Even with Juan Soto bolting the Bronx to join the Mets, the possibility of free agent Pete Alonso winding up with the Yankees seems to be a remote one.
Alonso “doesn’t appear to be on their radar,” Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported on Monday.
The above shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Alonso doesn’t really make sense for the Yanks — even with Anthony Rizzo set to depart as a free agent.
The Bombers already have two right-handed power hitters over the age of 30 who strike out at a relatively high clip in Aaron Judge (171 strikeouts in 2024) and Giancarlo Stanton (143 strikeouts in 2024 in just 114 games). Adding Alonso (172 strikeouts in 2024) to the mix would make the Yankees’ lineup even more one-dimensional.
As the Yanks look to bolster their offense following the departure of Soto, they have been connected to free agents including Alex Bregman and Anthony Santander. They also reportedly have interest in trading for Cubs first baseman/outfielder Cody Bellinger.
While the Yanks don’t appear to be in on Alonso, the Mets are interested in bringing him back.
Speaking on Monday at the Winter Meetings, president of baseball operations David Stearns said the Mets have the resources to retain Alonso if they so choose.
“We’d love to bring Pete back,” Stearns said. “Pete’s been a great Met, he’s had some enormous hits for us and we’ll see where that goes.”
Added Stearns: “I think our ownership has consistently demonstrated that there’s going to be resources when we need them. There is the ability for us to make baseball moves when we think that they’re there to improve the team. And we’re gonna continue to pursue a wide variety of areas to continue to improve our team.”
Alonso, who will be entering his age-30 season in 2025, had a down year at the plate in 2024 but was still productive.
While playing all 162 regular season games, Alonso slashed .240/.329/.459 with 34 home runs, 31 doubles, 88 RBI, and 91 runs scored.
In 13 postseason games as the Mets made a run to Game 6 of the NLCS, Alonso was a force, hitting .273/.431/.568 (.999 OPS) with four home runs, 10 RBI, and 10 runs scored over 58 plate appearances. That of course included his series-changing three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series against Brewers closer Devin Williams.
