Why Teoscar Hernandez contract is great news for Mets but terrible for Pete Alonso

The Los Angeles Dodgers added another stone to their infinity gauntlet on Friday night, agreeing to terms on a reunion with slugging outfielder Teoscar Hernandez. It's an ideal fit, solidifying the last real question mark in L.A.'s lineup while providing another middle-of-the-order bat to hit behind Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and Andrew Friedman hardly had to break the bank to do it. The rich get even richer, and the rest of the NL is once again left playing catch-up.

You'd think this would be bad news for one of those NL teams, the New York Mets. The team landed Juan Soto with its sights set on capturing its first World Series title since 1986, and getting over that hump just got even tougher as the Dodgers continue to add talent. But while Los Angeles is certainly better today than it was a week ago, you could make a compelling argument that this move could actually wind up helping New York in the long run.

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Teoscar Hernandez contract signals Mets are in great shape to win waiting game with Pete Alonso

Hernandez was one of the biggest bats remaining on the market. Now that he's off the board, there are arguably just two options left for teams looking for an upgrade in the power department. Anthony Santander is one, coming off a 44-homer season with the Baltimore Orioles. But the other is an even bigger name: Former Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, who's been quietly waiting out the market for weeks now in hopes of landing a big payday.

With Hernandez off the table, Alonso is unequivocally the best righty hitter still available. While you'd think that would offer the Polar Bear (and his agent, Scott Boras) some leverage to work with, the simple fact is that there doesn't appear to be too much demand for corner bats who don't offer value either in the field or on the bases — a fact reinforced by how Alonso's market has played out so far this winter.

Alonso, understandably enough, wants something well into the nine-figure range, befitting his status as one of the game's premier power hitters. The rest of the league, however, disagrees, and the result has been a weeks-long stalemate and a considerable gap between Alonso's asking price and what other teams are willing to offer.

The Mets, meanwhile, have been content to wait their former face of the franchise out. And that appears to have been a solid bet: Because if a rock-solid hitter like Hernandez is only command $22 million a year over three years (a contract that took weeks to come to fruition), what does that mean for Alonso? Hernandez is two years older, but he also plays a more valuable position, and he was actually a significantly better hitter than Alonso was last season.

Alonso might be able to point to his age and his power upside (remember, he's cracked the 40-homer mark three times in six seasons) and ask for something a bit more long-term than what Hernandez got. But this deal appears to signal that something in the range of $150 million is a pipe dream at this point; if it weren't, Hernandez would have been able to command something closer to, say, $90 million. Right now, it sure looks like something like the Mets reported offer is about the best Alonso is going to be able to get, and he's more likely than ever to come back to the table.