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    • 5 teams that can sign Polar Bear
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    5 teams that can sign Polar Bear

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    Can a fly ball hit into the opposite field at 350 feet be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in sentiment?

    Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, and maybe it hasn’t changed its fate as a New York Met. But when Pete Alonso’s go-ahead three-run homer catapulted the Mets from wild-card losers all the way to Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, it became so difficult to separate the reality from the story.

    Alonso’s one-out shot in the ninth inning against Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams in the deciding Game 3 of their NL wild-card series ensured that owner Steve Cohen’s club wasn’t just a fun second-half story that ended quickly came 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 he continued the kind of action that galvanized the fan base, cemented Alonso’s position among them and probably bolstered the club’s franchise value.

    Is all that enough to warrant a huge commitment to polar bear conservation?

    A look at the top five potential landing spots for the free agent celebrating his 30th birthdaye birthday next month:

    New York Mets

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

    On the other hand, there’s already so much good stuff in the bank: a whopping 226 career home runs, just 26 shy of tying Darryl Strawberry at the top of the franchise leaderboard. 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 into the spirit, as Alonso is a fierce and vocal supporter of the club, introducing the play-off pumpkin during last month’s merry October drive and having embedded himself within the fan community since his rookie season in 2019.

    That year the Mets did well and started Alonso on opening day; he rewarded them with 53 home runs and 147 adjusted OPS. As a result, he is now on the free agent market and won’t have to wait another year.

    Can this seemingly cordial relationship continue? Or will Cohen be eliminated by the Juan Soto chase and brought down by new club president David Stearns, who might take a more pragmatic view of Alonso’s eventual decline?

    It will make for a compelling winter drama.

    New York Yankees

    And therein lies the twist of the knife: Alonso leaves Queens for the Bronx, maybe pushes the Yankees to an elusive World Series championship, eventually calls in his time as a Met and (egad!) maybe he comes into Cooperstown with another, interlocking NY on his back. cap.

    There is a gaping hole at first base for the Yankees, one that they would rather not let the fading DJ LeMahieu fill, to say the least. Sure, there are mid-range models available on the market, but will the fan base rally behind an acquisition of Christian Walker or Carlos Santana after one of the most brilliant Yankees teams in recent memory filled the stadium and reached the World Series?

    Oddly enough, the Yankees and Mets are believed to be standing in front of the same four doors, in an adapted game of Let’s Make A Deal: Sign Alonso. Sign Soto. Sign both Soto and Alonso. Sign neither.

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

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

    Seattle sailors

    What better way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Richie Sexson era in Seattle than to bring in a hulking, powerful right-handed hitter entering his age-30 season?

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

    Still, the similarities are quite striking: a pitching-rich, hitting-weak team strives to even things out through purchasing 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 scored a Major League-high 167 times and by the fourth year of his deal he was dumped to the Yankees.

    Now, these Mariners: Although they invested well in pitching, their pop-gun offense prevented them from winning another division title. Club president Jerry Dipoto will let his “54%” comments haunt him until, you know, the Mariners end up winning more than 54% of their games.

    Many a right-handed hitter is irritated by Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park. Still, the Polar Bear has the kind of pop that no garden can quite contain. And a club that won 85 games despite finishing in the bottom of the third inning in runs scored and OPS could certainly use a hitter with a pulse.

    Cincinnati Reds

    You asked for “good fits” but probably won’t fit, right?

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

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

    New manager Terry Francona didn’t come out of retirement to take over Cleveland South and oversee a methodical build-up. The club has virtually no money on the books this year – only pitcher Hunter Greene signed a modest contract beyond 2026.

    And a core of young position players will keep costs under control in the coming years. There’s little reason why $30 million annually for Alonso’s power bat can’t be tucked away in a foundation that includes Matt McLain, Noelvi Marte and the transcendent Elly De La Cruz, the latter not eligible for arbitration until 2027.

    Imagine Alonso’s pop at Great American Ball Park, still the friendliest place to hit home runs. You’d think the Reds would have.

    Tampa Bay Rays

    We’d prefer the Rays break the $50 million barrier in free agency before dignifying them with an inclusion on a list like this. But perhaps the circumstances are somewhat similar.

    As frugal as the Rays are — their biggest free agent deal lasted three years, $40 million for Zach Eflin, and they promptly traded him in the second year — they stuck their nose in Freddie Freeman’s bid when Atlanta let him go three winters ago . They reportedly contacted Juan Soto this month.

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

    Okay, so Alonso comes from just over the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa. He won’t grant his wish for a new Rays ballpark to be built near Armature Works on that side of the bay. Still, things might as well turn up in Pinellas County if the seal on the new ballpark were broken by the pride of Plant High School.

    So maybe owner Stuart Sternberg will always be as cheap and “efficient” as his front office allows. But it is intriguing to consider taking home a real, living St. Peter’s.

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