After Memorial Day weekend, traditionally the point in any MLB season when teams and their fans take stock of where they are and what they are capable of accomplishing for the remainder of the year, the New York Mets stand at 34-21, the second-best record in the National League.

They are just 1 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East and three games ahead in the Wild Card race. In other words, the Mets are having an exciting and highly promising season.

One of the main reasons for the Mets’ success has been first baseman Pete Alonso.

A Mets second-round draft pick in 2016 who won NL Rookie of the Year in 2019, Alonso, with 237 home runs in a Mets uniform, needs just 16 homers to pass Darryl Strawberry on the team’s all-time leaderboard.

Alonso was a free agent last offseason, and in February the Mets re-signed their homegrown star to a two-year, $54 million contract.

The investment would appear to have paid off. With 10 home runs and a .925 OPS, Alonso is on his way to what looks like his best season since his rookie year. And the Mets as of Memorial Day appear destined for October baseball.

So why, when one respected MLB expert gave Memorial Day grades to several of the most prominent offseason signings, the Mets were given a mediocre grade of “C” for bringing back Alonso?

The grade came from Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report, who gives the Mets’ other splashy offseason signing — the 15-year, $765 million contract for Juan Soto — an “A,” despite the fact that Soto has put up a .228 batting average and .756 OPS with eight homers going into Wednesday’s games.

Perhaps even worse, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza has been forced to speak to Soto about his lack of hustle, fans at Citi Field have booed their new high-priced star, and Soto himself has complained that it “takes time” for him to “adjust” to his new surroundings in Queens.

It appears Kelly’s grades are based not as much on player performance, but on his own judgment regarding the long term value of the two teammate’s respective contracts.

“Why the low grade? While the $30 million Alonso is making is a bargain for how productive he’s been, the Scott Boras-client is surely going to opt out of his contract after this season and test free agency again,” Kelly wrote.

“There’s few players who can produce runs at the clip that Alonso can. He’s a bargain for the Mets in 2025, but next offseason they’ll either have to sign him to a mega-deal entering his age-31 season, or let him walk without receiving draft-pick compensation in return,” the Bleacher Report scribe continued.

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In other words, it appears that Kelly is saying the Alonso “C” grade is for signing a player who has performed at “MVP level” to a short term deal, albeit a deal that Kelly admits is a “bargain.”

Soto, on the other hand, has performed at a mediocre level, but “miss us with the hot takes,” Kelly wrote. “If you sign someone to a 15-year deal, your opinion of said contract shouldn’t be altered by a couple months.”

The Bleacher Report “A” for the Soto signing appears to be based on his anticipated performance over the next 15 years, minus the last two months.

The “C” for Alonso’s contract, however, deliberately ignores the torrid two months that the slugger has already put in the books.

Of course, it is difficult to assess any contract, long or short term, after just 55 games — which raises the question, why try? Come back at the end of the season and see where each player stands then.

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