Why Pete Alonso should prioritize the Mets over money

Pete Alonso, a free agent for the first time in his career, is entitled to continue exploring the market to see what else is out there. He earned that right with his six years of MLB service time. But by now, he's also likely been humbled by the lukewarm interest in his future services. He might not agree with the general assessment of his value, but as other free-agent first basemen have flown off the board, Alonso no longer has the upper hand or the luxury of competing for top dollar.

With his options dwindling, it’s long past time for Alonso to decide what is most important: his legacy or his contract. 

The former involves breaking New York Mets records as a beloved homegrown slugger. The latter could mean making more money elsewhere, but perhaps at the expense of having a more memorable career.

Alonso has explored the market for three months, and we still have no evidence to suggest that any team has made him an offer that even sniffs Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s salary of $28.5 million in 2025, which is currently the highest average annual value for a first baseman in Major League Baseball. If Alonso and his agent Scott Boras thought they would set a new ceiling for first basemen, or even come close, they surely know by now that that won’t be the case. Really, they should have known that by August or September.

The Polar Bear picked a bad time to have a dull regular season. Prior to his series-winning home run versus Milwaukee, Alonso was stumbling into free agency by whiffing with the pressure dialed up. He batted just .191 in high-leverage situations, continuing a steady drop-off in such at-bats in recent seasons. He sported a career-best 1.099 OPS with runners in scoring position in 2022. That figure fell to a