{"id":20589,"date":"2024-12-24T23:38:38","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T23:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=20589"},"modified":"2024-12-24T23:38:38","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T23:38:38","slug":"breaking-following-sean-manaea-signing-mets-must-bring-pete-alonso-back-to-put-exclamation-point-on-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=20589","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Following Sean Manaea signing, Mets must bring Pete Alonso back to put exclamation point on offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"
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David Stearns has had a strong winter, but there is more work to be done<\/h2>\n
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There is still significant risk in the\u00a0Mets’ starting rotation, considering the championship expectations for the 2025 season, but by re-signing\u00a0Sean Manaea<\/strong>\u00a0they have added\u00a0front-of-the-rotation dominance that could prove crucial for them.<\/p>\n

So while\u00a0Roki Sasaki<\/strong>\u00a0looms as a wild card bonus, should the Japanese phenom\u00a0decide to sign with the Mets despite so much speculation that he prefers the Dodgers or Padres,\u00a0David Stearns<\/strong>\u00a0likely only has one major move to make this a successful offseason:<\/p>\n

Get a deal done with\u00a0Pete Alonso<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean there isn\u2019t work to be done in strengthening the bullpen or adding another bat as at least part of a fit for the DH role. It\u2019s just that Stearns doesn\u2019t seem likely to spend big for those roles.<\/p>\n

In that sense,\u00a0Alonso is the big missing piece.<\/p>\n

The addition of\u00a0Juan Soto<\/strong>\u00a0makes Alonso an especially good fit, and a necessary one as well. Soto obviously takes a big part of the offensive load off Alonso, and perhaps some of the pressure that seemed to affect the first baseman last season in his walk year. Yet Alonso’s power bat is important to add some protection and production behind the Mets’ new superstar right fielder.<\/p>\n

Clearly the Mets don\u2019t want to overpay for Alonso, and in that sense, their patience seems to be working for them, as the first base market has shrunk dramatically in the last several days with the signings of\u00a0Christian Walker<\/strong>,\u00a0Carlos Santana<\/strong>, and\u00a0Paul Goldschmidt<\/strong>\u00a0by various teams, all of them at lower-than-expected prices.<\/p>\n

As such,\u00a0Alonso seems to be running out of options. The team with the most obvious need for power, the Mariners, reportedly have major budget restrictions, while the Nationals just traded for\u00a0Nathaniel Lowe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Giants remain a possibility after trying to sign Goldschmidt, but the fact that they lost out on the veteran first baseman to the Yankees on a one-year deal tells you they\u2019re not likely to spend big on Alonso.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s looking like Pete overplayed his hand,” one major league scout told me on Monday. “Teams aren\u2019t willing to invest long-term in any big way for a right-handed-hitting first baseman in his 30s, especially coming off a so-so year.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“He should have taken the Mets offer a year ago (reportedly seven years, $158 million during the 2023 season). Now he\u2019s in a bad spot because\u00a0(Scott) Boras<\/strong>\u00a0probably told him he\u2019d get X amount of years and dollars, and when those offers aren\u2019t there we all know Scott\u2019s strategy is to play the waiting game, even though it backfired on him last winter.”<\/p>\n

More to the point, that strategy backfired on the likes of\u00a0Blake Snell<\/strong>,\u00a0Jordan Montgomery<\/strong>,\u00a0Matt Chapman<\/strong>, and\u00a0Cody Bellinger<\/strong>, all of whom waited forever and had to settle for short-term deals.<\/p>\n

So the Mets seem to be in a good spot to take advantage of the market, but waiting is also a gamble for them as there is no other obvious choice for an impact bat at first base.<\/p>\n

They could move\u00a0Mark Vientos<\/strong>\u00a0across the diamonds and sign\u00a0Alex Bregman<\/strong>\u00a0to play third base, but he\u2019s looking for a long-term deal and his numbers have declined the last couple of years — plus his power wouldn\u2019t play nearly as well at Citi Field as it did in the Astros’ ballpark with its short left-field porch.<\/p>\n

