Two things can be true in the broken NY Mets-Pete Alonso contract negotiations

How should New York Mets fans feel knowing Pete Alonso has reportedly rejected this many offers from the New York Mets? It’s easy to want to find a bad guy in this situation. Do we blame the player or agent for being greedy? Or perhaps it’s the team we didn’t go as far as they should have to build the best roster possible we should wag our finger at?

The latest on Alonso suggests the club has all but moved on to their Plan-B after the three-year deal worth $68-70 million was turned down. For the common folk forking out extra money on congestion pricing, it’s simple to look at these numbers and feel a little bit of fury. Realistically, fans understand professional athletes live in a world we can’t comprehend. The number on their contract isn’t always about bickering over the salary as much as it seems to be the pride of having such a lofty number attached to your name on Spotrac. Any logical person would understand your life doesn’t change much whether you’re making $70 million or $100 million.

This is true: Pete Alonso dropped the ball

I’m going to put the blame on Alonso here more than even Scott Boras because when the Polar Bear first received his extension offer in 2023, Boras wasn’t his agent. The only common denominator here is Alonso. He viewed himself differently, for a long time, than teams do in his free agent year.

I don’t want to call him greedy because any athlete in his situation would have been advised to do something similar. Alonso chose to play the game of betting on himself. He lost. Now he’s suffering the consequences financially.

This is also true: A lack of budge shows Pete Alonso wasn't a Mets priority

A narrative many ran with early on in the tenure of David Stearns was that Alonso wasn’t a guy he had interest in paying. He did, just on much different terms than the slugging first baseman believed he was worth. The Mets wouldn’t have made this many offers with the player’s representation even issuing counters if there wasn’t mutual interest in a reunion. However, they've consistently moved the goalpost on their own in regards to what they'd be willing to give him.

From a business standpoint, the Mets couldn’t have played this much better. They’ve essentially backed Alonso into a corner where the only option for him is to sign a significantly shorter deal than he wanted and at a lower rate. It’s the ugly side of fandom where you grow up believing your favorite rookies will last forever.

How the Mets respond to the rejection will say a lot about them. We know they aren’t cheap. The Juan Soto contract proves it. But are they going to simply call it a day with the offense and add to a bullpen they should have still built up further regardless of where Alonso signed?