Mets analyst claims "Pete Alonso doesn't have to be a superhero" due to 4x All-Star's addition if he chose to re-sign with Steve Cohen's team

The New York Mets are still considering re-signing slugger Pete Alonso. However, a significant gap remains in the negotiations between the team and the player. Notably, the Mets recently signed Juan Soto to a $805 million, 15-year deal and inked Sean Manaea to a three-year, $75 million contract.

These major signings might delay the talks with Alonso. Mets analyst John Harper discussed how Alonso could thrive on the roster now that Soto has joined Steve Cohen's team.

"I think he's the perfect guy even more so than before. Now when you have Soto there, he doesn't have to be a superhero. You can just be a guy who hits 35, 40 home runs," the analyst said.

"I think he'll relax more slowly this year if they ever get a deal done. The problem is he's running out of places. Now with all these first basemen signing elsewhere for below market prices, what we thought were going to be market prices."

Harper also noted the role of Pete Alonso's agent, Scott Boras, in the prolonged negotiations.

"So the problem is, as we know Scott Boras man, he just does not like to give in. If he's not getting the offers that he thinks that he should get, and he probably promised Alonzo would get, he'll wait and he'll wait and he'll wait. It backfired on him last year with some guys."

John Harper also believes the situation might shift if Alonso decides to lower his market value.

"So it's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out because Boras, as we know, is not going to give in. Unless Alonso forces the issue, I can see this lasting for a while here."

Pete Alonso is competing with Alex Bregman to sign with the New York Mets

The MLB offseason has been intense, with many moves happening across Major League Baseball. Three free agents in particular — Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman and Anthony Santander — have drawn significant attention. Among them, Alonso and Bregman might be interested in signing with the same team.

However, there’s room for only one of them. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggested the Mets might be better off signing Bregman instead of Alonso.

"Arenado is not the player that Bregman is at this point. He's also three years older, but Bregman's going to cost considerably more," Rosenthal said in the "Fair Territory" podcast.

"The Mets are interesting because the whole industry believes they're going to re-sign Pete Alonso, but if you're the Mets and you're going to commit that amount of money, whatever the figure turns out to be with Alonso, you might prefer to pay Alex Bregman and then move Vientos to first base."

The Mets are currently one contract away from exceeding $1 billion in investment this offseason. Now, it remains to be seen who that final player will be.