Agent Scott Boras may have miscalculated the free agent market for Pete Alonso, the New York Mets’ first baseman. According to some accounts, Boras’ excessive salary demands prompted Alonso to remain unsigned until Wednesday night, when he agreed to return to the Mets, the only MLB team he has ever played for. Finally, Alonso agreed to a two-year, $54 million contract with the Mets, significantly less than the six-year, $200 million contract Boras was reportedly seeking for his 30-year-old client. On January 30, Jim Bowden, former general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals, projected that Alonso would “lose this negotiation.” “It is what it is.” Bowden turned out to be correct, according to Fox Sports baseball writer Deesha Thosar.

“The Mets certainly won this negotiation with Alonso,” Thosar wrote in an article about Mets owner Steve Cohen’s reaction to Alonso’s agreement. “They simply were not going to budge on a short-term contract, which marks a stark difference from the previous execs working under Cohen.”

According to Thosar, Cohen — a hedge fund CEO with a personal fortune estimated at $21.3 billion, making him the 39th richest person in the United States according to Forbes — sent a message to Alonso now that the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year is back with the Mets for at least another season. His contract allows him to opt out after a year.

“If he performs well, it’s good for him, right?” “How fantastic is that?” Cohen remarked during the Fox Sports interview. “He simply needs to be Pete. Go do his thing. Hopefully he is more relaxed. I’m not saying he wasn’t relaxed. But maybe he will be able to focus on what he does best, which is baseball, and enjoy the season alongside his colleagues. “Let’s go win something.”

Earlier in the free agent period, Cohen and the Mets went through three rounds of negotiations before winning a hard-fought struggle to sign generational slugger Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million deal. But the Soto negotiations were “a walk in the park” compared to the arduous, 12-week campaign to bring Alonso back for his much smaller salary, Cohen told the New York Post on Thursday. Nonetheless, Alonso’s $30 million salary in 2025 makes him the highest-paid first baseman in MLB, at least for one season.