3 teams that should regret not taking advantage of the Pete Alonso market

Pete Alonso experienced quite a roller coast ride in free agency this winter. To begin the winter, the New York Mets' slugger was the hottest commodity on the first base market. There were rumors he could land a contract in the range of $150 million or more. He had plenty of suitors.

But as time went on, each of the teams in the market for a first baseman seemed to find a match as Alonso remained on the market. With the market quickly drying up, it became less and less likely that the slugger would end up landing a deal north of $100 million.

Days turned into weeks and Alonso was left to re-sign with the Mets on a two-year deal worth $54 million. This was quite a downgrade from the rumored $150-plus million deal the slugger was looking to land.

With him signing for such an affordable price tag, there are plenty of teams around the league who are going to regret

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3. The Toronto Blue Jays should have been more aggressive for Pete Alonso

The Toronto Blue Jays reportedly put in a bid for superstar Juan Soto worth north of $650 million this winter. It's very clear they had the money to spend in free agency. But they didn't land but a few free agents after struggling during the entire 2024 season. Adding Anthony Santander and Max Scherzer, among others, are big moves, but adding Alonso would have been the cherry on top.

Toronto is facing an uphill battle in convincing superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that he should re-sign with the team when he hits unrestricted free agency next offseason. Part of this process could be made easier if the Blue Jays were sending out a potential World Series winning roster in 2025, but they appear to be a few players away from that.

In all likelihood, Toronto won't top the New York Yankees in the American League East and they'll need to rely solely on the money being the selling point to bring Guerrero back. If they could have signed Alonso for well under $30 million AAV, it would be much easier to win next season, thus much easier to convince Guerrero that Toronto is the place to sign long term.

2. The Boston Red Sox clearly had the money to sign Pete Alonso

The Boston Red Sox are another AL East team which is chasing the Yankees in the division. Boston has made a few notable acquisitions this offseason, namely in the starting rotation, but it hasn't added the superstar who would take the winter over the top.

Enter Alonso.

Acquiring Alonso would have allowed the Red Sox to either add an additional slugger to the lineup at first base alongside Triston Casas or the Red Sox could have opted to trade Casas away for some serious value. If they would have landed Alonso, the more likely option would have been keeping Casas and allowing him and Alonso to split time at first base and designated hitter.

The Red Sox are another team that were in the Soto sweepstakes, so money shouldn't be the issue here. If Boston could have brought in a potential 40-50 home run bat for just under $30 million a year for two or three seasons, it would seem like a steal. But with Alonso on the market, the Red Sox opted to pass, and it might come back to haunt them.

1. The New York Yankees might regret avoiding Pete Alonso this winter

The most obvious team that will regret not adding Alonso is the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers have put together quite an excellent offseason, but they're missing one key piece. They need a huge bat to help replace Soto and Alonso could have worked to do that. Instead, the Yankees opted to bolt from the Alonso sweepstakes early in free agency, signing Paul Goldschmidt instead.

Fast forward a few weeks and the Yankees had to watch the Mets sign the slugger to a very affordable contract. If the Yankees would have known that this would be the price tag attached to the 40-home run slugger, they likely would have remained in pursuit.

Instead, the Yankees watched as they lost Soto and Alonso to their crosstown rival Mets.

A lineup with Alonso and Aaron Judge could have produced close to 100 home runs in a single season. Baseball fans may have been robbed of the chance to watch potentially one of the best home run hitting duos in baseball history all because the Yankees didn't want to cough up some cash for Alonso.