Hmm, this could actually work in the favor of the Cubs? Pete Alonso, who the Cubs will reportedly try to pursue in trade this offseason with the New York Mets, has suddenly switched agents and will now be represented by super agent Scott Boras.
New York Post insider Jon Heyamn broke the news on Thursday. Alonso, who made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2019, will be a free agent following the 2024 season. The power-hitting first baseman will be 29-years-old on Opening Day and it appears as though he’s getting prepared to test the market after the end of next season. Alonso and the Mets have not made much progress on a contract extension and now with Boras in his camp it is pretty much a given that Alonso won’t be signing an extension…with anyone before free agency.
That’s just how things operate under Boras. Players that are going to make $100 million+ on a new deal just do not sign extensions before going into free agency with Boras as the agent. And that’s why this may ultimately work out for the Cubs at least in 2024.
The Mets do have a new president in David Stearns, but the team and Alonso have already been far apart in extensions talks. Also, the Mets were already floating Alonso at the trade deadline and although those discussions never got to a serious point, they now at least have a bit of intel on how much teams are willing to give up for the slugger.
With Boras on board, the Mets may now be more inclined to trade away Alonso because the chances of signing him to extension is pretty much zero. Plus, we already know that the Mets aren’t really going to try and contend until 2025 anyway.
Yes, obviously one of the major reasons Cubs fans have been excited about the Alonso trade rumors is that ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported that Alonso wants to come to the Cubs, which in turn leads you to believe he would want to sign long term on the north side of Chicago. But no matter what, you would still want Alonso on the 2024 Cubs and who knows, maybe the Mets lose some leverage in trade talks now because teams know Alonso will go to free agency and not sign beforehand.
In 2023, Alonso hit 46 home runs and had a 121 wRC+ with and .821 OPS. That was considered a down season for Alonso, who leads all MLB players with 192 home runs since breaking into the league back in 2019. The first baseman has a career 133 wRC+ and .870 OPS, which rank in the top-20 during the past five seasons.
Expect the Cubs to continue to pop up in trade rumors with Alonso all offseason long. The need and fit is there and the Cubs definitely have the farm system depth to pull off a trade with the Mets.
