David Stearns says Mets will have the 'resources' to re-sign Pete Alonso

With Juan Soto’s signing still not yet official, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns would not comment about the reported mega-deal that will see the superstar land in Queens. 

Of course, Stearns’s avoidance of speaking about the 15-year, $765 million signing that shook baseball on Sunday didn’t apply to first baseman Pete Alonso’s free agency. 

“We’d love to bring Pete back,” Stearns said from the MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas on Monday. “Pete’s been a great Met, he’s had some enormous hits for us and we’ll see where that goes.”

And even with the large outlying of capital to sign Soto out there, but not confirmed by the Mets officially, Stearns indicated there is room in the budget to re-sign Alonso.

“I think our ownership has consistently demonstrated that there’s going to be resources when we need them,” he said. “There is the ability for us to make baseball moves when we think that they’re there to improve the team. And we’re gonna continue to pursue a wide variety of areas to continue to improve our team.”

When speaking about the offseason plans in general, Stearns said the club still has “a lot of work to do.”

“We’ve got a lot of conversations ongoing, free agency and trade,” he said. “I think this has the potential for the industry to be a pretty active Winter Meetings and that’s a good thing.

“We’re having a lot of conversations, we’ll see where it goes. But, look, we’ve got a lot of offseason left. We’ve got a chance to continue to make this team better and that’s where our priority is."

Stearns added that the Mets are in the process of “checking some of the boxes that we came into the offseason wanting to check” and they are going to “continue to do that.” 

“I think really we have the ability to add to all segments of our team and it’s just finding the right deal and the right player,” he continued. “We can continue to add to our pitching staff and we still have places in our position player grouping where we think some additions can make sense as well.”

Who is on first?

While Mark Vientos made himself a regular at third base last season, there is the possibility the soon-to-be 25-year-old would make a switch to first if Alonso were to sign elsewhere.

“Mark did a tremendous job for us at third, we’re very comfortable with him there and certainly as of now we see him as our third baseman,” Stearns said when asked about that possibility.

Stearns said that he believes Vientos’ focus “right now is and should continue to be third base.”

“And if at some point that changes, we’re certainly gonna have a conversation with him,” he continued.

In looking at first base, Stearns said the organization values defense at the position and that is part of their decision-making process.

“I thought Pete played a very nice first base last year,” Stearns said. “He was very good around the bag, helped out our infielders a lot and that’s part of our equation and part of our evaluation of the position.”

When asked if that means the Mets’ starting first baseman is not on the roster, the president of baseball ops said, “I don’t know.”

“We’ve got a long way before we have to make the decision. I’m confident by opening day we’ll have a starting first baseman,” he said before breaking into a slight smile.

With Vientos viewed as the third baseman, what does that mean for Brett Baty, who broke camp as the starter at the hot corner last year before struggles at the plate had him spend the remainder of the campaign at Triple-A Syracuse?

"Brett did a great job last year of creating some positional versatility for himself,” Stearns said about the 25-year-old Baty getting playing time at second base and in the outfield in the minors. “We feel comfortable with him at second base. I think he has the ability to flex into the outfield if we need him to do that.

“I think Brett has done a really nice job of giving himself some options in different ways he can impact the team.”

Stearns said that Baty's ability to play multiple positions is a very valuable skillset to have and that he could "potentially" fill the role of utilityman on the Mets' roster.