2 free agents and 1 trade candidate to go after if the Mets miss out on Juan Soto

The New York Mets are one of the top suitors for Juan Soto. The slugger just wrapped up an MVP-caliber campaign with the New York Yankees, batting .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 home runs and 180 wRC+. This performance with the stick earned him third place in MVP voting, behind teammate and AL MVP winner Aaron Judge and Kansas City Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr.

Soto is one of the best free agents of all time. The Mets could definitely use an upgrade in an outfield corner, and signing Soto would bring one of the best hitters in baseball to Queens. But the Mets are far from the only team going after Soto. The Yankees want to bring him back into the fold, their inter-division rival, the Boston Red Sox, could make a play for Soto, and the Los Angeles Dodgers cannot be ruled out either. There’s a very real chance that the Mets do not sign Soto.

If that happens, the Mets can use the money they could have spent on Soto by acquiring other players who will still be very productive. MLB Trade Rumors currently projects Soto to earn just over $46 million per year over 13 seasons. So, sticking around $50 million, let’s look at two free agents, along with a trade candidate the Mets can pursue as alternatives if they miss out on Juan Soto. (Note that these salary projections come from MLB Trade Rumors and their free agent predictions and arbitration projections)

Re-sign Pete Alonso

Resigning Pete Alonso should be a no-brainer. Not only has Alonso been one of baseball’s best power hitters since breaking into the league in 2019, but the Mets also do not have a good internal replacement, and Alonso is the best first baseman on the free agent market. He could be the stalwart 1B/DH for the Mets for years to come.

Alsono batted .240/.329/.459 with a .340 wOBA, and 122 wRC+. The slugger had a down season in the power department by his standards. Both his home run total of 34 and .219 isolated slugging percentage were career lows. He drew walks at a healthy 10.1% rate, along with a mediocre 24.4% strikeout rate.

But Alonso hasn’t lost any raw power. Both his 89.8 MPH exit velocity and 13% barrel rate are similar to his career averages of 90.1 MPH and 13.8%, respectively. Alonso had a .474 xSLG%, which was in the 82nd percentile of batters this year. His 18.4 HR/FB ratio was uncharacteristically low, as his career-average HR/FB ratio sits at 22.1%.

On the defensive side of the ball, Alonso only had -3 defensive runs saved and -8 outs above average. It was one of his worst years with the glove, but he is only one season removed from his best season. In 2023, Alonso had +6 defensive runs saved with only -1 OAA.

MLB Trade Rumors pin Alonso signing a five-year, $125 million contract this off-season. That comes out to an AAV of $25 million a season. The only big downside to resigning Alonso is that he is already entering his age-30 campaign. But that shouldn’t be a huge deterrent to resigning Alonso. He already has the third most home runs in Mets’ franchise history with 226. He is only 26 away from breaking Darryl Strawberry’s record, so if the Mets bring him back, he’d assuredly break the record in 2025.