Pete Alonso, who won a national championship with the Florida Gators in 2017, is saying goodbye to the New York Mets after seven seasons with the club.
Alonso and the Baltimore Orioles are finalizing a five-year, $155 million contract, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
He leaves New York as perhaps the greatest power bat in team history. Alonso broke the franchise record for home runs, passing Darryl Strawberry’s mark of 252 and finishing the 2025 campaign with 264.
Getting Alonso back to Citi Field was no easy task. A free agent a year ago, Alonso shopped the market in search of a long-term deal. Nothing came to fruition, leading the Mets to re-sign him to a two-year, $54 million contract.
He immediately opted out of his $24 million option after the season came to an end, looking to test the free agency waters once again. This time around, New York made no such offer.
What makes the move interesting is Alonso’s career year in 2025. He slashed .272/.347/.524 with 38 home runs and 126 RBIs while batting behind Juan Soto and had his best offensive season since his rookie year. He shortened his swing, and the rest came naturally.
However, Alonso is becoming a bigger liability on the bases and at first base, which explains the Mets’ hesitancy on offering a long-term deal. At some point, he will move from first to designated hitter, and teams don’t like to shell out big numbers for position players who might not have a position much longer.
Still, he’s one of the healthier big bats in the league and ranked 16th in adjusted-OPS+ (135) this year — a clear upgrade from the platoon of Coby Mayo and Ryan O’Hearn, the former becoming a trade asset for Baltimore as a result of Alonso’s signing.
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