Mike Petriello has a great comparison of Pete and Walker up on MLB.com today and it got me thinking about the question above.
Let's put aside Pete's status as a hometown hero and him being a face of the franchise — those are, of course, great reasons to prefer him. Walker can't compete with that, and if that's where you're invested, that's great! But I want to talk about the long-term implications.
Right now, it makes a lot more sense to sign Pete than it does Walker because both are QOed and Walker will cost you a 2nd and 5th pick (while Pete's departure nets the team a post-4th round pick) and $1mm in international bonus pool budget. Pete's contract will be longer and more expensive, and that may hurt the team long term, but losing our second-round pick is just as damaging if not moreso. At this point, I'd have to favor signing Pete over Walker.
If the Mets sign one QO'd player, e.g. Soto, the penalty for signing Walker would be a 3rd and 6th round pick and an additional $1mm in international bonus pool budget. Losing a 2nd and 3rd and having even less international budget space is similarly bad, and again, I'd favor a Pete return over Walker.
But I think that flips if Walker becomes our third QO signing. The third QO does not cost you any draft picks. (You do lose another $1m in the international bonus pool budget, but at that point, does it matter?) On the other hand, keeping Pete would cost you the compensatory 4th rounder.
I like Pete but, in this situation, I think Walker makes a lot more sense. Am I alone here?
41 comments
Last year was a down year for Pete and he was still better
Pete. Shown that he can handle the NY pressure
Pete is both better & younger than Walker. I am not concerned about saving Cohen money. Give me Pete & Soto and gallons of Yankee fan tears. Also Burnes & Manaea & Tanner Scott.
Third option-if Pete gets a bag elsewhere bring in a veteran 1B like Santana or Goldschmidt or see if you can trade for one like Mountcastle or Yandy Diaz.
Where’d you read the idea that penalties stop being handed out at 3?
I initial read that as the Mets sign Soto and Burnes. Then, I saw the IF.
The other option, and actually more likely option if we pass on Pete, is to move Vientos to 1B and sign a third baseman or convert a SS like Adames to play third.
If the Mets are moving on from Pete it needs to be for a much more significant upgrade that Walker potentially is and it’s not clear that he will be an upgrade over the next 2-3 years
And I’m not sure that upgrade exists at 1B or 3B unless Toronto is blowing it up and Vlad is open to an extension but that’s not happening
I would say sign Pete he is the first option, the only way Walker is signed is if Pete goes somewhere else. Pete performed when we needed him to and in the playoffs. How many 1B out there are going to do that and in NY? Pete did it. I say keep him.
If not Walker would be my next choice just because of his veteran presence. However don’t expect the same thing with Pete. Again just MHO.
For me, the perfect off-season would be, Soto, Fried, Walker, Castillo (via trading McNeil). And a couple of bullpen pieces further down the road. Let Manaea, Severino and Alonso walk.
I think the only way we walk from pete is with an upgrade at 3b and move mark over. Maybe a trade of some sorts helps bridge that gap
Just bring back the meat
I am so underwhelmed by Walker. He’s going to be 34 next year and has played his whole career with the Dbacks yet is clearly not the hitter Pete is. Kind of undermines the main argument not to sign Pete too, which is him not aging well. Why the heck would we sign a 34 year old 1B then if that’s a concern? Plus if Walker can be a good hitter from 30-33, why not Pete, who literally has a better career than Walker at this point? Walker could come here and struggle due to age, not being used to New York, and not being used to Citifield. At age 34 he’s got no margin for error really either. They have to bring back Pete IMO.
Sign Bregman. Move Vientos to first.
Your saying fried is better than snell?
The o ly way they do this is if Vientos plays first . That would mean Baty back up or trading for a third under control.
Sign them all, AND bring back Pete, why not?! We have the wealthiest owner in sports, why can’t we have what the Yankees were and Dodgers are. It’s been too long, and too many heart breaks. I just want to see them win it all. My dad is getting up there in age, I just want to be a grown man crying in his dad’s arms when that last out is caught. I want it for me, my kids, my friends, and all the Mets fans who have been on this rollercoaster.
None of the above
Id rather sign Pete. Id rather not completely turn into the dodgers with just a team of mercenaries.
Pete. Pete is the choice over Walker regardless of who we sign
Pete makes sense in all scenarios. PETE.
