Pete Alonso’s 300th career homer was always going to make noise, but the way it landed on September 15 made it sting a little harder for the Boston Red Sox.
Alonso, now with the last-place Baltimore Orioles, reached the milestone and picked up his 36th home run of the season while Baltimore was in New York facing his longtime club, the Mets. Citi Field greeted the blast with cheers as it left the yard, a reaction that split opinions given how much of Alonso’s power output came in a Mets uniform and how long he served as the face of that franchise.
For Boston, though, the home run did more than just add another entry to Alonso’s career log. It reopened the conversation about how close the Red Sox supposedly came to landing him in free agency - and what it might have meant if they had.
The Red Sox and Orioles were both in the mix for Alonso before Baltimore won the sweepstakes. The offseason reporting at the time painted Boston as a team that never truly got into the ballpark on years or money, with the front office said to prefer younger players over older, established names viewed as regression risks.
That picture was challenged on September 16 by Jared Carrabis of the “Baseball is Dead” podcast, who said the Red Sox were “very close” to signing Alonso based on an update from an unnamed source.
Carrabis is not a reporter in the traditional sense, so that claim deserves a cautious read. Still, he has had access to Red Sox information before, and his track record includes getting word of Boston’s firing of Alex Cora and other coaches before it became public.
If Carrabis is right, then the Red Sox may have had reasons to push a different story to reporters rather than admit they were outbid by Baltimore, a lower-payroll club in the AL East. That part remains speculation. What isn’t up for debate is how painful it looks in hindsight to miss out on a player like Alonso.
Boston has gotten real production from Willson Contreras, who has been the team’s top offensive force all season with a .275/.386/.519 slash line, 21 doubles, 27 home runs and 81 RBI over 128 games. He has also provided leadership for a young roster. Even so, it’s easy to see why Red Sox fans keep looking at Alonso and wondering what the lineup might have looked like with another 37 home runs added to the mix.
Alonso’s appeal is obvious. He is a right-handed power bat who can change a game with one swing, he plays nearly every day, and durability has not been a major issue in his career.
His defense, once a bigger concern, has improved in Baltimore as well. In other words, he checks a lot of boxes the Red Sox could use.
Now they have to face him as a division rival for the next four seasons. For Boston, that part of the story is probably the toughest to swallow.
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