Pete Alonso fiasco shows Scott Boras just can't accept that baseball has passed him by

The cold war between Pete Alonso, Scott Boras and the New York Mets suddenly became a lot less cold over the weekend, as Mets owner Steve Cohen wasn't shy about voicing displeasure over how negotiations have played out between the team and its former first baseman to this point. Boras, never one to miss a media opportunity, quickly shot back, arguing in fact that Cohen and team president David Stearns were the ones being unreasonable.

We've known for weeks now that the two sides weren't seeing eye-to-eye when it came to the slugger's value in 2025 and beyond. Alonso, who reportedly turned down a seven-year, $158 million contract extension back in 2023, thinks he should be paid as one of the game's premier power hitters. The Mets, meanwhile, point to Alonso's age (he just turned 30 last month), diminishing returns at the plate and complete lack of defensive value and disagree. New York has communicated exactly how much it thinks Alonso is worth moving forward, and they haven't budged no matter how many rumors Boras manages to leak about another team swooping into the bidding.

But the fact that the conflict has now come out into the open, for every camera in the tristate area to see, should get everyone's attention. Not just because it makes for good drama — although to be clear, we love that too. But because a team so publicly coming after Boras signals a paradigm shift in the sport, a sign that baseball's premier superagent isn't as invincible as he thinks he is.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Pete Alonso stalemate shows just how out-of-touch Scott Boras has become

Earlier this offseason, the narrative was that, after a down 2023, Boras was officially back, having secured healthy deals amid competitive markets for players like outfielder Juan Soto and pitchers Blake Snell and Corbin Burnes. But as Alonso and Alex Bregman languish unsigned into the final week of January, it's beginning to look more like the players themselves — not Boras — deserve the credit for securing those contracts.

Soto was a unicorn, a historically great hitter coming off a career year who just turned 26 years old. Burnes took less to sign a $210 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but plenty of non-Boras pitchers have also cashed in this winter: Max Fried's eight-year, $218 million contract with the New York Yankees came in well above expectations, while everyone from Nathan Eovaldi to Yusei Kikuchi to Luis Severino have signed healthy multi-year deals. Teams around the league prioritize youth and pitching, and are willing to pay accordingly.

In the instances in which Boras has had to earn his paycheck, though — where he's had to create a market, rather than let one simply come to him — he's fallen flat for the second year in a row. Five or 10 years ago, he would've had no problem finding homes for Alonso and Bregman on deals that locked them up into their late 30s. Now, though, interested teams are calling his bluff, and his same old bag of tricks doesn't hit the way it used to.

Boras used to be able to bypass front offices entirely, going right to owners to negotiate for the players they wanted. Cohen, on the other hand, has clearly given the controls to Stearns, unwilling to pay through the nose simply because Alonso is a name brand. Yes, the home-run totals are gaudy, but Alonso has gotten worse at the plate in each of the last two seasons, and teams are no longer fooled by top-line numbers. They've gotten wise in recent years, knowing how to look into the future rather than be blinded by the past.

The same can't be said, however, for Boras. He's still operating in a very 2010 paradigm, one in which he could command a nine-figure offer as table stakes and teams were desperate to spend big money on star names. The game has changed, and the shoe is on the other foot; Boras needs to actually make the argument for his clients, rather than simply pointing at past megadeals and stomping his foot. Instead, he just keeps digging his heels in, confident that something will give. But he's no longer holding all the cards the way that he once was, and the sooner he realizes that, the better off his clients will be.