5 teams that could sign Isbjørn

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Could an opposite field fly ball hit 367 feet be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in sentiment?

Maybe it won’t matter, and maybe it didn’t change his destiny as a New York Met. Still, when Pete Alonso’s breakthrough three-run homer propelled the Mets from wild-card losers all the way to Game 6 in the National League Championship Series, it became that much harder to separate reality from fiction.

Alonso’s one-out, ninth-inning shot against Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams in the decisive Game 3 of their NL wild-card series ensured owner Steve Cohen’s club wasn’t just a sweet second-half story that met a quick end in October.

No, by upsetting the division-champion Philadelphia Phillies in the subsequent NL Division Series and battling the Dodgers for one more game than the Yankees ultimately did in the World Series, the Mets exceeded their expectations.

And went on the kind of run that galvanized the fan base, solidified Alonso’s standing among them and arguably bolstered the club’s franchise value.

Is all that enough to secure a massive commitment to polar bear conservation?

A look at the top five potential landing spots for the 30-year-old free agentth birthday next month:

New York Mets

On the one hand, you look at Alonso’s age and increasing strike rate and reckon that the nine-figure contract needed to keep him might not be worth it.

On the other hand, there’s so much good already in the bank: a whopping 226 career home runs, just 26 away from tying Darryl Strawberry atop the franchise list. Four All-Star appearances and two Home Run Derby championships. A career adjusted OPS of 134 and three seasons with at least 40 home runs.

That’s before you even get to the mood, as Alonso is a staunch and vocal supporter of the club, introduced the playoff pumpkin to last month’s Happy October Tour and ingrained himself in the fan base from his rookie season in 2019.

That year, the Mets did right by him, starting Alonso on Opening Day; he rewarded them with 53 home runs and a 147 adjusted OPS. As a result, he is now on the free agent market and doesn’t have to wait another year.

Can this seemingly cordial relationship continue? Or will Cohen be pulled out of the Juan Soto pursuit and talked down by new club president David Stearns, who may take a more pragmatic view of Alonso’s eventual decline?

It will create compelling winter drama.

New York Yankees

And therein lies the twist: Alonso travels from Queens to the Bronx, maybe pushing the Yankees to an elusive World Series championship, eventually writing about his time as a Met and (egad!) maybe entering Cooperstown with another locked-in NY on his side. cap.

There’s a gaping hole at first base for the Yankees, one they won’t let the fading DJ LeMahieu plug, to say the least. Sure, mid-range models are available on the market, but after one of the Yankees’ glitziest teams in recent memory packed the stadium and reached the World Series, will the fan base rally around a Christian Walker or Carlos Santana acquisition?

Oddly, the Yankees and Mets are believed to be located in front of the same four doors in a modified game of Let’s Make A Deal: Sign Alonso. Draw Soto. Sign both Soto and Alonso. Don’t sign either.

It certainly looks like the Yankees can’t afford the latter scenario, either in production or in panache. At the same time, losing Soto and adding Alonso would make the middle of the lineup far too right-handed, what with sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton already in the mix.

Go big or go home? That’s a question managing partner Hal Steinbrenner will have to consider.

Seattle Mariners

What better way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Richie Sexson era in Seattle than to reel in a great, power-hitting right-handed hitter into his 30-year-old season?

OK, so maybe that’s not the best way to sell this.

Still, the similarities are pretty striking: Pitching-rich, hitting-weak teams aim to balance things out by buying power in the free agent market. And Sexson hit 39 home runs in 2004, the first year of his four-year, $50 million contract.

However, Seattle only improved from 63 to 69 wins in 2005, Sexson struck out a league-high 167 times and, in the fourth year of his deal, was dumped on the Yankees.

Now, these Mariners: Although they’ve invested well in pitching, their pop-gun offense once again kept them from winning a division title. Club president Jerry Dipoto will be followed by his “54%” comments until the Mariners, you know, end up winning more than 54% of their games.

Many right-handed hitters have been annoyed by Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park. Still, the polar bear has the kind of pop that no farm can really contain. And a club that won 85 games despite finishing in the bottom third in runs scored and OPS sure could use a hitter with a pulse.

Cincinnati Reds

You asked for “good fit”, not likely fit, right?

It’s been more than a decade since the Castellini family bestowed a nine-figure extension on franchise icon Joey Votto and followed it up with a nearly $100 million deal for pitcher Homer Bailey. Since then, you’d think the Reds were as lost as a Kroger aisle before a hurricane.

So no, we don’t expect Cincinnati to make a big splash in this free agent pool. Still, the conditions are there.

New manager Terry Francona didn’t come out of retirement to take over Cleveland South and oversee a methodical rebuild. The club has virtually no money on its books this year — with only pitcher Hunter Greene signed to a modest deal beyond 2026.

And a young position-player core will remain cost-controlled for the next several years. One small reason why $30 million a year for Alonso’s power bat can’t be stashed away in a foundation that includes infielders Matt McLain, Noelvi Marte and the transcendent Elly De La Cruz, the latter not even eligible for arbitration until 2027.

Just imagine Alonso’s pop at Great American Ball Park, still the nicest place you can hit home runs. You’d like to believe the Reds have.

Tampa Bay Rays

We’d prefer the Rays crack the $50 million mark in free agents before valuing them with an inclusion on a list like this. Still, maybe the conditions are just a little bit aligned.

For as famously frugal as the Rays are—their biggest free agent deal was a three-year, $40 million deal for Zach Eflin, and they promptly traded him in year two—they balked at the Freddie Freeman bid when Atlanta turned him loose three winters ago. They reportedly reached out to speak to Juan Soto this month.

And the green flags continue to line up for a new stadium expected to open in St. Petersburg in 2028. Who better than a hometown star to get the home crowd excited?

OK, so Alonso is coming from just over the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa. He won’t get his favorite wish of a new Rays ballpark coming up near Armature Works on that side of the bay. Still, things could just as easily turn up in Pinellas County if the seal were to be broken on the new ballpark of Plant High School’s pride.

So maybe owner Stuart Sternberg will always be as cheap and “efficient” as his front office allows. But it’s exciting to consider bringing a real, live St. Pete home.

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