ORLANDO, Fla. – For the second time in as many days at the MLB Winter Meetings, the Boston Red Sox saw one of their top free agent targets land elsewhere.

But Wednesday’s news was an even bigger blow to Boston, as the player in question chose a rival American League East team.

Longtime New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso has a five-year, $155 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow stated on more than one occasion that the top priority was a power bat for the middle of their lineup. They were heavily linked to the two top free-agent options: Kyle Schwarber, who decided Tuesday to re-sign with the Philadelphia Phillies for five years, and Alonso.

Alonso, in particular, seemed to be a perfect fit for a Boston offense in desperate need of some righty pop. He’s a five-time All-Star and 2019 NL Rookie of the Year with a lifetime .253/.341/.516 line. He’s averaged 136 hits, 26 doubles, and nearly 38 home runs per season over his seven-year career.

Playing in all 162 regular-season games this year, Alonso hit for a .272 average and .851 OPS, with a career-high 170 hits, including 38 homers and an NL-leading 41 doubles, with 87 runs, 126 RBI, 61 walks and 162 strikeouts. He ranked in the 96th MLB percentile in both batting run value and hard-hit percentage, and 97th in average exit velocity and barrel percentage.

No batter on the ’25 Red Sox had more hits or doubles than Alonso. Trevor Story led the roster with 25 home runs.

Dec. 7 was Alonso’s 31st birthday. He led the majors with 56 home runs in his ’19 rookie season, and has finished each of his six 162-game seasons with at least 34 homers. His six such seasons are two more than any player younger than 31 in Red Sox history. (David Ortiz, Mo Vaughn, Jim Rice, Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx each did so four times.)

“The profile that I’ve talked about wanting to add is certainly one (Alonso) would fit,” Breslow conceded to reporters hours after the news broke.

Consistently durable, Alonso has played at least 152 of 162 regular-season games every year – with the exception of the COVID-shortened 2020 season – and hasn’t missed a game since 2023. There were reports, including one from the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey, that the Red Sox were concerned about how Alonso would decline with age.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Red Sox and Cubs met with Alonso, who arrived at the site of the Winter Meetings in secret via a side entrance and service elevator, on Tuesday night.

Boston reportedly matched Philadelphia’s offer to Schwarber, but did not match Baltimore’s offer to Alonso in dollars or years, a source told the Herald. The Mets were also open to a reunion with Alonso, who had been with the organization since they made him their second-round pick in 2016, but they were not willing to exceed three years, a source said. His Orioles contract goes through his age-36 season.

“I still feel like adding some slug to the lineup is a really good place to start,” said Breslow. “That said, if we set our sights on only one or two options and those fall through, we can’t have no alternatives. We’ve got to figure out a way to round out the roster and improve the offense.”

Alex Bregman and Bo Bichette are the top hitters left on the market. The Red Sox have been linked to both and approached numerous teams about trades, but are in danger of backing themselves into a corner if they attempt to cast too wide a net when the options are already limited, one league source said.

Bregman’s market was heating up Wednesday, a source told the Herald. The All-Star third baseman has a close relationship with manager Alex Cora, who would like to re-sign him.

In the aftermath of losing Alonso, Breslow also acknowledged that Bregman, who became a fan favorite in Boston this year before opting out of the three-year contract he signed last February, remains an obvious fit for the Red Sox.

“We saw what he was able to bring on the field and in the clubhouse last year, and he’s still out there,” Breslow said. “He’s still out there, and he’s a guy that can fit our roster particularly well.”

Bregman, however, is nearly a year older than Alonso.

In the meantime, baseball’s most competitive division gets even tougher, the pressure gets higher, and the Red Sox depart the Winter Meetings without the one thing they needed most to handle it all.

“He’s a prolific bat that’s going to hit in the middle of the order and he’ll be in our division, so we’re gonna see plenty of him,” Breslow said of Alonso. “Got to figure out how to get him out at this point.”