Pete Alonso free agency buzz: Yankees engaged in talks with Alonso, three other first basemen

Pete Alonso remains one of the best power-hitting bats available in free agency. Here’s the latest on where the slugging first baseman, who is drawing interest from both the Mets and Yankees, could end up…

Dec. 17, 1:16 p.m.

The Yankees and Cubs are reportedly at an impasse on a potential Cody Bellinger trade, so in the meantime, the Bombers have turned their attention to the first base free agent market.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Yankees are “engaged in talks” with Alonso, Christian Walker, Carlos Santana, and Paul Goldschmidt.

Alonso would certainly be an interesting fit for the Yankees, who, as currently constructed, are a predominantly right-handed hitting team and already have a couple of high-volume strikeout hitters with power in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

Dec. 12, 5:01 p.m.

Speaking after Juan Soto’s introductory news conference, Mets owner Steve Cohen expressed optimism about a reunion with Alonso.

“Hopefully, we’ll get there,” Cohen said, telling reporters that the Mets are “still engaged” in contract talks with Alonso.

The Mets reportedly offered Alonso a seven-year, $158 million extension during the 2023 season, which was a down year overall for the first baseman and was followed up by another subpar year, relative to his own career norms.

Though he provided an unforgettable playoff moment with his Wild Card Series-winning home run off of Devin Williams (then with the Brewers), it will be interesting to see if teams look past his dropping numbers (.229/.324/.480 over the last two seasons) to the 226 home runs he’s hit since 2019 — the most in the National League and second in all of baseball to only Aaron Judge (232).