Mets spent, but went cheap at first base with Adrian Gonzalez
Mets first baseman Adrian Gonzalez bats during a spring training game against the Braves on Feb. 23, 2018, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Credit: Newsday / Alejandra Villa
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — You really can’t accuse the Mets of being cheap. Not after they shelled out a combined $86 million this offseason for free agents Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier, Jason Vargas and Anthony Swarzak.
In this slow-drip free-agent market, $86 million feels like a gusher.
What you may be able to ding the Mets for is in the decision to sign Adrian Gonzalez for the major-league minimum of $545,000 in a market flush with power-hitting first basemen.
Or, it was a genius move by Sandy Alderson.
Gonzalez, who went 0-for-2 Thursday in the Mets’ 3-2 loss to the Marlins at First Data Field, may recapture his form from 2016, when he hit .285 with 18 homers and 90 RBIs. Or he may not be on the active roster by his 36th birthday on May 8.
Gonzalez has a sweet lefthanded swing and is a five-time All-Star with 311 career homers. He also has a back problem that limited him to 71 games with the Dodgers last season, when he hit .242 with three homers and 30 RBIs. He was left off the postseason roster, took a trip to Italy during the Dodgers’ World Series run, and was dumped by two organizations (traded by the Dodgers, released by the Braves) in a three-day span. Atlanta is paying Gonzalez $21.5 million not to play for them.
Gonzalez has said all the right things since joining the Mets, especially about being a mentor to first base prospect Dominic Smith. He did so again on Thursday.
“I’ve had a few conversations with him,” said Gonzalez, who has one single in eight at-bats. “They had him on a different field early in the spring, so it was hard for me to work with him defensively or any of that stuff. Before we officially started camp, we were on the field and we did have some good conversations there.”
Smith might be the best thing Gonzalez has going for him. The 22-year-old has already been benched by manager Mickey Callaway for one game for showing up late to a meeting and is out with a strained right quad. Smith is only “gradually returning to baseball activity,” the team said on Thursday.
That doesn’t seem like a recipe to stage a coup and end up as the Opening Day first baseman. That’s going to be Gonzalez. But did it have to be?
Check out this offseason’s first base signings: Eric Hosmer got $144 million from the Padres. Carlos Santana got $60 million from the Phillies. Yonder Alonso got $16 million from the Indians. Mitch Moreland got $13 million from the Red Sox.
We didn’t expect the Mets to swim in any of those pools. Let’s not get crazy, y’all.
But on the more reasonable end, Logan Morrison (38 homers in 2017) got $6.5 million from the Twins. Matt Adams (20 homers) got $4 million from Washington. Even old pal Lucas Duda got $3.5 million from the Royals in a deal announced on Wednesday that brought more than a few smiles to the Mets clubhouse. Duda was a popular figure among his teammates, a soft-spoken, somewhat goofy goliath.
Duda hit a combined 30 home runs last season with the Mets and the Rays. It’s interesting that the Mets did not seek a reunion as they did with other players from last year’s squad such as Bruce, Jose Reyes and, for a time, Neil Walker (14 homers last year), who is still out there and could have been part of a first-base timeshare with Wilmer Flores.
No, the Mets decided to keep the wallet closed in this instance and go with A-Gone. Will it be a bargain-basement bonanza or bust? That’s the million-dollar — or $545,000 — question.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
