Marlins division rivals may not bring back a top slugger

It's going to be a busy off-season for the New York Mets. As the Miami Marlins are looking for a new manager, it makes sense to see what the team's division rivals are doing at the same time. It does seem as if the Mets are headed for a major turnover, which could end up being a positive for The Fish. Of course the Mets do have the money to solve any of their issues.

The Miami Marlins could benefit from the New York Mets' off-season issues.

The New York Mets have almost their entire rotation hitting free agency. They also have a top bat in 1B Pete Alonso. Alonso is not coming off of a good platform season. He batted just .240/.329/.459, with 34 home runs and 88 RBI in 162 games and 608 AB. First basemen don't have the highest value these days, as the belief is that it's not a high demand defensive position.

Mets PBO David Stearns made that point clear recently, when he said:

"Who Pete is as a person is important. What he means to this franchise is important. Who he is as a player is also important and what he contributes on the field. There’s no magic formula to this. There’s no equation that spits out what all of that is for us. And so, there’s judgment involved. There’s evaluating the market involved. And we’ll see how this process goes throughout the offseason.”

I don't expect the Mets to pay what Alonso will want. He already rejected a more than fair $158 million extension. I don't see a scenario where any team pays him more than that. I also don't see any team making a long commitment to him. He's just too one-dimensional and with Scott Boras as his agent, I don't see him and Boras being reasonable about his actual value.

The smartest thing for Pete Alonso to do is to accept the Qualifying Offer and try to have a better platform season. There may be more money for him next season if he has a better platform season.