Pete Alonso, Juan Soto’s paths to long-term New York futures may only get more complicated

In June of last season, the Mets engaged in another attempt at signing Pete Alonso long-term.

An offer was made through his then agency, Apex Baseball, at seven years for $158 million. The Mets baseball operations, at that point led by GM Billy Eppler, were trying to do a multi-year deal with Alonso that would include his final arbitration season in 2024 then six more years.

The bid was influenced by the eight-year, $168 million extension fellow first baseman Matt Olson had signed with the Braves before the 2022 season. The difference is that Olson signed two years before free agency. Alonso would have just one year until free agency. So the Mets offer reflected the final seven seasons at $153 million of Olson’s pact — what would have been his age-29 walk year at $21 million plus six free-agent years at $132 million.

Alonso would be 29 in his walk year, so he would be topping Olson’s total from that age forward. The offer also was designed to be enticing because it was worth more in “current value” than the six-year, $162 million free-agent pact that Freddie Freeman signed with the Dodgers. The Players Association calculated that deal at about $148 million in current value due to heavy deferrals.

Alonso’s lead agent then, Adam Karon, had a policy when he represented the Mets first baseman not to talk to reporters about any negotiating details and refused comment when contacted. But I heard the sides never got close to a deal. And, without that extension and with the Mets underachieving into non-contention, the club did discuss Alonso in July trade talks, notably with the Cubs.

When David Stearns took over as president of baseball operations after last season, he quickly removed Alonso from trade discussions. At the Winter Meetings, I asked executives from two teams I thought should be in that market why they perceived it was not open. They pretty much mimicked each other: 1. Stearns did not want to begin his tenure by infuriating fans by trading such a popular player when … 2. He knew he would receive less for Alonso for just one year rather than one-plus, from the previous July when the Eppler administration had been underwhelmed by the July offers. 3. The guesstimation that the return would not be all that different if the Mets were out of the race this July and wanted to try to trade Alonso as they would have been in the offseason.