Free agent first baseman Pete Alonso remains unsigned less than a week from February, and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen got ‘brutally honest’ during an event Saturday about winter negotiations with the team’s longtime slugger.
With fans chanting ‘we want Pete’ during Cohen’s panel at Citi FIeld with president David Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza, the Mets owner took the mic and explained his frustrations with efforts to bring Alonso back.
‘Personally, this has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation,’ Cohen said. ‘(Juan) Soto was tough, this is worse.’
The Mets signed Soto to a 15-year, $765 million deal in December, the largest contract in sports history. Alonso is also represented by Soto’s agent Scott Boras.
‘We’ve made a significant offer to Pete,’ Cohen said. ‘I don’t like the structures that are being presented back to us. I think it’s highly asymmetrical against us and I feel strongly about it.’
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
Drafted by the Mets in 2016, Alonso made his big-league debut in 2019 and set the MLB rookie record with 53 home runs. In six seasons with the Mets, Alonso hit 226 home runs – third on the club’s all-time list – and became one of the team’s most beloved players in recent history.
‘I will never say no, there’s always the possibility. But the reality is we’re moving forward and we continue to bring in players,’ Cohen said Saturday. ‘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. …
‘I don’t like the negotiations. I don’t like what’s been presented to us and maybe that changes – and certainly I’ll always stay flexible – but if it stays this way, I think we’re going to have to get used to the fact that we may have to move forward with the existing players that we have.’
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.