Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns addre sed a few topics. In an appearance on with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, he touched on the future of first baseman as well as the clubs outfield and relief groups. Stearns reaffirmed the Mets have no desire to trade Alonso this offseason. The new baseball operations leader said hes pretty darn confident (Alonso) is going to be our first baseman on Opening Day . He wasnt committal on the three-time All-Stars longer-term future in Queens. While Stearns predictably indicated theyd love to keep Alonso beyond the 2024 season, he spoke generally about the challenges of extending players who are deep into their club control window. We also understand that as players approach free agency, theres often a desire to test free agency , Stearns said. It s really tough to line up on these types of deals in the last year of a players team control, the last year of arbitration. The baseball operations president declined to go into detail about Alonsos status specifically. That said, Stearns broad reference to the difficulty of extending a player one year from the open market aligns with recent reporting on Alonso. Newsdays Tim Healey indicated in early December thered been no extension talks this offseason. As part Eduardo Rodriguez Jersey of a reader mailbag yesterday, wrote there is little expectation that there will be substantive negotiations about a contract extension at any point before the end of 2024. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz Alonso for a $22MM salary in his final arbitration season. The sides will either agree upon a 24 salary or exchange filing figures for a potential hearing by tomorrows deadline. If the slugger turns in a typical season, hed likely look for a contract in exce s of $200MM when he hits the open market. There might be renewed chatter about Alonsos trade availability around the deadline if the Mets fall from contention, but the current organizational hope is seemingly that hell re-sign after testing the free agent waters. That was the approach taken by last offseason. Nimmo turned in a strong first season of his eight-year, $162MM deal. He hit .274/.363/.466 with 24 homers in a career-high 682 trips to the plate. Thats more than enough offense to profile in a corner outfield spot. That seems likely after the Mets brought in glove-first center fielder on a one-year, $10.5MM deal last week. Stearns indicated the specific outfield alignment is yet to be determined, but he noted that Nimmo has shown a willingne s to do whatever the team feels is best. Plugging Bader in center would kick Nimmo to left field on most days. is still the presumptive starter in right as he looks to rebound from an injury-plagued, disappointing season. That could push who hit well in 58 games late in the year to the designated hitter mix. The Mets have been linked to more substantive additions (i.e. , ) at the DH spot. While Stearns indicated he wouldnt close the door on anything on the position player side, he cautioned theyre reluctant to take too many at-bats from young players. and are in the mix at third base and DH, although the Mets lost for most or all of the season when he tore his ACL in winter ball. One area where another acquisition seems likely: the bullpen. Stearns confirmed theyre still looking to add to the relief corps. In a subsequent video call with various reporters ( ), he indicated theyll look for pitchers who offer a different repertoire or approach to some of the in-house options. New York has a heavily right-handed bridge to star closer . The only southpaw who is guaranteed to start the year in the bullpen is . Low-cost free agent pickups , and join and in the projected middle relief group. Kyle Nelson Jersey