On February 12, just days before the New York Mets began their 2025 spring training, news broke that slugger Pete Alonso had agreed to a two-year, $54 million contract (that includes a player opt-out after the first season) to return to Queens.
This news was received extremely well among the Mets fanbase, as the Polar Bear has become beloved in New York since making his debut in 2019. However, this contract came at the end of a long and surely grueling offseason of negotiations between Alonso’s camp and the Mets’ front office.
At times, there were some subtle and not-so-subtle jabs thrown each other’s way, and the Mets had also reportedly moved on from pursuing Alonso at one point.
All’s well that ends well, however. And during an interview Alonso did with Will Sammon of The Athletic that was quoted in an April 1 article from Yardbarker, Alonso addressed his thinking process throughout free agency.
“You have to think of what’s presented,” Alonso said about his free-agency decision. “Of course, you have to think and talk and think things over. But ultimately, this was the best decision, best place and best circumstance. Not just the history, but what we’re doing with the future. It was a very easy decision.”
“I knew everything that was going on the entire time,” Alonso added while reflecting on his free-agency journey. “There was no point where I was in the dark or wondering. For other people that didn’t have a look behind the curtain, that’s where they say, ‘Oh, it was a crazy offseason.’ No, it wasn’t. For me, I got to see the whole process — I had everything in front of me.”
It doesn’t sound like Alonso has any regrets about how the free agency process played out. Now he can focus on producing an excellent season and bringing the Mets a World Series trophy.