David Stearns cracks door wide open for Pete Alonso reunion despite Juan Soto signing

The New York Mets rewrote the baseball record books on Sunday night, reaching an agreement with star outfielder Juan Soto on a 15-year, $765 million deal. It's a huge boon to the team's World Series hopes in 2025 and beyond, not to mention a massive paradigm shift in how the team is viewed around the league and around New York City, and fans are well within their right to take a victory lap.

But while the Soto celebration is just getting started, Mets president David Stearns still has plenty of work to do; landing Soto won't mean a thing, after all, if New York doesn't fill the other holes on its roster.

One of those holes is at first base, where long-time slugger Pete Alonso has a free agency of his own to worry about. The team's pursuit of Soto — not to mention some red flags about paying a player like Alonso well into his 30s, something Stearns has historically been loath to do — had most assuming that Alonso would sign elsewhere this winter. Surely, now that we know just how big a bag Soto wound up getting, New York can't afford another megadeal, can it?

Not so fast. We're in Steve Cohen's world now, and in Steve Cohen's world, there's apparently no limit to the money a team can spend.

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Juan Soto deal won't keep David Stearns from considering Pete Alonso reunion

Stearns made his first public appearance at the Winter Meetings on Monday afternoon, and while he couldn't address the Soto signing just yet, he was peppered with questions about whether the team would consider a reunion with Alonso. His answers were eye-opening: "We'd love to bring Pete back," Stearns said, before adding, "I think our ownership has consistently demonstrated that there's going to be resources when we need them."

Granted, this could just be lip service, a way to save face with Alonso without seriously entering the bidding for him. On the other hand ... well, Cohen is worth some $20 billion or so. The Mets landing Soto means they're all-in beginning in 2025, and if the team doesn't bring back Alonso, it's not entirely clear what the plan is at first base. Maybe a shorter-term deal for Christian Walker, but the thought of forfeiting draft picks and international bonus pool money probably doesn't appeal to Stearns either. The team could sign Alex Bregman or trade for Nolan Arenado, moving Mark Vientos over to first, but are either of those more appealing than just bringing back a fan favorite for a lower average annual value?

At this point, it might make more sense from a team-building perspective to just give Alonso something close to what he wants, maybe hoping that the chance to run it back with a title contender will give New York a slight hometown discount. One thing's for sure: If the Mets do pass on Alonso, money won't be the reason why.