As long as Alonso remains a free agent, a path back to the Mets remains possible — even with Steve Cohen throwing cold water on the state of negotiations — but in the meantime Vientos and Baty are trying to make themselves in-house options to step into Polar Bear-sized shoes at first base.

The Mets’ Pete Alonso contingency plan is coming together. On the same day team owner Steve Cohen described the “exhausting” nature of his free-agent negotiations with Alonso’s camp, third basemen Mark Vientos and Brett Baty confirmed the Mets recently asked them to begin taking reps at first base.