Pete Alonso opted to sign a shorter-term deal with a higher first-year value to stay with the Mets.
Alonso agreed to terms on a two-year, $54 million contract with an opt-out after year one on Wednesday night by passing up another offer from the Mets, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported.
The Mets had offered a three-year, $71 million deal as well to keep Alonso in Queens.
Nevertheless, the first baseman agreed to the shorter contract — which includes an opt-out clause for the second year and will pay him $30 million in the first year — betting on himself to earn a longer-term deal with his play next season.
The decision follows the tactics that other Scott Boras clients have followed, with Heyman pointing out that Blake Snell, Carlos Correa and Matt Chapman have all followed similar paths and have ended up with multi-year contracts the next year.
Mets fans, ownership and Alonso himself are likely all happy to finally have this put to bed after an extended offseason of contract negotiations dragging on.
Alonso has been the face of the Mets after playing his entire career with the organization, which selected him in the second round of the 2016 MLB Draft.
The slugger has hit 226 home runs dating back to 2019, which ranks second only behind another New York slugger, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (232).
He’s also coming off a season in which his regular season left a bit to be desired but he enshrined himself into the hearts of Mets fans even more with his postseason performance, which included his game-winning home run against the Brewers in Game 3 of the wild-card round.
The free agent market never panned out quite the way Alonso likely belieived it would, but now he returns to a Mets lineup that now includes Juan Soto, who the Mets signed earlier this offseason to a record-breaking 15-year, $765 million contract.
