Alvarez, Vientos near crossroads of pre-arb extensions

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Francisco Alvarez chuckled at the question -- the same one he addressed around this time a year ago. Has there been any movement on a potential long-term extension between him and the Mets?

“Why?” Alvarez asked. “Have you heard something?”

The reality is that this is a difficult concept. Historically, many players prefer not to commit themselves until free agency, when all 30 teams can bid on them. Others carry too much risk for clubs to guarantee them significant money before they have to.

Alvarez’s name surfaced in rumors last spring, but nothing ever came of it. Now, he’s looking to re-establish his value off a down year.

“I’m young,” Alvarez said. “I don’t have to rush.”

One of Alvarez’s friends and teammates, Mark Vientos, was a breakout star in 2024. While he and the Mets have not had any extension talks, Vientos is open to the concept.

“I like it here,” Vientos said. “I love playing in New York. I love this organization. I’m comfortable with them. I would love to continue playing with them for sure, but obviously, there’s a lot of things that come with that.”

MLB’s compensation system is structured so that players with fewer than three years of service time -- “zero to threes,” as they’re known in the industry -- almost always make close to the league minimum (this year, $760,000). Once a player completes his third season, he becomes eligible for arbitration and the larger salaries that come with it. Players in that range tend to make seven- and eight-figure deals.

Only after a player hits six years of service time does he become eligible for free agency and the unfettered riches that can follow.

Because arbitration-eligible players sit higher on the income bracket and closer to free agency than their younger peers, they can be less inclined to negotiate extensions. That puts “zero to threes” like Vientos and Alvarez in the sweet spot, sometimes willing to forego some future earnings in search of present-day security.

But it takes two to tango. The Mets are a unique case in that they sit well above MLB’s highest Competitive Balance Tax threshold, meaning every dollar they spend is taxed at a 110 percent rate. That disincentivizes the club from extending players already under team control, since even the benefits of a team-friendly deal could be swallowed by the tax.

Moreover, big-market teams like the Mets have less motivation to assume the risk of early extensions because they don’t fear their players reaching free agency. If the Mets want to re-sign one of their own, they can simply become the high bidder on the open market, as they were in recent years for Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso.

“It does take a fairly unique circumstance for it to match up,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “Philosophically, I’m open to those types of deals. I also know how difficult they are to put together, and that’s why they don’t happen a ton around the game.”

For now, the Mets retain control over Alvarez for four more seasons and Vientos for five. It’s a crucial season for Alvarez, who’s been an effective Major Leaguer but hasn’t quite made good on his top-overall-prospect-in-baseball potential. If Alvarez can stay healthy, improve his batting average and lift his homer total back into the mid-20s or higher, he can still become a superstar.

“I think it’s a lot of great things happening right now,” Alvarez said. “It’s a lot of good vibes. It’s a lot of things I have to do. So I’m just going to play baseball, and that’s it.”

This is also an important year for Vientos, who will have his first crack at a full 162-game schedule. Coming off an All-Star-caliber season in which he hit 27 homers over five-and-a-half months and proved potent in October, Vientos is on the precipice of stardom. A solid follow-up would put him in a far stronger negotiating position next spring, giving him an incentive to wait.

“I’m new to this,” Vientos said. “I don’t really know, so I couldn’t really tell you what I would do [if the Mets offered me an extension]. But I for sure would be interested in the fact of doing that. Like I said, I’m interested in staying here and being with the team.”