Red Sox’s Craig Breslow Favors Mets’ Pete Alonso Or Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber?
Kyle Schwarber led the National League with 56 home runs this year
It’s no secret Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is shopping for a power bat in free agency. The two best on the market are New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso and Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber.
Monday at the GM meetings in Las Vegas, Breslow appeared to tip his hand on which bat he wants to sign.
“In a perfect world, I suppose we want to balance out the lineup a bit,” Breslow said, according to the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey. That would seem to favor Alonso, a right-handed hitter.
Left Vs. Right
“That said, when you can hit the ball out of the park, it doesn’t really matter,” Breslow added, according to Healey. “We have found that lefties who can use the Wall create a good offensive environment. Righties who can pull the ball in the air do the same thing.
“So there are a number of different ways for us to improve our slug, but I think this idea that we can do more damage on balls in play is certainly a good one,” Breslow added.
Lineup Needs A Jolt
But the Red Sox aren’t locking in on just one slugger for the time being because the lineup desperately needs a jolt.
“There is just something about a bat in the middle of the lineup that forces another team to game plan against it that has a compounding effect on the rest of the roster,” Breslow said, per Healey.
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.
The two-time Home Run Derby champion said after the regular season ended he would opt out of his contract and hit the open market, which he did last week.
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 Schwarber.
The Phillies DH is a National League MVP finalist after leading the league with a career-high 56 home runs.
The three-time All-Star spent part of the 2021 season in Boston as a midseason acquisition and helped the Red Sox reach the American League Championship Series.
