At long last, the Washington Nationals have signs of life in free agency. With just a couple days to go until the MLB's annual Winter Meetings down in Dallas on Monday, the team's recent dry run and overall lack of news has finally come to a conclusion.
Despite me writing about Ken Rosenthal saying not even two weeks ago that the Nationals were considered out of the running for him, it appears that Pete Alonso to the Nationals has life. So who is responsible for getting the Nationals back into the headlines? That would be MLB Network insider Jon Heyman, who said earlier yesterday that the Nationals are "in the mix" for New York Mets' first baseman Pete Alonso.
Now, it is also widely rumored that the Mets and owner Steve Cohen are not going to let money be the reason that they don't sign Juan Soto long-term, so they could be looking at adding over $800 million to the books in just 2 players if they were to re-sign both. I only mention both players going to the Mets as they have been considered the favorites to sign Soto for most of the offseason, but now Heyman is saying that they are still the favorites to sign Pete Alonso as well.
Heyman is implying that as of right now it's a three team race between the Mets, Nationals, and Seattle Mariners, who I predicted would be the landing spot for him during our site's free agent picks last month. Both the Nationals and Mariners need to add serious power and hitting talent to their struggling offenses from last year, while the Mets will seemingly not allow anyone to outbid them for players that they want. Signing both players would be a tall order, but not quite as much for an owner that actually cares about his team.
Mets are still the favorites for Pete Alonso with the Nats & Mariners in mix, per @JonHeyman.
— Dan Bartels (@DanBartels2) December 6, 2024
While Alonso stands to be the most expensive option on the free agent market at first base, it's certainly for good reason, as he has not hit less than 34 homers in a season besides the covid-shortened year in 2020, and is basically a shoe-in for an OPS above .800 and over 100 RBIs. Being able to steal him away from a division rival would be key, especially by preventing the Mets from hitting Francisco Lindor, Soto and Alonso back to back to back in the lineup, which would be a massive headache for the Nats for 13 games a year.
Alonso has been a staple of the New York Mets for awhile now, and it's honestly hard to envision him playing for another team, but as we've talked about numerous times on this site, he is a perfect fit for the Nationals. The team has a glaring need for a first baseman with a ton of power, and that is Alonso's specialty as a player. While the Nationals would likely need to throw in a little extra on top in order to bring back Alonso, it will be interesting to see if the Mets' plans to bring back their first baseman would change if they did bring in Soto.
Do you think the Nationals have a chance to sign Pete Alonso? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.