Pete is home grown. Resigning and rewarding those type of guys can help show continuity stability in your franchise/program. It builds goodwill, and also looks good to free agents thinking about playing for you.
Pete is New York battle tested. You can’t ever underestimate that factor. So many times over the years we’ve seen both New York teams bring in guys who couldn’t handle New York. Pete not only handled New York, he thrived in New York.
Pete is a proven 30+/100+ production bat in the middle of your order. He’s not perfect or flawless hitter by any stretch of the imagination, but he does mash. I think he’ll continue to mash for the majority of the term of his contract- especially with guys like Lindor and Soto hitting in front of him, and hopefully a 30+ HR Alervez hitting behind him – if the kid reaches our expectations/desires.
Pete is a solid enough defender, and can be moved to DH down the road if needed.
Pete will turn 30 in next month, Walker will be 34 in March.
Pete doesn’t cost us anything except money, and his contract isn’t going to be anything close to large enough to be clogging up Steven’s payroll over the term of the deal.
Is buehler just isnt the same post tommy john, he looked terrible all year this year and had a few ok outings in the playoffs
give me mr big meat every day
Sign Pete he’s 1 of the only reasons I watch the team
I can’t wait till FA season is over so I never have to see this goddamn debate again.
Let’s put aside all the valid arguments for keeping Pete Alonso
that’s basically how you started this post
I think Christian Walker is probably a better investment than Pete in terms of the amount of production he’ll provide per $, but the cool thing about Cohen is that we don’t have to care about that so much. There’s no trophy for payroll efficiency and Pete is *our guy*.
Uncle Steve ate a lot of money to get rid of Cano. If the Polar Bear costs a little more to sign and maybe causes the Mets to pay some tax, so be it. This investment is in a Mets hero, not a Brodie Dumb Wagenen mistake.
Pete is the reason I’m a Mets fan. I just want to keep him.
I’d rather just not sign Walker if it came down to it. He’s an aging 120 wRC+ hitter whose athleticism is the only thing that separates him from other mediocre 1B. Let someone else give him a multi-year deal.
I’d 1000% rather have Pete than Walker. I expect most teams would. The only pluses i see for Walker are he’ll be a short term commitment vs. Pete and thus have a shorter term $ commitment. Really if we miss Pete I’d rather see a stop gap like Goldy on like a one year deal with incentives to roll it to a two year deal.
Got a feeling Pete is gonna ask for more than he’s worth. Removing recency bias he’s gotten worse stats wise almost every season. And his agent is the worst in the MLB
I dont see the Mets going after Burnes, Fried or Walker. If Pete leaves, Vientos moves to first.
I’m at a loss to understand why if everyone is so down on Pete’s defense that we wouldn’t make him a DH going forward and move vientos to first, the Mets have never really had a solid DH yet.
Mets offered Pete 7 years $158 and he rejected it before last season…
The Mets are rumored to have offered Willy Adames 7 years $160.
Adames is a much better fielder and all around player than Pete. We offered him a good deal and he said no …
If Alonso leaves, Vientos moves to first.
I can’t stress this enough….FUCK PETE. Let go of your emotions and move on. There are better, cheaper, younger, and more team friendly options
If we can sign 3 quality free agents that will be here long term, I’m perfectly fine with losing draft picks and some International Pool money for a year. Those 3 players will have a much bigger impact on the team than losing 1 year of draft picks and money.
IMO they go for the sure-thing and resign Pete to round out a core of win-now players. Lindor, Nimmo ain’t getting any younger.
We’re entering prime years with Soto for the next 5 so you put the best team out there that you can in those 5 to win 1-2 World Series.
Steve Cohen has repeatedly said on the record that he doesn’t give a shit about cost, payroll, or any luxury tax penalties. [He’s worth $21 billion dollars](https://www.forbes.com/profile/steve-cohen/). I know everyone knows he’s rich but I think sometimes the absurd scale of his wealth is difficult to comprehend. Put it this way: He made $2 billion last year alone. That’s an average of $5.5 million per day. That means he’d recoup the entire 2024 payroll amount in less than 2 months.
My point is that there is only one consideration here, and that is who makes the team better. Cost is completely irrelevant. If you genuinely believe that the Mets are a better team with Christian Walker at first base than Pete Alonso, I don’t know what to tell you other than I completely disagree and urge you to look at the back of their baseball cards.