In a sign that they have begun preparing for life without Pete Alonso, the Mets told Brett Baty and Mark Vientos to begin working out at first base early in the new year, The Post has learned.
Both players still remain viable at third base, but that Baty and Vientos were advised to begin a routine that included first base is an indicator of how the Mets plan to proceed unless there is a U-turn back to Alonso.
Vientos met with Carlos Mendoza and infield coach Mike Sarbaugh, who gave him drills to work on at both first and third base. And Vientos has been doing so in South Florida, at times with the Mets St. Lucie (Single-A) manager Luis Rivera. Baty was given instructions on working at first, second and third and has been doing so in Texas.
The Mets currently are not planning to add significantly at either first base or third base with their attention more on trying to further upgrade the bullpen.
Part of the Mets’ thinking was that if they do not retain Alonso, they wanted to see if someone from the Baty, Ronny Mauricio, Luisangel Acuna group could break out and prove themselves a cost-effective, youthful solution as Vientos did in 2024.
If not, they always have until the July trade deadline to address an issue.
Baty has not played a professional inning, minors or majors, at first base.
But the Mets began to use him late last season in the minors at second base and believe he has adaptability. Still, it is likely he would be seen as someone who gives Vientos a break at first, perhaps against a tough righty.
Vientos is more likely to become the regular first baseman. He has played 70 minor league games at first (66 starts) and 14 in the majors (nine starts).
“I haven’t seen him a lot at first base, but Mark puts a lot of work in so I think wherever he is and wherever he ends up, I think he will be just fine,” Sarbaugh recently told The Post’s Mike Puma.
With whatever knocks there have been on Alonso’s defense, he was experienced at first base. The Mets would clearly be running a risk of some level to go with mostly untested players at the position. But David Stearns has been adamant in his time running baseball operations that regardless of where the Mets take the payroll that they have to give young players annual opportunities to break through and also that a roster is a living organism that can be adjusted regularly through the trade deadline when issues arise.
Alonso remains unsigned, so it is always possible that if the Mets stay with this roster construction that they can pivot back to him at some point. But they have given indications that despite Steve Cohen’s largesse that they are operating with a budget this offseason and in the last week, in particular, with the signings of Jesse Winkler and A.J. Minter had begun to spend elsewhere.
Would Cohen hold to a tight budget if Alonso continued in the marketplace? And could both sides ever find a common ground on a contract?
In June 2023, the Mets offered Alonso a seven-year, $158 million extension that would have covered Alonso’s final arbitration season (2024) and six free agent seasons – so roughly $20 million for his last year of team control and then six years at $138 million for the free agent campaigns ($23 million on average annually). Alonso rejected that and much has changed since then. He hired Scott Boras to represent him. Cohen hired Stearns, whose philosophy has been not to give long contracts to players in their thirties (notably non-defenders at not-prime positions), so the Mets dropped their bid to three years with opt outs, but in the same $23 million average range.
Alonso turned 30 last month and is coming off his worst season, but one in which he still hit 34 homers, had a 123 OPS-plus and hit one of the biggest homers in franchise history – a three-run, ninth-inning shot off then-Milwaukee closer Devin Williams in a decisive wild card Game 3 to help the Mets advance into the Division Series.
Alonso also is popular with fans and the Mets turning away from him – especially if they do not obtain another proven bat to hit behind Juan Soto – will not generally be viewed positively.
Credit: Source link
