Just a day later, Pete Alonso, a Mets second-round draft pick and starting first baseman also since 2019, signed a massive five-year deal with the notoriously stingy Baltimore Orioles worth $155 million. It was soon revealed that once it was clear that Alonso was poised to get a deal for around five years with an average annual value (AAV) around $30 million, the Mets and Stearns didn’t make a formal offer to Alonso<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the finalization of D\u00edaz and Alonso\u2019s deals with their new teams, Mets fans and baseball analysts across the country have been vocal in their disapproval of the Mets\u2019 plans. Former Mets\u2019 first baseman and current SNY broadcaster Keith Hernandez<\/a> called the lack of interest in D\u00edaz and Alonso an \u201cexplosive\u2026profound\u201d decision, claiming that he was left \u201cspeechless\u201d by Stearns\u2019 actions. Ron Darling<\/a>, former Met pitcher and teammate of Hernandez and current SNY broadcaster alongside Hernandez, explained that he was \u201cflabbergasted\u201d that the Mets didn\u2019t enthusiastically pursue Alonso. Darling argued that without Alonso\u2019s daunting bat in the batting order after star right fielder Juan Soto, the Mets have \u201cnow paid, unless [they] get a bat, Juan Soto to walk 150 times a year. That\u2019s what you\u2019ve done.\u201d Jon Heyman, a New York Post baseball columnist and MLB Network insider, went as far as to say that with the departures of Alonso and D\u00edaz, the Mets \u201clook like a 70-win team.\u201d Mets fans of varying intelligence across my Instagram feed have echoed Heyman and Darling\u2019s negative sentiment, criticizing Stearns for letting a cornerstone for the Mets over the past seven seasons walk, not putting up any fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it may seem that Heyman has a point: on paper, the Mets don\u2019t have much to offer. Other than Soto, Semien, a newly signed closer in Devin Williams and the informal captain in shortstop Francisco Lindor, the Mets 40-man roster is extremely weak and porous. Despite the holes, Stearns has a plan for the Mets that, if put in place properly, will result in an incredibly successful season that goes beyond the Mets\u2019 patented meaningful September games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To see what Stearns sees, it\u2019s imperative to understand that the Mets haven\u2019t been successful since 2015. Every roster since then has failed: notably, in 2022, even though they accumulated 101 regular season wins, a three-game Wild Card series hosting the San Diego Padres sent the Mets to Canc\u00fan; and in 2024, a seemingly-fluky postseason run ended in when the Dodgers outplayed first-year manager Carlos Mendoza\u2019s Mets in six games. In recent years, even with Alonso averaging nearly 40 home runs per season and D\u00edaz pitching to a sub-3.00 ERA, the Mets haven\u2019t reached a single World Series. There have simply been too many problems around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fittingly, Stearns saw two options: the first, to target D\u00edaz and Alonso, only to end up with weak starting pitching and a weak bullpen that can\u2019t sustain itself in the playoffs after Mendoza\u2019s heavy usage throughout the regular season; the second option, to understand how overvalued D\u00edaz and Alonso really are, and instead of overspending on two slightly-above average players and hoping that they can propel the team to victory, to utilize the Mets\u2019 resources with MLB\u2019s richest owner Steve Cohen to create a well-rounded roster that can compete in October. Sounds familiar? It should, because Stearns is approaching the offseason as Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics did in their renowned 2002 Moneyball season, only with a few more hundreds of millions of dollars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Losing D\u00edaz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In case it\u2019s not clear by now, the Mets have already solved the issue of losing D\u00edaz by signing Devin Williams to a three-year, $51 million deal with $5 million yearly in deferrals<\/a>. Williams had a down year in 2025, his first in New York, pitching to a 4.79 ERA with four blown saves over 62 innings. Looking deeper into the numbers shows that the season was an outlier. From 2020 to 2024 with the Milwaukee Brewers, Williams\u2019 highest ERA in a season was 2.50 (his lowest was 0.33). For reference, with the Mets, D\u00edaz had seasons with ERAs of 5.59, 3.52 and 3.45. In 2025, despite the sub-par statistics, Williams\u2019 expected batting average against (xBA) was .195, the 95th percentile, and his expected ERA was 3.09, more than a run-and-a-half lower than his actual ERA. Moreover, as often is the case, coming to a new team, especially one with as much intensity as the Yankees, can involve time for adjusting. Williams struggled to adjust to the New York atmosphere, but once he did, he became the lights-out reliever that he consistently was in Milwaukee: from August 10 to the end of the season (including in the playoffs), Williams allowed runs in only two appearances and struck out 38 batters in just 22 innings. Though on a new team again Williams may struggle early on, expect him to return to his status as an elite closer with the Mets, getting paid $6 million fewer than D\u00edaz per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the extra money, Stearns will work to solve one of the Mets\u2019 eternally largest problems: the bullpen. Mendoza wears down his bullpen throughout the regular season, often using six or seven pitchers in a single game. A key to creating a successful roster is durability, and it starts in the bullpen. Every season in my fantasy baseball auction, I force myself to forgo the best and most expensive relievers, as every reliever has the same ceiling. But when signing the most highly-touted relievers, you pay directly for the ceiling and not for the upside. The same applies to the Mets and Stearns: there\u2019s no reason to pay directly for D\u00edaz\u2019s ceiling when, first of all, he likely won\u2019t reach it, and second of all, relievers who\u2019ll likely finish with lower ERAs and maybe worse strikeout rates than those of D\u00edaz are available for fractions of D\u00edaz\u2019s price. The Mets already have elite lefty Brooks Raley (2.47 ERA in 87.1 innings as a Met), fellow veteran southpaw A.J. Minter and former Chicago Cubs\u2019 closer Adbert Alzolay returning from injury and should seek multiple skilled, less expensive relievers going forward, hopefully two or three out of Drew Smith, Pete Fairbanks, Danny Coulombe, Chris Martin, Caleb Thielbar, David Robertson, Jason Foley and Luke Weaver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Losing Alonso<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Losing Alonso opens up multiple options for the Mets\u2019 first base spot in 2026 and for the rest of the lineup. The loss could hurt the Mets at first base, but it could also help them tremendously. Much of Alonso\u2019s value comes solely from America\u2019s longstanding obsession with \u201cthe long ball,\u201d a feat in which Alonso is prolific: in seven seasons starting at first base for the Mets, he\u2019s averaged approximately 38 home runs and 102 RBIs per season. These two stats are incredibly appealing, especially to the modern fan who goes to the ballpark wanting to see home runs, not walks, singles or anything else small-ball-related. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Alonso\u2019s cost, $31 million per year, values him as an elite first baseman, with an AAV lower than only one other first baseman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. But Alonso is only elite in the two aforementioned statistics; analyzing him in every other measure reveals his many Achilles heels. In each of the past three seasons, Alonso has finished with a well-below average in speed, arm strength and defensive range, making him one of the league\u2019s worst defenders. Not to mention, he channels his inner-Mackey Sasser every time that he attempts to throw the ball to second base. Even on offense, over the past three seasons, Alonso has averaged an on-base percentage of .332, only .16 points above the league average over that span; his batting average since 2023, .244, falls below the league average; and even with averaging 39.3 home runs over those three seasons, his OPS of .827 and 162 strikeouts per season (yes, one per game) reveals that he is a one-trick pony who has greatly declined in value since his heroic rookie season when he hit 53 home runs, drove in 120 runs and had a .941 OPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further, Alonso is already 31 years old and will be 35, somehow even slower and worse defensively than he already is, when his contract with Baltimore runs out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stearns saw Alonso\u2019s decreasing value (worsened by his past-prime age) and immediately realized that there were better deals on the table that would allow him to also improve the Mets at other positions. I see three directions in which Stearns could go for first base: the first, to sign 32-year-old Ryan O\u2019Hearn, who, after the Kansas City Royals wasted him for five seasons, has revived his career over the past three seasons, batting .277 (much better than Alonso) with a .343 OBS (also better than Alonso) and a .788 OPS (slightly worse than Alonso). O\u2019Hearn also has above-average speed and holds elite range at first base, finishing in the 89th percentile in 2025 in outs above average (OAA). The Mets could likely sign O\u2019Hearn, who also has experience at both corner outfield positions, to a two-year deal worth about $25 million total, and they would receive someone with arguably more value than Alonso and be able to pursue more expensive pieces elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The second option, to sign three-time batting champion Luis Arr\u00e1ez. In 2025 with the San Diego Padres, Arr\u00e1ez had his version of a down year, batting .292\/.327\/.392. The OBP is a little low, and it might seem that it would always be that low due to his lack of walks, but in the three previous seasons, his OBP averaged to .371, a well-above average mark. Arraez, who batted .328 from 2022 to 2024, has the best bat-to-ball skills in the league, finishing with the best strikeout rate every season since 2021. Ron Darling warned that getting rid of Alonso will invite pitchers to pitch around Soto, but acquiring Arraez (or even O\u2019Hearn, who had above-average strikeout and walk rates in 2025) and putting him behind Soto in the lineup would force pitchers to attack Soto. Arr\u00e1ez also has valuable versatility, with extensive experience at second base and some at third base and in left field, so when the Mets start to pile up injuries as they tend to do, Arr\u00e1ez could fill a void that Alonso, well, couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third option, to stay within the organization. Already on the roster the Mets have Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, primarily third basemen who\u2019ve shown sparks of power. Vientos, especially, who batted .266 with 27 home runs and a .837 OPS in 2024, could very well become an above-average power hitter with a higher average than Alonso. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Remaining within the organization also means giving prospects a chance at the big-league level. What\u2019s happened in the past\u2014drafting and developing (or trading for) exciting prospects then only giving them two or three starts per week at the big league level because a veteran free agent signing has to play\u2014cannot continue to happen. Even if the free agent were good, which they rarely are, sporadic playing time destroys the potential in the prospects. The Mets have already done this to Luisangel Acu\u00f1a and are in danger of doing it to Ronny Mauricio, as well. Ryan Clifford, whom the Mets acquired along with outfielder Drew Gilbert in 2023 when they traded Justin Verlander back to the Houston Astros, deserves a shot at first base at some point in the near future. The 22-year-old still has to work out his chasing and striking out problem, but in 139 games between AA and AAA in 2025, Clifford hit 29 home runs, drove in 93 runs and had an OPS of .826. I\u2019m not saying he\u2019s big-league ready now (he\u2019s not), but if he can prove himself at AAA early on in 2026, he should get a real shot, starting every game for a few weeks, to be the Mets\u2019 starting first baseman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-18-at-5.32.34-PM.png\")
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