[Déjà Bru]

This headline, and the ensuing column, made my mouth drop open:



No, more than consider it.

The Mets have to initiate the
conversation. They aren’t in a
position to wait for the phone
to ring.

General manager Billy Eppler
should take the opportunity now
to dial up some of his deal-mak-
ing brethren and find out what
the market would be for a
28-year-old slugger who on Sun-
day was named to his third All-
Star team and hit his 25th home
run, who is the only active player
other than Aaron Judge and Gian-
carlo Stanton to hit more than 50
home runs in a season, who is a
two-time Home Run Derby
champion, and who does not
have a lucrative, long-term con-
tract weighing him down.

Alonso has a $14.5 million
salary for this season and will
be a free agent after next sea-
son. Don’t you find it odd that
with owner Steve Cohen throw-
ing around megabucks at the
likes of Scherzer and Verlander
and last offseason signing Jeff
McNeil to a $50 million exten-
sion, there hasn’t been a peep
about a long-term deal for
Alonso?

Alonso is as close as the
Mets have to a captain. He’s
the face of the franchise in a
way the two Hall of Fame-
bound pitchers will never be.
Scherzer and Verlander are
hired guns. Alonso is a home-
grown Met who talks orange
and blue, sometimes profanely,
but the fans love him for being
who he is.

So why doesn’t he already
have a long-term contract?
Something doesn’t compute
there.

What would the Mets’ goals
be if they do sell off before the
deadline? With Cohen’s deep
pockets, it’s not to save money.
It would be to acquire
prospects, as they did last
month when they sent Eduardo
Escobar and $5 million to the
Angels for two young pitchers.

Paying down part of Esco-
bar’s salary allowed the Mets to
get better prospects in return.
But with Scherzer and Verlan-
der each making $43 million
per year this season and next
(Scherzer has a player option
for that much), it’s going to be
harder for the Mets to sweeten
the pot with just cash in a deal
for one of the hurlers.

So sweeten it with Pete.

Let’s say Eppler calls the As-
tros. The defending World Se-
ries champions paid Verlander
$25 million last season, but $43
million is too much for mere
mortal non-Cohen baseball bud-
gets. The Astros have suffered
multiple starting pitching in-
juries this season, putting a re-
peat in jeopardy.

Maybe they’d take back last
year’s AL Cy Young Award win-
ner for another run if the Mets
paid part of his salary. But what
kind of prospects would the
Mets get in return? Probably
not that great.

That’s where Alonso comes
in: The Mets send Alonso and
Verlander to Houston and take
back disappointing first base-
man Jose Abreu, who has strug-
gled in his first season in Hous-
ton after signing a three-year,
$58.5 million deal.

So the Mets are giving the As-
tros an ace pitcher and one of
the top home run hitters in
baseball and taking back what
has so far been a bad contract
to help even out the money.

In return, Eppler picks the
best of the best of the Houston
farm system and says, “I’ll take
that one and that one and . . . ”

It’s not entirely out of
bounds for the Mets, a team
that traded franchise superstar
Tom Seaver to the Reds in 1977
for four players.

This, of course, is just one
idea. Once the Mets let other
clubs know Alonso could be
had — could be attached to a
Verlander or Scherzer deal —
then the real negotiating can
begin.

You don’t know if you don’t
ask.

Cohen talked last week about
the need to improve the farm
system and said his wild spend-
ing is not “sustainable.” He also
lamented how long it takes to
develop prospects.

So if the Mets are going to
trade for the best prospects,
they’re going to have to make
their best offer. And that offer
has to include Pete Alonso.

Seriously? Did this man actually propose trading Alonso, "the face of the franchise," and Verlander for Abreu (.243/.292/.358) and unspecified prospects?