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Why Mets' first base situation without Pete Alonso was a $20 million nightmare
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- Why Mets' first base situation without Pete Alonso was a $20 million nightmare
Why Mets' first base situation without Pete Alonso was a $20 million nightmare originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The New York Mets surely regret how they handled last year's offseason with Pete Alonso .
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Ultimately, the first baseman signed a five-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles after setting the Mets franchise home run record.
Alonso loved Mets fans, and Mets fans loved Alonso. But New York 's front office went in a different direction.
The NL East club signed Jorge Polanco to a two-year, $40 million contract to play first base.
"Polanco remains the crux of everything that went wrong for New York over the past 10 months, never even making a formal offer to Pete Alonso and then deciding to throw $40M at a guy who had never previously played first base in his MLB career," Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller wrote.
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Polanco provided next to nothing in his first season in Queens, doing more harm than good. His -1.4 bWAR and .431 OPS in 37 games are all signs of a nightmare season.
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First base has been a revolving door this season for the Mets, and the plan to have Polanco be the everyday starter was doomed from the start. He is a natural middle infielder.
It doesn't help that Alonso is having a great first season with the Orioles, hitting 35 home runs while driving in 100 RBIs.
Perhaps the Mets would have been a more competitive, fiery team with Alonso in the lineup this year.
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