3 Mets trade candidates who would fetch a disappointing return

1) Pete Alonso

What can the Mets get for Pete Alonso? Remove yourself from looking at the top 100 prospects in baseball. If Alonso was having a monster year, then maybe he would fetch the Mets something great. But right now with an expiring contract and a rough start to his 2024 campaign, the beloved Mets first baseman probably won’t bring back the kind of haul we wished he could.

Completely out of the control of the Mets will be a field of other first basemen getting shopped around. The St. Louis Cardinals have played better so maybe Paul Goldschmidt stays. However, the Toronto Blue Jays could look to capitalize on the extra year of control Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has and send him somewhere else this summer. They almost have to if their intentions aren’t to keep him long term.

A wider range of power hitting first basemen, even if Alonso has the best numbers by the trade deadline, only lowers what the Mets could reasonably expect to get back for Alonso. With teams getting shy regularly at the trade deadline when it comes to parting with prospects and instead choosing the “creative” route with a platoon of lesser quality players, the Mets may be doomed to accept a lesser offer for the Polar Bear.

Here’s the good news. They don’t need to trade him at all even if they sell other parts. Keeping Alonso around slightly increases their chance to re-sign him as it removes an opportunity for him to see the greener grass on the other side of the fence. As minor as that may be, the draft pick compensation for when he inevitably turns down the qualifying offer could turn out to be far more valuable than any prospect(s) a team is willing to hand the Mets. What’s more, with the QO attached to him, the Mets better their chances of striking a deal as many teams will choose to avoid losing a draft pick of their own.