New York Mets acting general manager Zack Scott is not on board with Pete Alonso’s theory about manipulated baseballs and free agency.
The Mets first baseman claimed Thursday that Major League Baseball made its baseballs more or less hitter-friendly depending on whether the upcoming free agent class has more top hitters or pitchers in it. Alonso alleged that the league wants better hitting when top pitchers are headed for free agency and vice versa in order to depress free agent value. Alonso even added that other players also believe the theory.
On Friday, Scott laughed it all off, adding that even if that were the case, MLB teams are savvy enough to see through variance in league environments and respond accordingly.
“I didn’t know Pete was a conspiracy theorist,” Scott said while laughing, via Jake Seiner of the Associated Press. “The way teams value and evaluate performance is relative to levels, so we’re not going to be fooled by offense is way up or way down. We’re going to look at players about relative to how the league is playing. So it would have no influence on how players are valued or paid.”
If nothing else, Alonso’s theory shows how little players trust the league right now, and we’ve had examples of that going the other way too. Scott pretty much has to side with the league here, especially when there’s no real evidence behind Alonso’s claim.
