The Mets and have been in a staredown for a while but it seems the club is blinking. reports that they now expect him to sign elsewhere, with todays with part of a plan to spread money around to various alternatives. Earlier today, reported that Alonsos market was heating up, with the Blue Jays and Mets involved, as well as a third unidentified team. Alonso and the Mets have clearly had mutual interest in reaching a new deal for a long time, but without the ability to agree on a price point. The club reportedly offered him a seven-year, $158MM extension in the summer of 2023, but a deal didnt get done. Since then, there have been changes on both sides of the negotiations. The Mets hired David Stearns to replace Billy Eppler atop their baseball operations department in September of 2023, with Alonso then hiring Scott Boras the following month. During the 2024 season, the sides generally expre sed admiration for each other but never seemed to make much effort to get an extension done. Alonso turned down a qualifying offer and became a free agent. Though he was connected to various teams in recent months, he never seemed to get a deal to his liking. Alonsos camp reportedly pivoted to a short-term deal, pitching the Mets a three-year pact with opt-outs. The Mets seemed to be somewhat amenable to this framework but a gap on the money still prevented a deal from coming together. In recent weeks, the Mets have also been connected to players like Winker, , , , and . They also reportedly offered a two-year deal before he returned to the Dodgers on a three-year pact. Martinos report compares the Mets current plans to those of the Yankees after mi sing out on , spreading money around to various players as opposed to one big splash. After Soto went to the Mets, the Yankees gave out deals to and , as well as trading for and . They Joe Mantiply Jersey could have done some of those moves in conjunction with Soto but perhaps were more aggre sive in those areas since they hadnt tied up their resources with the one mega deal. The Winker signing alone doesnt stop the Mets from bringing back Alonso, as the two coexisted on the roster in 2024, with Alonso the regular at first as Winker spent time in the outfield corners and designated hitter slot. But there has been some reporting that the club wants to use some internal options at the corners. was the regular third baseman last year and had a breakout year at the plate, but with subpar defensive metrics. He could perhaps move over to first, while the Mets use , and to cover third base. Perhaps things will change in the coming days but it now seems po sible that the Mets are indeed prepared to walk away from Alonso. The earlier reporting from The Athletic indicated the Mets were in talks with various players and didnt want the stalled Alonso negotiations to get in their way. While Winker doesnt strictly block the path for Alonso to come back to Queens, it does seem to signal that the Mets are prepared to move on. If it does indeed come to pa s, it will be a surprisingly lackluster end to the Mets-Alonso relationship. He was a homegrown star with some New York roots and come up through the clubs system after being selected in the second round of the 2016 draft. He debuted with a big splash in 2019, hitting 53 home runs and also winning the home run derby. That campaign is now widely viewed as the juiced ball season, but Alonso continued to be a big homer threat in subsequent years. Alonso now has 226 home runs over the past six seasons, second only to in that time. He won another derby title in 2021 and was a staple of the club over their recent history, not having played le s than 152 games in any full season. During that time, the Mets went from a punchline to a powerhouse. While they were previously known for having middling budgets and results, Steve Cohen purchased the club ahead of the 2021 season and made them one of the top spenders in the league. They have made the playoffs in two of the past three years, with Alonso playing the hero last year. He hit four home runs in 13 playoff games just a few months ago, including the series-flipping homer off Williams to get the Mets past the Brewers and out of the Wild Card round. But his star power in the media and general public seemed to outpace his popularity in todays analytically-inclined front offices. While the home run power has been real, Alonsos other contributions have been muted. His walk rates have been decent but not outstanding, hes not a burner on the basepaths and his defense hasnt been well regarded. His overall offense has also declined. While he hit .261/.349/.535 for a 137 wRC+ through 2022, he slashed just .229/.324/.480 for a 121 wRC+. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 2.1 wins above replacement last year, a solid but not elite number. There were 119 position players who were at 2.2 fWAR or higher last year. It therefore seemed po sible from the start of the offseason that Alonso would find his offers lacking in free agency. As part of list, we considered predicting Alonso for a deal along the lines of the three years and $80MM that Bellinger got from the Cubs last year after he lingered in free agency into February. We backed down from that prediction, putting 5/$125MM on Alonso, but it now appears he may well end up getting something like that deal. It just might be somewhere other than Queens. Its a bit of a surprising pivot, as the Mets have not been shy about spending since Cohen bought the team. While Stearns was in Milwaukee, he never spent a lot of money on first basemen, but he never had the resources he now has. Despite the deeper bank account, it still seems as though Stearns would prefer to invest in ways he considers wise. The club also didnt play at the top of the starting pitching market, not signing guys like Fried or , instead taking risks on guys like and . Montas is coming off a down year while Holmes will be trying to pivot from the bullpen to the rotation. All this will seemingly leave Alonso looking elsewhere for his next gig, with Toronto one po sibility. The Jays already have a first baseman in but it doesnt appear as though the plan would be to trade him. Per the reporting from The Athletic, the plan would be for Guerrero and Alonso to share first base and DH, with Guerrero occasionally cro sing the diamond to play third base. Though the article from The Athletic says the Jays would prefer to hang onto Guerrero, Rosenthal made and more emphatically shot down the po sibility of Guerrero being traded. Though the fit would be a bit awkward, the Jays could use the power. Torontos offense was close to league average last year, but a lot of that was thanks to having a walk rate that was bested by only six other teams. In the home run department, they were actually one the worst clubs, ahead of just the Marlins, Rays, Nationals and White Sox. They dont really have a strict designated hitter, which perhaps provides a path for Alonso and Guerrero to share a lineup. was their primary DH for the first half of last year but he was traded to the Mariners at the deadline. It would make it a bit harder for the club to rest someone like , but it seems the Jays have some openne s to it regardle s. Guerrero taking the hot corner could allow greater flexibility, though he only has 104 innings there over the past five seasons. Most of that came late last year as the Jays were playing out the string on a lost season. Its unclear how much willingne s they have to put Guerrero there in meaningful games. Financially, it seems the club still has powder dry. They reportedly had a strong offer on the table for Burnes as of a few weeks ago, before he signed with the Diamondbacks. Since then, they signed to a three-year, $33MM deal, but that is surely well shy of what they were willing to pay Burnes. Its theoretically po sible that signing Alonso could give the Jays some cover for the event they cant sign Guerrero, an impending free agent, to an extension. But it seems highly likely that Alonso will be securing a deal with the ability to opt out after 2025, meaning he would only stick around for 2026 if he has a down year. They would likely prefer to have Guerrero locked up long term, since hes significantly younger than Alonso, while seeing Pete walk away earlier. There are surely other clubs in the mix as well. Alonso has been connected to the Giants, Red Sox and Angels in recent weeks. Teams like the Tigers, Athletics and Mariners make sense as speculative fits. Since Alonso rejected a QO, the Mets will receive a draft pick after the fourth round if he signs elsewhere. The for the signing club will depend on their revenue-sharing status and whether they paid the competitive balance tax last year. Perhaps we will have clarity soon as the staring contest with the Mets appears to be ending. Slade Cecconi Jersey