Steve Cohen: Pete Alonso negotiations were ‘exhausting’

Steve Cohen: Pete Alonso negotiations were ‘exhausting’

The New York Mets made the biggest splash of the offseason by signing Juan Soto to a 15-year mega deal. However, the Mets’ biggest free agent entering the offseason, first baseman Pete Alonso, isn’t expected to return–with the organization pivoting elsewhere to add around the fringes.

Mets owner Steve Cohen peeled back the curtain a little bit and was very candid about Pete Alonso’s negotiation process.

“We made a significant offer to Pete,” Cohen said, according to The Athletic’s Will Sammon. “He’s entitled to explore his market. That’s what he is doing. Personally, this has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation. I mean, Soto was tough — this is worse.

“I don’t like the structures that are being presented back to us. I think it’s highly asymmetric against us, and I feel strongly about it. I will never say no, you know, there’s always the possibility [of an agreement]. But the reality is we’re moving forward, and as we continue to bring in players, the reality is it becomes harder to fit Pete into what is a very expensive group of players that we already have.

“And that’s where we are, and I am being brutally honest. I don’t like the negotiations. I don’t like what’s been presented to us. Listen, maybe that changes, and certainly, I’ll always stay flexible. If it stays this way, I think we are going to have to get used to the fact that we may have to go forward with the existing players that we have.”

MLB insider Joel Sherman of the New York Post revealed that the team’s last offer for Alonso was worth in the range of $68-70 million over three years. Even when the market’s drying out for the slugger, we know that’s not enough–especially since Alonso is a Boras client.

This isn’t exactly the Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell situation … yet. The market is different for pitchers than it is for power hitters, and $23 million annually for Alonso would be the fifth-highest AAV at his position, while $68 million would make him the *checks notes* 65th-highest paid hitter in the sport.

I Can’t Believe The Mets Are Letting Pete Alonso Walk

Replacing Alonso–outside of Soto–won’t necessarily be easy either. Perhaps that’s a trade off they think they can live with. Though I am not sure that roster is good enough to compete with the Dodgers in a seven-game series without both Alonso and Soto, unless they completely out-pitch them.

I will be interested to see how the Mets act going forward, but an “exhausting” negotiation process is what can write on Scott Boras’ grave stone. He’s probably not the first individual to say that, nor is it the last … even though Cohen was able to pry away Soto for 11 times more than what they offered Alonso.

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