The Post\u2019s \u201cThe Show\u201d podcast <\/a>with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, the World Series champ and SNY stalwart said that the Mets should re-sign first baseman Pete Alonso, who has said he\u2019s opting out of his deal, and closer Edwin Diaz, who is expected to opt out as well.<\/p>\n\u201cYou\u2019re not gonna replace his bat, his power bat,\u201d Hernandez said of Alonso. \u201cTo me, he is the second coming of Harmon Killebrew. I had said that in his rookie season. Plus the fact that he\u2019s a right-handed bat, and our lineup is better \u2014 we\u2019ve got left-hand hitters in the middle there. Really, our lineup was top-heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pete Alonso Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Edwin Diaz Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
While Hernandez acknowledged some of Alonso\u2019s defensive flaws, he credited him for being good on scoops that save his fellow infielders\u2019 rough throws. <\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t think Alonso\u2019s bat can be replaced.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, if he drives in 125 runs, a right-handed bat, I think they\u2019ve got to sign him,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cAnd they\u2019ve got to sign Diaz, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keith Hernandez Robert Sabo for the NY POST<\/p>\n
After a relatively down 2024 season and a sit-down with Steve Cohen and David Stearns, Alonso re-signed with the Mets on a two-year, $54 million contract that included an opt-out after 2025.<\/p>\n
Alonso, who turns 31 in December, hit .272 with an .871 OPS, 38 home runs and 126 RBIs this year.<\/p>\n
Diaz, who will be 32 by Opening Day, had a 1.63 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 28 saves and 98 strikeouts in 66 \u2153 innings during the third year of a five-year, $102 million contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keith Hernandez believes the Mets need to keep their top two free agents. Appearing on this week\u2019s episode…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14766,14767,20,3473,9,11,320,10,5419,319],"class_list":["post-22244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-edwin-diaz","tag-keith-hernandez","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-free-agency","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-news","tag-pete-alonso","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}