The Chicago White Sox are in the midst of a rebuild and are thin at first base, with Pete Alonso’s market as cold as it is, maybe the White Sox should look to pounce on this golden opportunity.
With the Chicago White Sox gathering pieces to pull themselves out of the depth of the abyss, there may be a beacon of light forming to pull the Chicago White Sox and fans backup to the surface. The Chicago White Sox by all measures appear to be done making any type of big move like making another big trade unless the can find a suitor for Luis Robert Jr. who has drawn interest from the Cincinnati Reds. However, one big move the Chicago White Sox should actually consider making is looking into signing slugging first basemen Pete Alonso.
Pete Alonso’s Market
I know this is an out of the box idea, but the Chicago White Sox should seriously consider signing the former Rookie of the Year, 4x All-Star, and top 10 MVP finisher first basemen Pete Alonso to a deal. Alonso who hit the free agency market at the ripe age of 30-years-old and was hoping that given what he has done in his career as well as having a solid 2024 post-season for the New York Mets, you’d that would land him a lucrative and long-term deal. So far, that has not come to fruition for the Alonso with his market being colder than Antartica in the summer.
Alonso has proven that he is one of the better power hitters in the game of baseball still even though his power has seemingly been on the decline. Since coming into the league Alonso’s slugging percentage has steadily declined over his career starting at .583 in his rookie year, to dropping to .459 in 2024. This is a drastic drop off and could be the reason teams are deciding to stay away from Pete, as well as his price tag, and that he would pigeonhole a team’s roster with him only being able to play first base and designated hitter.
However, there’s a few things teams are not taking into account on why Alonso’s power numbers could be declining but have the ability to bounce back. Since debuting in with the New York Mets which he did back in 2019 Pete Alonso has not played less than 150 games in a season (minus the 2020 season) averaging 157.8 games for a season. In 2024 that was no exception with Alonso playing in all 162 games where he had 146 hits, 31 doubles, 34 HRs, 88 RBI, for a slash line of .240/.329/.459 for an OPS and OPS+ of .788 and 123.
Alonso for his part even though his numbers are “down” still ranked in the 89th percentile for barrel percentage, 93rd percentile for bat speed, which is a good sign. And the topper that bodes well for Alonso and should show teams that sometimes numbers can be deceiving is that Pete Alonso passes the “eye-test” showing he is still a great baseball player.
Seemingly Alonso’s only suitor so far has been his former club the New York Mets, who have not been willing to meet the asking price of $200 million for Pete Alonso. So far, the New York Mets have only been willing to offer Pete Alonso a three-year $90 million contract, which is far from what he is looking for. Other teams “showing interest” are the Toronto Blue Jays and the San Francisco Giants.
Now let’s be serious those reports are just smoke and mirrors. Anyone who has been following baseball this off season and even in previous off seasons know that both the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants are the two teams that are always used to drive up the cost to force the hand of the actual team in play (in this case the New York Mets) to put more money up to sign the free agents they want.
We saw this happen when Shohei Ohtani hit the market, and we had the “plane incident” where it was reported the Ohtani was on a plane to Toronto which turned out to be false. It even happened this off season with Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes who both were linked to both teams and didn’t end up signing with either.
It’s puzzling on how teams were so eager to sign much older first basemen rather than Alonso who is still in his prime. For example, Paul Goldschmidt signed with the New York Yankees, Christian Walker signed with the Houston Astros, and Carlos Sanatana decided to go back to his former club the Cleveland Guardians, all teams who needed a first basemen, decided to pass on Pete Alonso. Granted given what Alonso deserves to be paid and the Yankees already dealing out a $200 million contract to left-hander Max Fried, that negated them being a legit suitor for Alonso.
Current Options at First Base and Designated Hitter
As I said the Chicago White Sox signing Pete Alonso is an out of the box idea and honestly most likely won’t happen but never say never. Currently the Chicago White Sox have just Andrew Vaughn as their primary first basemen on their roster. Matt Thaiss who the Chicago White Sox acquired in a trade with the Chicago Cubs has the ability to play first base as well as third base is an option for the White Sox to go to if Vaughn needs a day off or gets injured, but that’s not a viable option.
Thaiss figures to be the backup catcher behind Korey Lee who figures to be the starting catcher come Opening Day. Now there’s an outside chance recently acquired catching prospect Kyle Teel breaking camp with the Chicago White Sox revealing he will be in Spring Training competing for a spot on the Major League roster. So really, it’s just Andrew Vaughn being the only first basemen. Vaughn has proven to be durable and for the most part able to stay healthy playing around 150 games the past two seasons. But given injuries are a part of baseball adding another option would benefit the White Sox.
For the designated hitter’s role FanGraphs projects 26-year-old Zach DeLoach to be the starting DH for opening day. 2025 will mark DeLoach’s sophomore season in the big leagues with hoping to get better in 2025. DeLoach is unproven however and adding Alonso for the DH role would be a massive upgrade for the time being.
So Why Sign Pete Alonso?
With Alonso’s market being as cold as it is and the New York Mets being the only team vying to sign Alonso and nothing coming of it, this could be a golden opportunity for the Chicago White Sox. I don’t foresee Alonso getting the lucrative or long-term deal he so desires this off season. I believe what is happening and what will happen that Alonso will sign a deal similar to that to what Cody Bellinger signed with the Chicago Cubs back in February of 2024. A deal like this would be exactly what the Chicago White Sox would be in the market of doing.
I know the Chicago White Sox are looking to spend big money on free agents, but signing Pete would actually be mutually beneficial for both the White Sox and Pete Alonso. The White Sox are projected to have a budget of somewhere around $66.32 million for 2025 according to Spotrac, so they have some money to spend. Spotrac projects Alonso’s market value to be somewhere around $30 million a year, which would be a lot for the White Sox to give out.
Think big picture, say the Chicago White Sox give Alonso a two-year $60 million deal at $30 million per year with an opt-out after the first year. Giving Alonso this contract would be the second largest contract that the Chicago White Sox would give out with the largest given to current outfielder Andrew Benintendi who signed a five-year $75 million deal back in 2023. Even though the Chicago White Sox won’t be competitive in 2025 they won’t be the worst team with the Miami Marlins looking to take that mantle.
Pete Alonso signing with the White Sox would give him the ability to reset his market. On the White Sox he can still get sometime over at first base but also get some time off his feet with getting some DH reps with Andrew Vaughn needing to play the field as well. If Alonso does end up performing and bouncing back the Chicago White Sox would have one of the hottest trade pieces at next year’s deadline to speed up the rebuild even further. Even if Pete has the same exact season in 2025 as he did in 2024 that would still be a benefit for the White Sox’s rebuilding efforts.
Again, this is an out of the box idea that most likely will not happen, and Pete Alonso may end up returning to the New York Mets when it’s all said and done. The Chicago White Sox need to consider all options however and get creative to keep fans interested and excited for the future of the franchise.
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