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Mets owner Steve Cohen suggested the secret sit-down with Pete Alonso in Tampa on Tuesday, and that may have been the breakthrough the sides needed.
“I really wanted to humanize the negotiations,” Cohen told The Post. “I wanted him to hear it straight from me — two human beings having a real conversation.”
So they all hashed it out for hours at Alonso’s club — Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns and Alonso’s agents Scott Boras and Mike Fiore also attended. They talked analytics and biomechanics and bat speed (Alonso scores well in the latter two). But the main thing Cohen wanted to hear is that Alonso wanted to be back, and the thing he wanted to convey is that he wanted Alonso back.
This was such a difficult, extended negotiation, and Cohen joked that the Juan Soto talks, which included three bidding rounds and resulted in a record $765M deal, were a “walk in the park” in comparison. This was straight talk after a tough, 12-week battle, perhaps facilitating the $54M, two-year deal.