Most MLB executives have their tactics when it comes to their media sessions. With Ross Atkins, Blue Jays fans have grown accustomed to pretty generic, all-encompassing answers. You can’t always blame him; it usually behooves him to keep things close to the vest. You don’t want to leak everything you know.

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is one of the more outspoken ones, though. Cohen put that on display Saturday afternoon during the team’s Amazin’ Day, a fan festival that features autograph sessions, photo ops, special guests, and much more – similar to the Blue Jays Winterfest activities that came to a halt around COVID/during the renovations.

Although the team has generated a ton of excitement since last fall with the signing of Juan Soto and an NLCS appearance, the question marks surrounding the status of free agent first baseman Pete Alonso are still hovering around the organization.

Alonso, who recorded 226 home runs and 586 RBIs during his six seasons with the Mets, is currently in his first bout with free agency. He’s represented by Scott Boras, an agent whose name habitually lives in headlines, especially during MLB offseasons. Alonso’s free agency has picked up some steam within the past couple of weeks, with Toronto’s name being tossed around more and more. Even the Los Angeles Angels have entered the chat as a dark horse candidate, although some people will tell you they think the Angels were thrown out there to leverage the Mets into making a deal.

During the Saturday Q&A session in front of fans with Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, GM David Stearns, and play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen, Steve Cohen wanted to provide some transparency about their current standing with Alonso.

“We’ve made a significant offer to Pete…personally, this has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation. I mean, Soto was tough. This is worse,” Cohen said amidst ‘We want Pete!‘ chants from the fans. “I don’t like the structures that are being presented back to us. I think it’s highly asymmetrical.”

“I will never say ‘No’…the reality is, it becomes harder to fit Pete into what is a very expensive group of players that we already have.”

Cohen also mentioned that the Mets are trying to move forward with bringing in other players, to not let negotiations with Alonso and his representation keep them from improving their team elsewhere.

In parallel, if the Blue Jays are truly involved in signing Alonso, they too might also be feeling the same way. Several impactful free agents are off the board, the Blue Jays don’t want to put all of their eggs in Alonso’s basket with the risk of missing out on him, and in turn, missing out on other supplements for the offense.

On the other hand, the Blue Jays might also smell some blood in the water and may be looking to execute the acquisition of Alonso if the conversation with the Mets isn’t going well. Even if the Blue Jays offered him a shorter deal, hitting next to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Anthony Santander, and Bo Bichette is enticing and drastically makes the team a more powerful unit in the AL East.

Last year, several clients of Boras signed much later into the offseason; Cody Bellinger signed with the Cubs on February 27th, Matt Chapman signed with the Giants on March 3rd, Blake Snell signed with the Giants on March 19th, and Jordan Montgomery signed with the Diamondbacks on March 29th.

Negotiations with Alonso’s camp are starting to reek of those situations, especially now that one of the MLB’s richest owners is talking about fitting Alonso into an expensive group of players and publicly airing how frustrating this process has been. If Alonso does go through an experience like the above names, his contract could include one or more opt-outs mixed in with the deal – although the Mets are not keen on that from the comments from Cohen and past deals being rejected or re-structured between both camps.

Alonso had some remarkable moments as a member of the Mets. He won the Home Run Derby twice, made the postseason twice, and hit one of the most clutch home runs in the history of Mets baseball against the Brewers in last year’s Wild Card round. Furthermore, lots of Mets fans want him back.

At the end of the day, it could just all be talk. If Boras is playing games with the Mets, today’s comments from Cohen may be just another part of the game.

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