New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso is set to become a free agent after the 2024 season, but if the team doesn’t want to sign him, there’s apparently a club he’d be very interested in joining instead.
According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, the Chicago Cubs are not only interested in Alonso’s services, but the first baseman would actually love to play on the North Side.
“Pete Alonso is on their radar. There’s no doubt about it. Here’s the reason: he wants to come here,” he told ESPN’s “Kap and J. Hood” show on Tuesday. “From what I’ve been told…is he’s surveyed now that the Mets have been broken up, and saw that the Cubs don’t have a first baseman ready to rock and roll. They have a pretty good team, and a great market. I think that he wants to come here as much as they want him.”
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Rogers went on to say that Alonso would be willing to work out a reasonable contract extension with the Cubs as well, citing his agent’s familiarity with Cubs President Jed Hoyer.
The news of Alonso’s reported interest comes as the Cubs look at options to add to their roster in the 2024 season. According to Bruce Levine of 670 the Score, the Cubs will “do everything they can” to acquire Alonso from the Mets, and while Rogers expressed skepticism that Chicago would bring back Cody Bellinger, Levine says that the plan would be to try to pair the two sluggers together.
In 154 games with the Mets this season, Alonso blasted 46 home runs and drove in 118 RBI’s. His batting average did dip significantly to .217, with his slugging percentage and OPS hitting career-lows for the Mets.
He still made the All-Star team for the third time in his career.
Needless to say, adding Alonso would be an interesting move for the Cubs, who are still trying to identify their first baseman of the future after Matt Mervis’ struggles in his first call-up to the North Siders.
Mervis is still likely part of their plans, but adding Alonso would give the Cubs a dominant power threat and would also smooth the runway for Mervis to reach the major leagues and to stick.
Alonso is arbitration-eligible this offseason, having earned $14.5 million in the 2023 campaign with the Mets.