Red Sox Rumors: Free Agent All-Star Slugger Comes With ‘Alarming’ Concerns

It’s time to pump the brakes on all those free agency rumors linking the Boston Red Sox to New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.

Yes, the two-time Home Run Derby champion said after the regular season ended he will opt out of his contract and hit the open market.

And yes, the 30-year-old Alonso hit 38 home runs this season, which was eighth-best in the majors, and drove in 126 runs, second only to Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.

But Masslive.com’s Seam McAdam said Alonso comes with some “alarming” concerns.

“For one thing, Alonso is a well-below average defender at first base,” McAdam wrote. “He had -9 defensive runs saved last year and his OOA (outs above average) was similarly alarming, also at -9, placing him in the bottom two percentile ranking among all players.

“And that brings up the potential risks of giving Alonso the kind of contract — seven or eight years in length at minimum — he’s said to be seeking,” McAdam added.

Alonso Contract Comps

Among the comps McAdam used to make his point was Albert Pujols‘ 10-year, $240 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels and Miguel Cabrera’s eight-year, $248 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Both contracts aged poorly as the future Hall of Famers’ careers reached the finish line.

A five-time All-Star, Alonso was a free agent last winter and didn’t find a multi-year, nine-figure contract to his liking so he returned to the Mets, who gave him a two-year, $54 million deal with an opt-out clause.

So is there a way the Red Sox can land Alonso without giving away the keys to the kingdom?

“The Sox could try to tempt Alonso with a far shorter deal at a higher AAV, not unlike the one that landed them (Alex) Bregman last February. (The two players are both represented by Scott Boras),” McAdam noted.

“But like Bregman, Alonso took one of those short deals with an opt-out, figuring that he could rebuild his value in 2025 and go back onto the market without the albatross of having compensation attached this time around,” McAdam concluded. “It’s impossible to imagine he would do so again, since such a track would have him back on the market for his age 34 season — where no players wants to be.”

What About Casas?

Alonso, a home-grown Mets star, spent seven seasons in Queens. This year he became the franchise’s all-time home run leader, surpassing eight-time All-Star Darryl Strawberry.

The Red Sox spent much of the 2025 campaign trying to find a fit at first base after watching Triston Casas go down with a season-ending knee injury.

In the Red Sox’s end-of-season press conference, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn’t want to commit to Casas as the team’s first baseman for 2026.

“I don’t think it makes a ton of sense, on October 6th, to say someone is or isn’t our first baseman,” Breslow said. “We’ll see how things play out. Unfortunately, Triston [Casas] has missed a significant amount of time over the past two years. We’ve also seen what he’s capable of doing when he’s healthy.”