Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz are headed into a pivotal offseason after being longtime players with the New York Mets. The Mets are owned by billionaire Steve Cohen, who reportedly has a net worth of $23 billion. So money shouldn’t be any issue for them at all, especially after they handed out the richest contract in American sports history to Juan Soto with his fifteen-year $765 million contract. The Mets also had a $342 million payroll this past season, second to only the Los Angeles Dodgers at $350 million.
New York can easily re-sign both players without even thinking twice about it. The question is, do they really want to hand out two potential four to five-year contracts to both 31-year-olds this offseason? Neither has really shown any signs of slowing down for the most part, but would they like to take that risk for the back end of their contracts?
Like last season, it seems as if the Mets are willing to wait out Alonso’s market. Alonso ended up signing a two-year $54 million contract and opting out after a really good season. In 162 games, he was eighth in the league in home runs with 38, second in the league in runs batted in with 126, and 11th in the league with an .871 On Base Plus Slugging Percentage. Alonso was also eighth in the league this past season with a 141 Weighted Runs Created+ and is 19th in the league with a 131 wRC+ over the last two seasons.
Without Alonso, New York would have to rely on the likes of Mark Vientos, who bounced back in the second half with a 116 wRC+, but had a below-average 97 wRC+ overall in the 2025 season. Vientos has only played a combined 112 innings in his MLB career at first base in his three years in the league. The Mets could also try to swing a trade for a younger first baseman with their surplus of young pitching talent, but who would be available to acquire, and what would they be willing to give up? Should New York really rely on Vientos’ prospect pedigree to this degree and hope that he can return to the 132 wRC+ bat he was in 2024?
It would be hard to replicate Diaz’s production as he’s the best closer in all of baseball, but he’s also reportedly looking for a five-year contract like the one he signed previously. Diaz is coming off a 1.28 ERA season in which he had an absurd 38% strikeout rate, 41.5% whiff rate, all while limiting barrels at only 4.6 in 66.1 innings. Outside of Mason Miller of the San Diego Padres, this is the most prolific strikeout reliever in the sport. These guys don’t come easy, so it’ll take a pretty penny to acquire them, and the Mets obviously know all about this.
On the other hand, New York signed Devin Williams, so at worst, he can plug in as their closer. Even though he struggled in that role with the Yankees last season, and was at his best in a set-up role. So much so that it felt like he couldn’t handle the pressure of pitching in a big marketplace like New York, and his confidence was shot when he wasn’t able to generate whiffs on his changeup. Williams still possessed great strikeout stuff with a 34.7% strikeout rate at season’s end, even with a 4.79 ERA at face value.
I think the Mets should prioritize Alonso over Diaz. I’ve heard numerous opinions from various New York fans, but this seems like the best course of action. New York already has Diaz’s potential replacement in Williams, but they don’t really have a sure-fire guy to replace Alonso. It’s not going to be easy to replicate the production of one of the best power hitters in the league with his 264 career home runs, passing Darryl Strawberry for the most in Mets history.
People really underestimate how much Alonso means to New York, he’s becoming one of the most underrated players in baseball. His defense and speed are tailing off, but he’s still tearing covers off baseballs. There’s no problem with the Mets having a maximum number of years that they want to go to for him, like five, as he would be 36 and in Designated Hitter territory. It’s going to be interesting to see how all of this plays out as President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns, continuously brought up the word run prevention this offseason. New York ended up trading Brandon Nimmo because of his declining defense, and his offense has been sliding recently as well.
Circling back to Diaz, he’s one of the toughest at-bats in recent baseball memory with his electric fastball and slider, which generate so many strikeouts. His representatives seem keen on a five-year contract coming his way, but he’ll also be 36 at the end of that contract. Only three relievers are making over $50M currently, and that is Williams at $51 million, Tanner Scott at $72 million, and Josh Hader at $95 million. Diaz opted out of a five-year $102 million contract with the Mets, and now he’s back in close to uncharted territory in the reliever market.
Cohen and New York won’t want to bid against themselves, though. Will a team like the Dodgers or the Toronto Blue Jays swoop in to try to pry Diaz from the Mets, drive that price up, and give him a fifth year in his contract? New York has enough money, but Major League Baseball implemented the Cohen Tax to try to limit teams like the Mets at least a little bit.
The Mets could easily sign both of these guys back, but what if they don’t and use that money to instead sign an ace-level pitcher if they don’t find success in trading for one? The Mets have already parted with a long-time player in Nimmo, so anything can happen with this newer Stearns regime that didn’t initially trade for or re-sign Diaz.
It would be a tougher path to acquire someone at first base, and it’s hard to imagine that player can compare to the pedigree of Alonso. Williams has shown elite-level stuff from basically the beginning of his major league career, outside of this past season. This is a pill that the Mets should be able to swallow. Williams isn’t Diaz, but he’s had multiple seasons of elite production, so they can talk themselves into it.
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