The Pete Alonso free agent drama could drag past the start of spring training, according to one insider — Andy Martino of SNY — causing the 30-year-old slugger with 226 home runs to watch from home as his fellow big leaguers get their 2025 seasons underway.
But a former general manager of the New York Mets — the team that drafted Alonso in 2016 and for which he has played his entire six-year career — said Monday that one team would be a "great fit" for the first baseman: The Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays have reportedly been in talks with Alonso, even as the Mets have attempted to re-sign him. But by some indications, the Mets may be growing weary of chasing after Alonso. The team's owner, billionaire Steve Cohen, in an interview last week called negotiations with Alonso's agent Scott Boras "exhausting" and said the experience for him was "worse" than the negotiations to land Juan Soto earlier in the offseason.
Those negotiations ended with the Mets signing Soto to a lavish, perk-laden 15-year, $765 million contract.
But Steve Phillips, the Mets general manager from 1997 to 2003 — when he took them to the National League Championship Series in 1999 and the World Series in 2000 — said in an MLB Network appearance that the Blue Jays' acquiring Alonso would mean "you can start to dream a little bit about this team."
Signing the former Met would also mean that if the Blue Jays fail to agree on a contract extension with their superstar slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., "they've got their first baseman for the future in Alonso," Phillips said. "Depending upon opt outs and everything else, but I think it's a great fit for them."
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Phillips did not stop there, however, going on to suggest that the Blue Jays also sign another top free agent bat: Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman.
"I'd love to see them get Bregman and Alonso, and then go ahead and shop Vladdy around and trade him. Get something young in return and athletic in return and fill some holes on your team," Phillips suggested.
The Blue Jays have already signed Baltimore Orioles free agent Anthony Santander, who is coming off a 44 home run season. Adding Alonso to a lineup that includes Santander and either Guerrero or Bregman would make the Blue Jays an instant playoff contender and redeem what has been an otherwise sluggish offseason for MLB's lone Canadian franchise.
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