Pete Alonso May Be an Awkward Fit on the 2025 Blue Jays

Pete Alonso is the latest free agent the Blue Jays have in their sights. His fit on the 2025 squad feels like it could be an imperfect one.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 03: Pete Alonso #20 of the New York Mets plays first base against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 03, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 03: Pete Alonso #20 of the New York Mets plays first base against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 03, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)

The Toronto Blue Jays have had themselves a(nother) horrible offseason. At various points, they’ve been tied to the very best names available on the free agent market, only to come up empty to this point.

Sure, they’ve brought back Yimi Garcia on a multi-year pact, and bringing Jeff Hoffman into the fold to further shore up their bullpen is another promising move. However, the list of players they’ve pursued and missed out on is embarrassingly long.

They chased after Juan Soto, who landed on the New York Mets.

They chased after Max Fried, who landed on the New York Yankees.

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Same goes for Roki Sasaki and old friend Teoscar Hernandez, both of whom picked the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Don’t forget about Corbin Burnes, who landed on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The list is growing seemingly by the day. At one point, it seemed like there was a legitimate shot that they were going to go all-in and try to capitalize on their Vladimir Guerrero Jr.-Bo Bichette core one last time before they both hit unrestricted free agency.

Now, it feels like they’re scrambling and trying to sign one or more of the “best of the rest”, so to speak. There’s still a decent amount of talent out there, especially on the position player and relief pitching side of things.

One of the best remaining free agents is Pete Alonso, whose bat would be a welcomed addition to the Blue Jays’ 2025 lineup. Last year, they fell well short of expectations in the power department, so bringing aboard Alonso would fill that hole in a big way. Rumor has it that Toronto is “engaged in discussions” with the slugging first baseman.

However, the fit is an imperfect one, at least for the upcoming season.

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Pete Alonso’s Fit on the 2025 Blue Jays Is an Imperfect One

Easily the biggest elephant in the room here is how the trio of Guerrero, Alonso and George Springer would all make their way into the lineup on a nightly basis. The Blue Jays are still tied down to Springer through both 2025 and 2026, so him and his declining bat aren’t going anywhere.

When the club first signed him ahead of the 2021 campaign, the expectation was for him to be their everyday right fielder. As he’s aged and his production has begun to dip, he’s now looking more like a designated hitter who can play right field a few times a week.

Then there’s the fact that Guerrero and Alonso play the same position. Sure, Guerrero came up as a third baseman, but he’s not a viable option to play there every single day. Over the past six months or so, he’s expressed a desire to move back to the hot corner, which does count for something, but he’s not exactly quick on his feet and may not be cut out for a consistent gig at third.

Last year, Guerrero posted 1 OAA at third base in a very limited sample size. He looked comfortable at the position on most nights, but this is the same player who had -20 OAA at the position on a full-time basis back in 2019. It’s hard to believe that he got more nimble and light on his feet as he’s aged.

Should the Blue Jays sign Alonso, the best course of action would be for either him or Guerrero to play first base while the other is the designated hitter. That would force Springer into the outfield, where he is nothing more than “just okay” at this point in his career. This past year, he finished in the 51st percentile in OAA while his Arm Strength sat in the 65th percentile.

In the not-so-distant past, he regularly posted multiple OAA in a season in both right and center field. In 2023, he was at 0 in right and this past year he was at -1 at the position.

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Still, if the Blue Jays were ready to ditch their “defense over offense” approach, it’s hard to poke holes in a potential signing of Alonso. However, they’ve continued to lean heavily into the idea that run prevention wins ballgames. At times, this is something that’s worked out, but they’ve had it shown to them time and time again that they’re going to need more on offense.

Guerrero’s Extension

The Blue Jays have reportedly been trying to extend Guerrero for quite some time now, but it sounds like they haven’t made much progress. In fact, multiple reports have come out recently that suggested the club tried to lowball the superstar and that there hasn’t been much progress made on a deal that’d keep him in Toronto for the rest of his career.

If the Blue Jays extend Guerrero, the best move would be for them to pivot to Alex Bregman, who could hold down third base better than Vladdy could on a nightly basis. Bregman’s bat remains strong and he is coming off of the first Gold Glove Award of his career in 2024. This would allow Springer to spend more of his time as the club’s designated hitter and would allow the Blue Jays to upgrade their roster while not having to sacrifice anything on the defensive side of things.

However, there’s also a chance the Blue Jays don’t lock Guerrero up before the deadline of the first full day of spring training. If no deal comes together, it’d make sense for the club to sign Alonso and deal with the single-year questionable defense around the diamond.

In that instance, Alonso and Guerrero could alternate between 1B/DH with Springer spending the majority of his time in the outfield. On days where he’d need to come off the field, he could DH with Guerrero shifting across the diamond to third base. Again, the defense would surely take a big hit with this configuration, but it’d also bring more offensive firepower to the table.

On the flip side, this would only happen if the Blue Jays and Guerrero failed to come to an agreement on the extension. It’s a tough line to walk.

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The Blue Jays’ Biggest Problem Is Their Front Office

What’s most frustrating for Blue Jays fans and non-Blue Jays fans alike is the fact that regardless of which move is widely considered to be the “right one”, the organization’s front office will go the other direction.

It can be so easy to play armchair GM from afar, but the Blue Jays have made half-assed attempts at upgrading their roster for two straight offseasons now and came away mostly empty-handed. Last year, they chased after Cody Bellinger and Shohei Ohtani just to settle with Kevin Kiermaier, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Justin Turner. The drop-off between the two groups of players they targeted and players they ended up with is massive.

This winter has been the same story. The latest nail in Ross Atkins’ coffin is the club’s failure to land Sasaki. Once again, the Blue Jays were the rumored “runner up” in the conversation, but you don’t earn a medal for finishing second.

In the end, Alonso could bring a boost to the Blue Jays’ lineup, but we’ve all been trained by now to know how this is going to shake out. Atkins and Co. have put together a team that revolves much more around defense than offense, and so far they’ve been wholly unwilling to move off of that set of beliefs. There’s been no hard evidence to suggest that they’re going to change things up.

Hell, Toronto just acquired Myles Straw, one of the weakest hitters in baseball, from the Guardians for international bonus money that was supposed to help them land Sasaki. There’s such a strange obsession with defense and it’s done nothing but result in zeroes for the Blue Jays in each of the past two seasons.

Alonso may feel like a fit, but there’s simply no way the Blue Jays and their front office would sacrifice the defense to shore up the offense. That would mean they’d be admitting that their plans over the past few years have failed, and that’s just not how this regime operates.

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