The intrigue over where New York Mets free agent slugger Pete Alonso will sign for 2025 appears to have calmed down at least since last Thursday. That's when it was reported that the Mets had set a deadline for Alonso to agree on a three-year contract with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2016.
Since then there have been no developments or even significant new rumors regarding Alonso's search for a new MLB home, or about whether he will go back to his old one. That situation appears to be changing, however, after the Toronto Blue Jays made a major free agent move on Monday.
The Jays found their slugger to go along with their own power-hitting first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.. According to multiple reports, Toronto agreed on contract terms with free agent Anthony Santander, formerly of the Baltimore Orioles. The Jays will pay Santander — who belted 44 home runs in 2024, which was second in the American League to Aaron Judge — $92.5 million over five years, according to media reports.
The Jays are reported also to be working on a contract extension with Guerrero. If the extension gets worked out by the Feb. 17 deadline imposed by the superstar himself, the new contract could set the Blue Jays back another $500 million or more, potentially, according to a CBS Sports report.
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How does this deal affect Alonso? According to a report by Joe Pantorno of AM New York, "the Blue Jays emerged last week as a legitimate threat to sign Alonso, but extension talks with Guerrero, paired with their signing of slugging outfielder Anthony Santander, suggest that Alonso is the odd man out."
Combined with the fact that other teams have shown little if any eagerness to sign Alonso, the 30-year-old former National League Rookie of the Year finds himself backed into a corner. He recently turned down a three-year offer from the Mets reported to total about $70 million, according to Pantorno's report. Alonso may now be forced to come back to the Mets and take it.
According to writer Andres Chavez of Empire Sports Media, the Mets are open to an Alonso reunion. But in light of the Toronto development, the team knows it can now insist on Alonso meeting its terms and abandoning his own stance — or risk entering the 2025 season unsigned.
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