Pete Alonso has the last laugh after rejecting NY Mets extension offer 2 years ago

Pete Alonso will make $155 million from the Baltimore Orioles over the next five years. Never formally receiving any offer from the New York Mets, he has to be smiling ear-to-ear knowing that a once questionable call in the summer of 2023 turned out to be the right financial call for him.

As the Mets were fighting for air, they were willing to talk about a long-term deal with their slugging first baseman. He reportedly turned down a 7-year deal worth $158 million. This was pre-Scott Boras.

Jon Heyman was quick to point out how good the Polar Bear has it. By rejecting the previous offer, he’ll make $205 million instead over the same 7 year period.

Pete Alonso was right for rejecting $158 million from the Mets after all

In hindsight, Alonso may have played the free agent game perfectly. He played out the 2024 season with free agency looming, only to put together a gravely disappointing year. A lengthy free agent process which had the Mets bidding against only the Toronto Blue Jays in the end, he took his $30 million for a season and ended up putting together a typical Alonso season in 2025 which led to the deal from the Orioles.

Alonso bet on himself, failed, and received the best guidance he could have possibly gotten from baseball’s supervillain agent, Scott Boras. Several Boras clients have gone down similar paths with shorter deals only to later get rewarded with larger ones. Cody Bellinger is bound to follow a similar path. Alex Bregman as well this offseason.

Matt Chapman is a guy who ended up getting rewarded with a longer and bigger deal after initially agreeing to a shorter one with the San Francisco Giants. They ripped up the contract and extended him before he ever got to free agency again.

The fact the Mets never even gave Alonso another contract offer shows exactly how David Stearns felt about him all along. Only a two-year deal last offseason with a pay decrease in year two, there was never much of a chance at a long-term relationship.

An extra $47 million going into Alonso’s infant son’s 529-B account, the only person laughing now is the Polar Bear all the way to the bank.