On Thursday, Joel Sherman of The New York Post revealed that the Mets offered Alonso a three-year contract in the $68 million-$70 million range. After the four-time All-Star rejected it, they set their sights on adding a top-tier reliever and potentially executing a trade for Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

There were reasons to expect Alonso might follow them down this road. Alonso reportedly turned down an extension offer of seven years and $158MM back in the summer of 2023. He still had one arbitration season to go at that point,