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The future of New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso has been a persistent subplot for the club this season. He's in his walk year, and thus far, talks about a long-term contract extension haven't yielded much momentum. The Mets' struggles earlier in the season led to rumors and speculation that Alonso would be among the players lead exec David Stearns would shop leading up to the July 30 trade deadline. 

For Alonso's part, the Mets lifer has been consistent in his stated desire to remain with the franchise that first drafted him back in 2016. During the MLB All-Star week festivities, Alonso reaffirmed his wish to remain in Queens through the deadline and beyond. Via ESPN's Jorge Castillo, Alonso said: 

"I'm super happy to be a Met, super proud to be a Met. And, again, it's just been awesome. I'd love to stay, and I don't want to get traded. I love it. It's home."

The good news for Alonso is that the Mets no longer profile as deep sellers leading up to the deadline. As recently as June 2, the Mets were 11 games below .500 and on pace for 96 losses. Soon after that, though, they flipped that script, and at the break, the Mets are now above .500 at 49-46 and occupying the third wild-card spot in the National League. Maybe Stearns undertakes a light pivot that deals with the Mets' rotation depth, but anything more sweeping seems highly unlikely. 

For Alonso's part, it's going to be hard to trade such a popular and still productive player in the face of contention. This season, Alonso is slashing .240/.319/.454 (121 OPS+) with 19 home runs in 95 games. That's a bit shy of career norms, but he remains a useful presence in the lineup. 

Beyond that, you're probably not going to get much of a trade return for a righty-righty first baseman who's a pending free agent and who's showing signs of soft decline -- at least not enough to justify the public-relations body blow that would follow. For those same reasons, an extension for Alonso feels unlikely, which thus means the Mets may let him walk via free agency this coming offseason. As for the upcoming deadline, though, it's difficult to imagine that Alonso doesn't get his wish to remain in Queens, at least for now.