Having acquired Paul Goldschmidt last winter, the New York Yankees finally plugged their long-standing first base hole. Goldschmidt – against left-handed pitching, at least – has done a decent job, in tandem with breakout star Ben Rice.
But, this is the Yankees. If a superstar becomes available, they will always be in the running. And if they get the opportunity to stick it to a rival in the process, it will be all the sweeter.
With this in mind comes the New York Post’s Jon Heyman’s latest report about the impending free agency of New York Mets slugger, Pete Alonso. Alongside the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners, Heyman names the Yankees as a team expected to be interested in Alonso’s services – and certainly as one of the few with the financial wherewithal to compete in a bidding war.
The Astros are said to be considering a run at Pete Alonso as a surprise suitor in free agency. The all-time Mets home run champion has talked about how he’d love to stay a Met, but his free agency should go better this time around — not only because he’s ineligible to receive a qualifying offer, but also because he’s having a much better season this year than last.
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The Astros would be a surprise because they signed Christian Walker to a three-year, $60M deal last winter, but they continue to show their willingness to spend to win, with the trade for Carlos Correa the latest example. The Mets will try to bring back Alonso, who could draw interest from Texas, Boston, Seattle, the Yankees and others.
Previous Yankee Target
Rumors and speculation connecting the Yankees and Alonso are not entirely new. There was reported interest in the team in signing Alonso last offseason before ultimately signing Goldschmidt to a one-year, $12.5 million deal instead.
Eventually, Alonso and the Mets agreed to a two-year, $54 million contract including an opt-out after the 2025 season. It is an opt-out that he is expected to exercise, thus doing the whole free agency rigmarole over again. Evidently, he and the Mets are not tied to each other – last season’s compromise contract was one of convenience.
Despite the solid play of Goldsmith, the Yankees’ struggles at the first base position since the final days of slugger-turned-aspirational-Congressman Mark Teixeira remain fresh in the mind. Goldsmith is a platoon player with no one to platoon with. And when he is at his peak, Alonso is the kind of bat in the heart of a line-up that can take a team up to the next level.
Alonso’s New Approach
With 31 home runs and 110 runs batted in on the season so far, Alonso is having a decent season, one in which he has openly stated he has sought to turn down the tendency to try and hit the ball to the Moon in favor of a more all-around, batting average-friendly approach.
Alonso’s 2025 campaign has however been marked by inconsistency. His OPS on a month-by-month basis has bounced around, from 1.168 in April to .693 in May, .920 in June, .548 in July and .963 in August. It all averages out to the production of a quality player, of course – and with 257 home runs in his career to date at only the age of 30, there is a lot more still to come from Alonso.
As things stand, the Yankees have six pieces of a quality hitting line-up in place. Alongside the MVP-caliber play of Aaron Judge (41 home runs, 203 ERA+), they also have Rice (22/129), Jazz Chisholm (26/128), Trent Grisham (28/131), Cody Bellinger (26/131) and Giancarlo Stanton (17/177) in place, plus the hope that Austin Wells, Ryan McMahon and Anthony Volpe can get their games back.
Adding Alonso to that makes for the kind of Bronx Bombers-esque line-up not seen for a while. And it seems increasingly certain than Alonso will be available.
Yankees Expected to Make Shock Bid for Mets’ Pete Alonso