David Stearns explains why Mets are ‘thrilled’ to re-sign Pete Alonso: ‘He makes us a better team’

The Mets’ 2024 season officially came to an end on October 20, with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning Game 6 of the NLCS to close out what had been a magical run for New York. From that day on, questions about Pete Alonso’s future in Queens took center stage as the slugging first baseman hit the free agent market.

But that time of uncertainty officially came to an end on Wednesday, 115 days since the Mets offseason began, as Alonso passed his physical and his two-year, $54 million contract — which includes a player option for 2026 — was announced by the club.

Shortly after the deal was announced, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns addressed the media assembled in Port St. Lucie, Fla., explaining how excited the Mets are to have Alonso back and how he believes that feeling is mutual between the team and player.

“He makes us a better team,” Stearns said. “There’s no question he makes us a better team. We’re in a spot where we feel like we’ve got a really good team. We’re tying to win as many games as possible. Pete makes us better.”

The negotiations were arduous at times, and there were moments were it seemed like another club, perhaps the Toronto Blue Jays, would sign Alonso away from the Mets before he had a chance to break the franchise’s all-time home run record (Alonso is currently 26 homers behind Darryl Strawberry for the franchise mark).

Ultimately, as Stearns explained, both sides wanted to get a deal done and eventually a common ground was found, thanks in part to an in-person meeting in Tampa early last week.

“I think both parties wanted to get it done, and that’s a really good foundation for a deal,” Stearns said. “ We’re thrilled to have Pete back. I think Pete is thrilled to be back. He was here briefly the other day for his physical and you could see the genuine excitement that he had to be back in the building, and we’re really happy we were able to make it happen.

“(At the meeting in Tampa) I think we just wanted to ensure that he knew we wanted him back, and I think he wanted to express the same to us. I think he wanted to express his desire to come back, and it was important for both sides to hear that. These are long negotiations, there’s a lot of back and forth, and if you’re going to make a deal, I think it’s important for both sides to really feel and hear that both sides are very invested in the deal.”

As the negotiations with Alonso dragged on and on, the club still had other needs to fill, and did so by re-signing Jesse Winker and bringing in left-handed reliever A.J. Minter. Around that same time, owner Steve Cohen expressed his frustration with the negotiations during the club’s Amazin’ Day event at Citi Field.

At that juncture, per Stearns, there was a real possibility that Alonso could end up in another uniform.

But at the end of the day, both Alonso and the Mets reached a compromise to keep the slugger in Queens.

“At that point in time, I would have said that there was a very real possibility that he was going to end up elsewhere, but ultimately we’re thrilled that we were able to continue discussion and get a deal done,” said Stearns, who later acknowledged that free agency can be “kind of a weird thing.”

“Pete had earned the right to evaluate other opportunities,” Stearns said. “We were certainly active in the free agent market this year in a variety of different ways, and so ultimately, I think both sides felt like this was the right resolution, and we’re certainly happy that we got there.”