Pete Alonso is staying in Queens, and as a result, the Mets give themselves a massive upgrade over the alternative.
By bringing back their homegrown slugger, New York pencils in one of the most reliable home run hitters in the game since making his debut in 2019, one who hit 34 home runs in a down year last season. As a result, Mark Vientos can stay at third base, and the Mets will have a proven power hitter at a key corner infield spot instead of the likes of Brett Baty.
Regardless of Alonso’s disappointing 2024, his offensive ability is undeniable, even if it isn’t what it was in 2022. At just 30 years, old, Alonso certainly can return to 2022 form, and raises the team’s ceiling in terms of run production.
How much has the ceiling been raised? With Alonso in the fold, likely serving as protection behind the team’s new superstar in Juan Soto, the Mets have a chance to have one of the best lineups in baseball, and the franchise’s best in nearly two decades.
With Alonso back, the top half of New York’s lineup is incredibly potent, sporting two MVP candidates in Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, a slugger in Alonso that is just two seasons removed from hitting 46 bombs, and a potential budding star in Mark Vientos, who finished 2024 with 27 home runs, an .837 OPS, and a whopping .998 OPS in the playoffs that has fans drooling over the 25-year-old’s future.
Add in a potentially healthy Brandon Nimmo, who is just a year removed from a 4-win season (per WAR) and perhaps a bounceback campaign by hyped youngster Francisco Alvarez (who battled injury after tearing a ligament in this thumb last April), and suddenly, the Mets could have the best lineup in the sport outside of the Dodgers, and their best since 2006.
The 2006 Mets were a top-seven team in the league in nearly every meaningful offensive category, riding a 40-homer, 8.2 WAR season from Carlos Beltran, 38 homers and a .909 OPS from Carlos Delgado, a .300 hitter and league-leading 64 stolen bases from Jose Reyes, and another stellar season from David Wright. It’s not outlandish to wonder if the 2025 Mets could be even better.
Beltran was a monster for New York in 2006, and last season, Juan Soto matched Beltran’s homer total while exceeding him in OPS. There’s your offensive leader. Alonso can certainly reach 38 home runs and match Delgado’s power from that ’06 campaign. Lindor isn’t stealing 60-plus bases, but he is a better hitter than Reyes who will still swipe 30 bags, providing incredible production at the top of the order. At third base, with another offseason to develop, is it out of the question for Vientos to flirt with Wright’s production from 2006, at least from a home run, RBI, and OPS standpoint? With the protection surrounding him in the lineup, it’s not farfetched.
Alvarez can certainly surpass Paul Lo Duca’s power, as he hit just five home runs in 2006 with a .783 OPS, though matching Lo Duca’s contact and on-base ability will require major strides in one offseason. But the power is there, as is the potential to grow at just 23 years old. Second base is a question, and Jose Valentin had a very solid season for New York in 2006, so whether it is Jeff McNeil or Luisangel Acuna, it will be a challenge to match or surpass that production. But the Mets could arguably be better at nearly every other position offensively, and they could be set up to be even better than the 2006 team that won 97 games and came one win short of a pennant.
The starting pitching is still a question mark, but as for the lineup, David Stearns couldn’t have done much more to set the Mets up for memorable success in 2025.