Blue Jays' Bassitt continues to impress former Mets teammates

TORONTO – Pete Alonso and Chris Bassitt became fast friends as locker-mates in the New York Mets clubhouse during the 2022 season and a couple years later, the bond remains on a personal level, if not a professional one. “He's a great teammate, really good buddy of mine,” the four-time all-star first baseman said. “He's got a great heart. Super beloved in the clubhouse because of him being him.”

One of the many things Alonso appreciated about the veteran right-hander was his remarkable reliability, which was once again on display Tuesday night when he allowed one run over six strong innings in a 6-2 Toronto Blue Jays win. Bassitt logged a then career-best 181.2 innings with a 3.42 ERA over 30 starts during his 2022 season in Queens, setting him up for a $63-million, three-year deal with the Blue Jays as a free agent right after.

“Playing behind him, you know he's going to leave it all out there every single time,” said Alonso. “If you do that (as a starting pitcher), it's really cherished in the locker-room because everyone knows how hard it is – anything can happen over the course of the season. There's this old saying in baseball, the best ability of a player is availability. He's out there every fifth day and leaves it all out there every single time he throws the rock.”

Alonso’s been the position-player equivalent of that, appearing in 829 out of a possible 853 games since his 53-homer, NL Rookie-of-the-Year debut in 2019. He’s also been among the game’s most fearsome power hitters over that span with 223 homers and a .517 slugging percentage, making his pending free agency of note for the Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Pushing aside Bryce Harper’s $330-million deal since he signed it as an outfielder, monster contracts for first basemen have plateaued in recent years, with Miguel Cabrera’s $248-million contract covering 2016-2023 the peak. Albert Pujols’ $240-million deal at the 2011 winter meetings is next on the list, while Joey Votto did his $225-million extension covering the 2014-2023 seasons in 2012, the same year as Prince Fielder’s $214-million contract. The biggest commitments for first basemen this decade are Matt Olson’s $168-million extension with Atlanta and Freddie Freeman’s $162-million, free-agent contract with the Dodgers, both in 2022.

Where Alonso’s number lands this off-season, then, will to some degree help frame the first-base market, just as the contract Juan Soto signs will help frame the value for rare elite, mid-20s offensive players like Guerrero.

Over the past three off-seasons as both Alonso and Guerrero worked through their arbitration years (Guerrero with one more turn to go), their cases became somewhat linked with their salaries almost pegged to the other. In 2022, after their first trip through the arbitration process, Guerrero made $7.9 million while Alonso earned $7.4 million, both made $14.5 million the year after, while this year, Alonso nudged ahead at $20.5 million compared to Guerrero’s $19.9 million.

For both players, establishing a good number was important not only for themselves, but also to help future first basemen max out their values.

“I definitely thought about that a lot during the arbitration process because there really weren't a whole lot of comps for me -- we called it a comp desert where there's really no specific case, there weren't enough cases (that matched up),” said Alonso. “Like Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Olson, those guys signed extensions. It's really interesting being the (pace-setter). But in free agency, whatever happens, happens. Hopefully it's here in New York. I love playing in Queens. It's a really special place to be a player. But I'm really, really thankful for how this game has treated me. I'm hoping that everything works out.”

Free agency did for Bassitt, who beat his former team with the help of a four-run third inning off lefty David Peterson that included Alejandro Kirk’s RBI double, Davis Schneider’s two-run triple and Joey Loperfido’s RBI single. Leo Jimenez got the Blue Jays on the board with an RBI single in the second, while Spencer Horwitz’s run-scoring double in the seventh padded out their lead.

For Schneider, the triple brought home his first RBIs since July 29, after which a .065/.159/.097 stretch over 24 games began. Manager John Schneider praised the way his player kept working through his struggles, during which Davis Schneider said he “tried it all.”

“If you see my stances throughout these past couple of months, there's probably not a single one that's the same,” he continued. “But that's always been (the case) up and down the minor-leagues, even last year, I always tinkered with stuff. I'm still going to do it. I just like to feel good that day and sometimes my hands feel bad and in a spot they were the day previous. So I switch it up and not one thing is going to stick for me. I like to switch it up a lot and I'm going to continue to switch it up when things aren't feeling the right way.”

Bassitt has been feeling more right since a switch to the third-base side of the pitching rubber, allowing him to be especially tough on right-handers. That included inducing a fielder’s choice in the first and a groundout in the fifth from Alonso, along with a hit-by-pitch on a 70.8-m.p.h. sweeper in the third that led to a playful exchange between the two.

“It’s more so bragging rights,” Bassitt said of competing against Alonso. “Obviously you build a lot of bonds over baseball, especially when you move teams. You don't want to give up hits to your friends, I'll say that. I'm happy I hit him and it wasn't painful, so to speak.”

The real pain on this day belonged to the Mets as a whole, as they dropped into a tie with Atlanta for the National League’s third and final wild-card spot. Bassitt is actually rooting for Alonso and his other friends across the diamond to make the playoffs, just not at his or the Blue Jays’ expense.