Brandon Nimmo is a Ranger, Edwin Diaz is a Dodger, and now Pete Alonso is headed to Baltimore.
The New York Mets’ offseason took another massive hit on Wednesday afternoon, with the franchise’s home run king signing a five-year, $155 million deal with the Orioles. It ends his seven-year reign in Queens, with another massive void being created within David Stearns’ roster.
Alonso departs as the Mets’ all-time leader in home runs with 264 career home runs, and it comes just one day after their star closer jumped ship to join the powerhouse Dodgers on a three-year, $69 million pact.
The Orioles took the plunge that Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns refused to make by offering Alonso a five-year deal. The 31-year-old had been looking for a significant multi-year deal since last winter, when he originally hit the free-agent market, but it was an ask too great for New York’s brass.
In fact, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the Mets never even made Alonso an offer this winter, as it became abundantly clear that he was going to receive offers that exceeded anything they thought about putting forth. Therefore, there was never really any sort of interest in keeping Alonso in Queens for the long term.
The only thing that helped them last winter was that Alonso was coming off the worst season of his career, and a thin market ultimately led to a temporary reunion in the form of a two-year, $54 million deal, which he opted out of following the 2025 season after he hit 38 home runs with 126 RBI. Such production greatly improved his prospects, as did the compromise that he would take more at-bats as a designated hitter rather than a declining defensive first baseman.
Still, the Mets were reportedly unwilling to go more than three years on a contract offer this winter. Meanwhile, the Orioles’ big-game hunting immediately made them one of the favorites for Alonso as they pursued a big bat. Earlier this week, they lost out on Kyle Schwarber despite offering him the identical five years, $150 million that he took to stay with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Unless the Mets see Mark Vientos as a first-base option, which is a significant gamble given his struggles at the plate this past season, Stearns now has to find an everyday first baseman and a corner outfielder to replace Nimmo after he was dealt to the Rangers for Marcus Semien last month.
New York has been linked with Cody Bellinger, who can play both of those positions, and they have checked in on left fielder Kyle Tucker.
Regardless, Stearns is truly beginning to make his mark on a team he took over prior to the 2023 season. Nimmo was drafted by the Mets in 2011 and spent a decade in the pros with them. Alonso was drafted in 2016 and made his MLB debut three years later, where he set an MLB rookie record with 53 home runs.
He eclipsed the 40-home-run mark three times in his Mets career, which is as many as the franchise had before he arrived (Todd Hundley in 1996, Mike Piazza in 1999, Carlos Beltran in 2006). For all intents and purposes, he was supposed to be what had eluded the franchise for its first six decades of existence: A legitimate offensive homegrown star who spent the entirety of his career in Queens.
Stearns, however, ensured that did not happen, and now Alonso joins an Orioles club that will try to keep pace with the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and defending AL champion Toronto Blue Jays in a loaded American League East.
