With the MLB offseason winding down and spring training camps set to open for most teams in about two weeks, it seems a long time ago that former New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso was one of the most coveted free agents on the market not named Juan Soto.

But a lot has changed over the past three months, and Alonso now appears destined to return to the Mets. In the words of USA Today baseball columnist Bob Nightengale, the 30-year-old has “simply run out of alternatives.” Multiple teams once in need of a first baseman have filled the job. As a result, the predicted, six-year, nine-figure offer for Alonso never materialized — except from the Mets themselves.

That, however, was in 2023 when the Mets reportedly offered the former National League Rookie of the Year a seven-year, $153 million contract extension, only to be rebuffed by Alonso and his agent Scott Boras.

Now, according to a new report by Sara Molnick of the blog Pinstripes Nation, Boras may have been the reason the New York Yankees, who were seen as a likely suitor for Alonso early in the free agent process, chose to take a hard pass on the record holder for homers by a rookie.

Instead, the Yankees opted to take on 14-year veteran and 2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, who played the previous six years with the St. Louis Cardinals, on a one-year, $12.5 million deal. According to ESPN’s Jorge Castillo, the Yankees “never had interest in signing Pete Alonso.”

Why not? Goldschmidt’s career is winding down. Even though Alonso’s 2024 was his weakest season, with career lows in OPS (.788) and home runs (34, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season), he still performed better than Goldschmidt, whose OPS was just .716 with 22 home runs.

Alonso’s 2024 Wins Above Replacement number was 2.6, compared to just 1.3 for Goldschmidt. What were the Yankees thinking?

According to Molnick of Pinstripes Nation, the problem was Boras.

“Known for his aggressive negotiation tactics, Boras established ambitious market expectations for Alonso’s services. Reports indicate he leveraged the Yankees’ perceived interest to elevate his client’s market value, initially projecting a contract exceeding $150 million. However, the actual market has failed to approach these lofty expectations,” Molnick wrote. “This development suggests Brian Cashman and the Yankees’ front office recognized the artificial inflation of Alonso’s market value and deliberately avoided entering the negotiation process.”