Last winter, Stearns waited and waited to sign\u00a0J.D. Martinez\u00a0<\/strong>and finally got him on something of a bargain contract. But there is more at stake here with Alonso, especially considering the expectations for the 2025 Mets.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

In a relatively short period of time, Stearns has earned the trust of Mets fans, based on what he did with the roster last year, in particular getting the most out of Manaea and\u00a0Luis Severino<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re going to have to trust that his pitching lab can get the most out of\u00a0Frankie Montas<\/strong>,\u00a0Clay Holmes<\/strong>, and\u00a0Griffin Canning<\/strong>, their free agent signings this winter.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re all projects in one sense or another, while\u00a0Kodai Senga<\/strong>, their No. 1 starter in 2023, missed almost all of last season with shoulder and calf injuries.<\/p>\n

All of that is what made re-signing Manaea so vital. And getting him for three years and $75 million, with significant deferred money, is a very good deal in a market that has had high prices for starting pitching.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Oct<\/figure>\n
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Based on what others were getting, in fact, it appeared the Mets might have to go to four years to keep Manaea, even entering his age-33 season. So perhaps the strong preference he voiced to stay in Queens helped limit the term, even if $25 million a year is still a leap of faith for a pitcher with a very inconsistent track record in the majors.<\/p>\n

The difference now, of course, is the dramatic change Manaea made with his delivery at midseason, lowering his arm angle to emulate\u00a0Chris Sale<\/strong>. With the more sidearm-like delivery, he became one of the most dominant starters in the majors over the final three months of the season, as his fastball became a swing-and-miss pitch at the top of the strike zone.<\/p>\n

As such, there is a consensus among scouts and executive I\u2019ve spoken to this offseason that Manaea should be able to sustain his new-found dominance.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s deception that\u2019s real because of the lower arm angle,” said one scout. “The ball gets on hitters faster than their eyes are telling them. There will be some adjustments that hitters make, but he has other weapons that they have to honor as well.”<\/p>\n

Adding\u00a0Walker Buehler<\/strong>, who signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox on Monday, would have been a nice move as well, but barring the signing of Sasaki, Stearns may well be done adding notable starters.<\/p>\n

As it is, with the likelihood the Mets will use a six-man rotation in 2025, they have nine potential starters: Senga, Manaea,\u00a0David Peterson<\/strong>, Montas, Holmes, Canning,\u00a0Paul Blackburn<\/strong>,\u00a0Jose Butto<\/strong>, and\u00a0Tylor Megill<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

They also have a couple of high-ceiling pitching prospects —\u00a0Brandon Sproat<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Blade Tidwell\u00a0<\/strong>— who both stalled at the Triple-A level in 2024\u00a0but could be ready to help at the big league level at some point next season.<\/p>\n

The bullpen still needs to be addressed, and while I think it would be smart to spend on an elite late-inning reliever like\u00a0Kirby Yates<\/strong>, Stearns again has earned the trust to find value in lesser-known names.<\/p>\n

More significantly, for the moment, he recognized the importance of bringing back Manaea.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s equally important he does the same with Alonso.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mets seem to be in good spot to take advantage of Pete Alonso’s market, but waiting is also a gamble for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[651,657,656,653,655,658,52,17,652,42,654],"class_list":["post-20589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-mets","tag-mets-first-base","tag-mets-free-agency","tag-mets-news","tag-mets-pete-alonso","tag-mets-sean-manaea","tag-mlb-free-agency","tag-new-york-mets","tag-ny-mets","tag-pete-alonso","tag-pete-alonso-mets"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Following Sean Manaea signing, Mets must bring Pete Alonso back to put exclamation point on offseason - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=20589\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Following Sean Manaea signing, Mets must bring Pete Alonso back to put exclamation point on offseason - 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