Free agent slugger Pete Alonso has been linked to the Purple Sox ever because the offseason started. The 2 appear to be an ideal match, as Boston wants an enormous bat and the longtime New York Mets slugger is among the many finest in the marketplace.
Now the 2 are reportedly set to fulfill head to head.
In line with Mike Puma of the New York Post, Alonso is touring to Orlando on Tuesday to fulfill with groups on the Winter Conferences. The Purple Sox are among the many groups anticipated to sit down down with the slugger, an inventory that Puma says additionally consists of the Baltimore Orioles.
Alonso has been among the many most prolific energy hitters in baseball over the previous half decade, hitting 264 dwelling runs over seven seasons since his debut in 2019. That ranks third in MLB over that stretch, behind solely Yankees nice Aaron Choose (285) and fellow free agent Kyle Schwarber (268), one other potential Purple Sox goal.
The 31-year-old first baseman is coming off one other standout season through which he batted .272 with 38 dwelling runs, 126 RBI, an .871 OPS and three.4 wins above substitute. Alonso has by no means hit fewer than 34 dwelling runs in a 162-game season and this previous season earned his fifth All-Star nod and his first profession Silver Slugger.
Alonso is looking for a long-term contract after failing to safe one final winter in his first foray as a free agent. The slugger as an alternative signed a two-year, $54 million cope with an choose out after the primary season to return to the Mets, and he exercised that choose out to hit the market once more following the season.
Apart from looking for a confirmed energy hitter, the Purple Sox may additionally use further right-handed bats and certainty on the first base place. Triston Casas, the membership’s presumed starter, has battled main accidents in every of the previous two seasons and remains to be working his method again from a season-ending knee damage suffered final Might.
Casas is anticipated to be prepared for spring coaching, however Purple Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has thus far declined to decide to Casas or anybody else because the membership’s starter at first.
