Even after the Mets’ reunion with Pete Alonso, they could still be back to square one — and still in the market for a first baseman — next offseason.
Maybe Alonso’s latest bet on himself — essentially what his two-year, $54 million deal with an opt out after 2025 equates to — pays off and he lands another deal with the only team he has ever played for.
But that’s also when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. could enter the picture.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the Blue Jays’ game against the Yankees on Aug. 3. Jason Szenes for the NY Post
The Blue Jays slugger will hit free agency for the first time when the 2025 campaign ends, and The Post’s Jon Heyman reported last month that Guerrero — a career .288 hitter with 160 homers and an .863 OPS — could be “seeking north of $400M and probably closer to $500M” from his next team, which could also still be the Blue Jays.
Any Mets-Guerrero potential will crumble if the Blue Jays find a way to extend their franchise cornerstone — with a Feb. 17 deadline looming, according to The Athletic.
But if Alonso opts out of his deal, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns could decide to pursue Guerrero, who will only be 26 years old and falls in the category of player Stearns tends to chase with long-term deals, as the replacement.
Stearns secured outfielder Juan Soto this offseason on a record 15-year, $765 million deal in free agency, and if the Mets decide to enter the Guerrero sweepstakes, they’ll likely also need to emerge from a potential bidding war — just without a final number as high as the one Soto, 26 years old, landed.
As The Post’s Joel Sherman noted, Alonso can’t receive the qualifying offer again next offseason, which would have forced his new team to give the Mets draft pick compensation if he rejected their offer and signed somewhere else.
Pete Alonso collects an infield single during the Mets’ game against the Dodgers in the NLCS on Oct. 20. Jason Szenes for the NY Post
But unlike this winter, when he was at the top of the market among other first basemen, Alonso could become a second choice — a consolation prize, of sorts — for teams behind Guerrero.
Alonso, whose 226 homers since 2019 trail only Aaron Judge’s 232 for most in the majors across that span, encountered a down year in 2024 — before restoring his image with some vintage playoff moments — with just 34 homers, a .240 average, a .788 OPS and his most strikeouts (172) in a season since 2019.
Guerrero finished just behind the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. for the highest batting average in the American League last year (.323) and collected a .940 OPS, 30 homers and 103 RBIs.
Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez already delivered his pitch to Guerrero, where the duo could team up with Soto, posting a photo alongside Guerrero on his Instagram story in December and later tagging both Guerrero and Soto in a follow-up post with the caption “let’s make this a trio in queens.”
Plenty has to go right in order for that to happen.
But even after Alonso’s return, that all certainly remains a possibility for now.
