BORAS GOES BALLISTIC: The reported contract ask for Pete Alonso sent shockwaves through front offices, a number so wild insiders are calling it flat-out insane, leaving fans torn between disbelief and awe as the power slugger’s price tag hits mythic levels, and now every GM in baseball’s holding their breath to see who dares to bite first…ll

New York Mets all-time franchise home run leader Pete Alonso’s time in Queens appears likely to be at an end. Though players eligible for free agency are not officially granted their freedom until the day after the World Series ends – and cannot sign with another team for five days after that – the 30-year-old Mets’ 2016 second-round draft pick wasted no time in publicly stating his intention to opt out of his current contract with New York and hit the open market.

But this offseason will be the second in a row that Alonso has tested free agency, and last time around it didn’t go quite the way he or his agent Scott Boras may have wanted.

Alonso, according to media reports, had previously turned up his nose at a seven-year, $158 million extension offer from the Mets and also snubbed a three-year deal worth $70 million from at least one other team. Mets owner Steve Cohen, who persisted in his attempts to keep the Polar Bear – as he is called by fans and teammates – termed his negotiations with Boras over Alonso “exhausting.”

But weeks went by without Alonso receiving an offer that met whatever his and Boras’ requirements happened to be, and in the end, just five days before the Mets’ first scheduled full spring training workout, Alonso signed a two-year, $54 million agreement to return to Citi Field. But the contract included a player option after the first year, an option Alonso said on Sept. 28 that he would not take, becoming a free agent once again as soon as he is eligible.

According to an MLB.com report, however, Boras is once again seeking a seven-year contract for Alonso in free agency, despite the fact that his client is a year older and comes with significant defensive drawbacks – both his fielding range and throwing arm were rated as “poor” by Baseball Savant, and his minus-9 Outs Above Average number was among the worst in baseball among first basemen.

Will Boras succeed in getting for Alonso the type of deal he failed to obtain for his client last offseason? Marc Luino, host of the Fox-owned “Mets’d Up” podcast clearly thinks so, calling Boras’ demand “insane.”

“We heard what Scott Boras said. He’s looking for a seven-year deal,” Luino said on recent edition of the podcast. “That sounds insane. I don’t know any world that Pete Alonso gets a seven-year deal.”

So what should Alonso receive? According to “Mets’d Up” co-host James Schiano, five years should be the maximum.

“Once you get past five, I think that you’d be lucky to have a .300 on-base percentage with Pete Alonso,” Schiano said on the program. “That’s where you definitely start to lose me when this contract number can get bigger than four.”

According to New York Post MLB insider Jon Heyman, the Mets are unlikely to take Alonso back again this time around, largely due to his defensive shortcomings. If Heyman is correct, that takes one potential bargaining chip off the table, narrowing Alonso’s market and making it more likely that Boras’ demands will once again work against, rather than in favor of his star client.

In addition, as FanSided Mets writer Stephen Parello pointed out on Monday, Boras may also be failing to take into account another factor working against Alonso – the expiration of baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, which happens following next season. The uncertain economic landscape, including whether there will be a 2027 season at all, may make teams extremely skittish about committing to new, long-term contracts.