2024 season and reportedly has not discussed a contract extension with New York yet this offseason. This isn't too surprising as the club has had its focus on Yamamoto, but if talks don't pick up soon, that would be surprising. 

One surprising thing, though, is the Mets reportedly could listen to trade offers for Alonso despite speculation otherwise, according to USA Today Sports' Bob Nightengale.

"No team, publicly or privately, said they were engaged in trade talks with the Mets for All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso during the winter meetings, but several GMs believe the Mets will listen to offers," Nightengale said. "If the Mets were fully intent in keeping Alonso, they have a funny way of showing it.

"They have not had any talks of a long-term contract extension. Alonso, who’s represented by Scot Boras, is a free agent after the 2024 season." 

While at this point a trade certainly seems unlikely, it can't be fully ruled out. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns has said all of the right things so far and has stated that he expects Alonso to be the club's Opening Day first baseman. That still seems like the most likely outcome, there still is a long offseason ahead of us.