Inside The Mets

Mets' Cross-Town Rival Tabbed Among Top Candidates to Sign Pete Alonso

New York's other team could become major player in the Pete Alonso Free Agency Sweepstakes along with the Mets this offseason.

Grant Young

Oct 18, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) reacts after the Mets defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five of the NLCS during the 2024 MLB playoffs at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Oct 18, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) reacts after the Mets defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five of the NLCS during the 2024 MLB playoffs at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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With their 2024 season now over, the New York Mets' focus will shift to what's expected to be a pivotal postseason for their franchise's future.

The team's top two priorities will likely be pursuing Yankees superstar Juan Soto and re-signing slugger Pete Alonso.

And while the Mets are expected to have a good chance at doing both, so are their cross-town rival Yankees — which Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller alluded to in an October 20 article.

"Between Anthony Rizzo's poor start and his subsequent 2.5-month stint on the IL, first base became something of an "all hands on deck" situation for the Yankees. And with it looking highly unlikely that they'll exercise their $17M club option to bring Rizzo back in 2025, finding a solution at first base is certainly part of New York's winter to-do list," Miller wrote.

"Whether they're going to go big for Alonso, though, probably hinges on whether they're able to re-sign Juan Soto—which sure does seem like the most likely outcome.

"What if they call Gerrit Cole's bluff and let him walk, though?" Miller adds.

"We've been assuming for most of the season that Cole will opt out of the final four years on his contract to force the Yankees to add another $36M season to the end of the deal. But if he triggers the opt out, it basically becomes a question of whether they want five years of 34-year-old Cole for $180M or six years of 30-year-old Alonso for the same price," he continued.

While the thought of Alonso in Yankees pinstripes is nightmare fuel for Mets fans, they can rest easy knowing that Miller deemed four teams more likely to sign Alonso than the Yankees, and the Mets were at the top of his list.

But if the Mets were to poach Soto from New York's other team, the Yankees could pivot to pursuing the "Polar Bear".

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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