Just like a year ago, Pete Alonso's free agency is the talk of the Mets offseason.
The franchise leader in home runs and Edwin Diaz declined their player options to explore free agency ahead of the 2026 season. Both players are the biggest names potentially leaving the organization and president of baseball operations David Stearns was asked about both when he met with the media on Tuesday night at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas.
"We love both Pete and Edwin. They've been great representatives of the organization," Stearns said. "We'd love to have them both back. At this stage of the offseason, it’s really tough to predict any outcomes, but certainly, we would love to have both those guys back."
For Alonso in particular, he and the Mets did this dance before, when it took until the end of February for both sides to agree on a new deal ahead of the 2025 season. The Mets made minor moves, like the re-signing of Jesse Winker, to get their offseason moves started as negotiations between the first baseman and the team continued.
Stearns is in a similar position after a disappointing 2025. There are holes to fill on the roster and, for now, first base is one of them. But Stearns says patience is needed during this time.
"You’d always love clarity early in the process. Sometimes that’s not realistic," Stearns said of his timeline. "Offseasons are really long and can be tough at times in November when we’re all really excited to get going and standing here in the GM Meetings….but a lot of signings occur in January, February, and March. Offseasons now go into spring training and we have to recognize that, be patient and let the offseason play out."
At his end-of-season presser, Stearns emphasized run prevention and defense as areas the Mets needed to improve on. He was asked if Alonso's defense would be a part of his evaluation of the slugger.
"All parts of player contribution inform how we view the player," he said. "For a position player, that’s certainly going to include offense and what they do in the box and what they do defensively. It also includes what they mean to us off the field, what they meant to us in the clubhouse and in the community. All that gets factored in with every player and Pete's no different."
Stearns said all of the returning Mets players need to improve defensively and that it will be an emphasis in the offseason, spring training and as the season rolls on.
"The brand of baseball, the brand of defense that we played over the last two months of the season, was not close to good enough," Stearns said. "It has to get better."
Stearns was asked if he believes Alonso can improve his defense at first, and the second-year Met executive said he does because Alonso has shown it in the past and that he's a "motivated, dedicated player."
But what if Alono doesn't return? What will be Stearns and the Mets' plan for first base?
Stearns was confident that the Mets would be able to pivot, but reiterated how early in the offseason it is.
"We have internal options. We have younger players who deserve some more opportunity," Stearns said. "We have players that we can move around positionally and also explore outside [the organization] there, but all that is premature. We’ll see how the offseason progresses and go from there."
