Rivals don't see New York Mets spending on Vladimir Guerrero Jr., per insider

New York Mets fans are riding high heading into the 2025 regular season after team owner Steve Cohen gave Juan Soto to the richest contract in sports history and brought back slugging first baseman Pete Alonso. The Mets also retained some key members of last season's supporting cast that went all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS.

But what about the long-term future at the first base position?

Alonso signed a two-year, $54 million deal and can opt-out following 2025. So if the Mets can retain him or go after another big name; right? Not necessarily, according to one MLB insider who spoke to rivals around the game about the Mets chances of landing superstar first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. next offseason.

https://t.co/n6XpzVyvml. MLB notes: One rival GM thinks Vlad is worth $500M (not deferred) but folks think Mets/Stearns won’t do it plus notes on Chapman, Witt Jr. and more
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 14, 2025

Despite the fact that Guerrero is still just 25-years-old, The New York Post's Jon Heyman says the belief amongst baseball people is that Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns will not dish out the money to ink Guerrero in free agency next year.

After all, the Mets spent $765 million on Soto with the potential future value equating to the $805 million range if Soto decides to exercise his opt-out clause after the fifth season. For that, the Mets don't have too much flexibility in the coming years to sign any additional record-setting deals that exceed $500 million.

Per Heyman and Joel Sherman of The New York Post, Guerrero, who is heading into his contract year, turned down a $500 million extension from the Toronto Blue Jays that had a significant amount of deferred money (worth between $400 million and $450 million). As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported, Guerrero was asking for $500 million straight up from Toronto without deferred money.

The word is that Guerrero loves playing for the Blue Jays, so there is a possibility that they are able to re-sign him in free agency next winter. The Mets were never going to bank on netting Guerrero for their 2025, 2026 or future rosters given how much he will cost in the long-run.

As for Alonso, he will likely set the Mets' home run record of 253 this season if he stays healthy. With just 27 homers to go until he reaches this mark, Alonso is on the cusp of etching his name as the franchise leader in this category.

Sources: Mets offered Pete Alonso 3-years, $85 million that included heavy deferrals and opt-outs after first 2 seasons

He instead chose 2-years, $54 mill with opt-out after 2025

Details:https://t.co/fc3wPN090I
— Pat Ragazzo (@ragazzoreport) February 6, 2025

If Alonso has a big season, it will be hard for the Mets to let him walk on the open market, as we just saw this past offseason. The 30-year-old means a lot to the organization and provides protection in the lineup for Soto, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and others.

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