Mets will have a hard time selling a Peter Alonso trade regardless of return

The New York Mets refuse to promote Peter Alonso. If this is part of a plan to trade him in the offseason without exposing him too soon, the fans have every right to be upset.

The more we sink our teeth into the Peter Alonso situation, the more it feels like the New York Mets plan to trade him this offseason. Why else would they keep him in the minor leagues? What other reasons would they have to continue to employ an army of undead first basemen at the major league level?

If the Mets do plan to trade Alonso, they will have to face a new kind of wrath from the fans. No matter what they get back for the young slugger, I can’t imagine anyone accepting the move.

Alonso is certainly more known among the Mets community and not a prospect that would land them a J.T. Realmuto type player or higher in a one-for-one swap. His defensive limitation in both ability and position is the reason behind this.

That doesn’t mean Alonso is a waste on the trade market. In the right circumstance, he could bring in a stellar major league player. The challenge the Mets would face is finding a taker for an unproven big league player without much athleticism aside from a home run swing. Mark Reynolds waited in free agency forever this past offseason. Guys like this aren’t as rich of a commodity in 2018.

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Regardless of this, many have fallen in love with Alonso already. I don’t blame them. No one on the big league team will come close to 30 home runs or 100 RBI. He has surpassed both albeit in the Double-A and Triple-A level.

This is still not an achievement to take lightly. Few men ever have the kind of season on the farm like the one Alonso is having.

Last week, Alonso’s agents spoke up about the disappointment in their client’s lack of a promotion. It was a cousin of the Jacob deGrom ordeal around the All-Star Break when his representative suggested the Mets trade Big Jake or sign him to an extension. The difference here is that Alonso has not made it above the Triple-A level. For a time, he even struggled in Las Vegas.

One theory I have heard about this lack of promotion is that the Mets would prefer not to expose Alonso to the big leagues to show off his weaknesses. The reason for this is to trade him in the offseason.

The Wilpons are clearly unsure where to find the pulse of the fans. For all we know, they have no clue how attached many are to Alonso already. With the Internet, fans know more and more about the minor leaguers and we can more easily plan for the future. Alonso is already on rosters in fantasy baseball keeper leagues. Surely, at least one person already owns an Alonso Mets jersey.

There’s no move the Mets could make which involves an Alonso trade that would appease the fans. Even a separate transaction, like signing Manny Machado, would raise the question of “then why trade Alonso?”

No rumor exists to suggest Alonso actually does want to get traded or that the Mets have interest in it. However, there’s some faded writing on the wall and a whole lot of fighting before this relationship has even begun. To me, this suggests a bumpy road ahead.

Next. Is Andrew McCutchen following in Todd Frazier's path?

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And as we’ve seen countless times in 2018, the Wilpons are prepared to avoid whatever they can.

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