The Mets Lose Pete Alonso To The Orioles

The Orioles are creeping their way up now in the American League East after a down season in 2025, where their pitching staff struggled, and they had a bevy of injuries. Baltimore was able to reap the benefits of a breakout season from Trevor Rogers and have a really good starting rotation duo with Kyle Bradish.

This was already a team that I had high hopes for entering next season, and they added one of the best power hitters in the league. Alonso was eighth in Weighted Runs Created+ this season with a 141 wRC+, and was also 10th in the league with a .871 On Base Plus Slugging Percentage. He hits the ball incredibly hard, hits for average, and his underlying metrics and expected stats are a sea of red.

Every team needs a middle-of-the-order bat like him, and now you have an elite duo with shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Baltimore also has intriguing bats like Jackson Holliday, Dylan Beavers, Samuel Basallo, Jordan Westburg, and Colton Cowser all well.

The Orioles are banking on guys like Adley Rutschman and Tyler O’Neill bouncing back, and they also acquired power-hitting Taylor Ward for Grayson Rodriguez. They really are a top-of-the-rotation pitcher away from being a really formidable team. Bullpen-wise, they recently signed their closer in Ryan Helsley and are hoping that he can bounce back for them after a rocky second half with the Mets.

This could now open up the flood gates for a potential trade of either Coby Mayo, Ryan Mountcastle, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they wanted to move off of O’Neill either. A prospect like Mayo could definitely be put in a package to potentially trade for a starting pitcher as wel.

Baltimore has made their big-time acquisition, where are the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and even the Tampa Bay Rays’ splashes in the AL East?

What Does This Mean For The Mets?

Check up on your dearest Mets fans today. They’ve lost fan favorites Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz, and Pete Alonso, all in the last 18 days. The last two are incredibly shocking because their owner, Steve Cohen, is worth $23 billion, so money should never be an issue; they should never get outspent.

New York lost their longtime first baseman, a perennial All-Star, and they probably have to rely internally on someone like Mark Vientos. This is a guy who starred in 2024 with a 132 wRC+, 2.9 Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement, and rose to the occasion in the postseason as well. He struggled with a 97 wRC+ and .702 OPS this past season and the Mets hope that he can regain his form in 2026.

Top prospect Ryan Clifford makes sense here too; he’s coming off an .826 OPS in the minors last season, and he can play first base.

A lot of blame in this can be shifted to the President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns, who comes from a smaller market in Milwaukee and isn’t used to spending a ton of money. Which made it an interesting hire, as all he’s known is penny pinching and trying to make savvy moves instead of signing marquee free agents. A ton of drafting and developing was going on, but Mets fans want them to open up the checkbook with a guy like Cohen owning the team.

There’s nothing wrong with New York’s unwillingness to go to a fifth year for Alonso since his defense and speed are deterring every season, but not even giving him an offer is outrageous. Alonso is becoming one of the most underrated players in baseball. You can pencil him in for a minimum of 35 home runs and 100 runs batted in yearly.

The Mets have Brett Baty at third base currently, but they don’t really have a designated hitter, so there’s so much to think about all of that. They would still need another power-hitting acquisition, which someone like Eugenio Suarez would make sense. Could they go after Alex Bregman?

Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure, though. The Orioles have to be elated getting someone of his caliber, even if the contract looks insane at face value. Baltimore really isn’t a marquee landing spot; they haven’t handed out a contract like this in forever.

The End Of My Pete Alonso Rant

Orioles fans, congratulations, your new ownership and general manager Mike Elias finally put their money where their mouth is and got you a premier bat this offseason. This should be an incredibly fun team to watch with a good mixture of veterans and young players; they just need to further address pitching.

It’s genuinely stunning that the Mets let both Alonso and Diaz walk. You would think that Stearns and Company would have to have something up their sleeves, right? This really has to sting for Mets fans; these were players that most people probably had going back to them, and they’re both gone, like that.

New York has one of the most passionate fan bases in baseball. You can’t give them Juan Soto last season, and now borderline penny-pinching on a win-now team with a filthy rich owner. The Mets had other holes that they had to address regardless, but letting two of their better players go is ludicrous.

If Stearns turns this into a blockbuster trade for either Tarik Skubal or Freddy Peralta, then cool. They obviously need to acquire an ace-level pitcher this offseason and not put the entire burden of their rotation on their young pitching core.

Is there anybody else that would interest them offensively? It’s hard to gauge based on how they’ve handled things so far, but could they go after someone like Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger to help them in the outfield?

It’s not going to be easy to try to replace Alonso’s production whatsoever.