How Pete Alonso would fit in Boston, and other observations from a reporter’s first season covering the Red Sox
Alonso, one of the preeminent sluggers of the decade, is looking for a new contract and perhaps a new team, depending on the Mets’ feelings about his second go-around with free agency.
Speaking as a fan — and as someone who covered Alonso during my seven-plus years on the Mets beat before joining the Globe in June — it would almost be a shame to see Alonso in another uniform. Single-team players are rare in modern baseball, and Alonso has a shot at being one. Seeing him see it through would be fun, and good for his legacy and potential Hall of Fame case.
If Alonso leaves, though, Boston would be a great landing spot. His big bat and big personality would be a natural addition to the city, the clubhouse, and the lineup.
A few things to know about Alonso:
1. He always has enjoyed visiting Boston and playing at Fenway Park (among other iconic ballparks). His numbers at Fenway in the limited sample of 10 games: 10 for 40 (.250) with six extra-base hits (three home runs) and an .893 OPS.
2. He never was the outright leader with the Mets but long has been part of the leadership group. Among Alonso’s small acts: He learned Spanish to communicate with teammates, including using the second language to encourage spring training call-overs — the no-name guys who joined major league camp for the day to maybe play at the end of the exhibition game — to not be shy and take advantage of the major league food spread. He also tended to be at the forefront of pitcher/hitter cross-communication, which Bregman and Garrett Crochet worked to foster with the Red Sox.
3. Alonso has a habit of hitting lasers to left field. I’d be curious how this would work with the Green Monster. Statcast data indicates had he played at Fenway instead of Citi Field, he would have 250 long balls, down from his actual 264. Something tells me he’d figure out how to hit it over the Monster instead of through it.
Alonso wouldn’t necessarily mesh with Craig Breslow’s vision of building an “athletic, dynamic team,” as he stated most recently this month, part of the reason given for dealing Rafael Devers. But Alonso would replace Devers as the middle-of-the-order thumper that Breslow didn’t add at the trade deadline.
Alonso would fit Alex Cora’s preference for “nine horses” instead of the mixing and matching of 2025. He hasn’t missed a game since 2023. Over the past five seasons, he has averaged 158 games, 39 home runs, 111 RBIs, and a 134 OPS+. Incredibly, that includes two (minimum) stays on the injured list.
(Kyle Schwarber, an object of desire for Sox fans and Cora after his 52-game cameo in 2021, has a similar 136 OPS+ in that half-decade. His averages are 148 games, 43 homers, and 101 RBIs. He would be a good match, too, albeit from the left side.)
Alonso always has been proud of his defense, so any conversation about spending more time at DH — at some point during his next contract — might be tricky. The publicly available metrics for 2025 are rough, though he is excellent at scooping low throws, saving teammates from errors.
If there is anyone who can explain to Alonso the benefits of signing with the Red Sox and focusing on hitting, it is his friend and fellow Floridian, J.D. Martinez.
That should serve as a lesson for the front office, too. Remember that after David Ortiz retired following the 2016 season, the Sox went without that type of impact bat in 2017, and it showed. They solved the problem by signing Martinez, who played some outfield but mostly was there to hit homers and drive in runs. The 2018 World Series championship ensued.
Sometimes, you just need a guy who will crush. The Red Sox haven’t committed to Triston Casas at first base for 2026, given his injury history, and Masataka Yoshida isn’t in the way of any high-caliber offensive signing.
While we wait for the offseason to develop in earnest, here are some other observations from my first season covering the Red Sox.
⋅ Crochet is even more impressive up close.
The pitching speaks for itself. After a banner debut season with the Red Sox, he is the favorite to be the runner-up to Tarik Skubal in American League Cy Young Award voting (the results of which will be released next month). The Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America chose Crochet not only the pitcher of the year, obviously, but also the team MVP. He was that good.
But Crochet came to be more than just a pitcher. It was striking to hear Cora and teammates frequently reference Crochet, “the big boy,” as a team leader — by example and by his words, for the pitchers and for the hitters. He was a tone-setter. With the media, Crochet was as eloquent as any player, in good times and bad, about himself and about the team, and routinely made himself available when reporters sought him out on non-start days. That is not true for all star players.
All that, and he is only 26.
Heading into the offseason, my lasting image of Crochet: After he spoke for four minutes about how “we’re all pretty bitter” about the end of the season, the scrum dispersed and he turned to his locker, understandably disappointed and frustrated. Then someone wished him well with fatherhood, his wife due with their first child soon. The negative melted away. Crochet broke into as soft and as excited a smile as you will see on a 6-foot-6-inch, 245-pound behemoth of a man. There is more to life than baseball.
⋅ Garrett Whitlock played through a calf issue for most of the second half, perhaps longer. He wore a compression sleeve and kinesiology tape virtually every day.
“He’s available when he’s available,” Cora said on the day the season wound up ending. “Sometimes he limps to first base. Lately it seems like he’s in a good place.”
Cora added that Whitlock was feeling better over the previous two weeks than he did prior.
Whitlock didn’t want to talk about his legs. “I’ll keep that to myself,” he said Sept. 14.
Clearly, it didn’t impact his pitching. He had a 0.30 ERA with 40 strikeouts and five walks in 30 innings in the final 12 weeks.
⋅ Jarren Duran too frequently did not look comfortable in left field. That seems counterintuitive for a guy who rated awfully well in center in 2024, but outfield coach Kyle Hudson said left “is the hardest outfield position to play,” in part because of pulled batted balls (as well as not having a PitchCom like the center fielder).
As the Sox mull what to do with their overcrowded outfield, I can’t help but wonder if Duran would be better off with a team for which he could play center field regularly.
⋅ Home clubhouse manager Tom McLaughlin and his staff do good work. My favorite example: The name plates above each locker — and the neon lights lining each locker — change depending on the uniform the team is wearing that day. On Friday nights, they matched the Fenway Greens. By the next morning, it all turned over to yellow and sky blue, like the Marathon-inspired getups.
⋅ Another fun behind-the-scenes detail: An entire wall in a small hallway between the clubhouse and the dugout tunnel/stairs is covered with floor-to-ceiling photos of the four versions of one of the most iconic poses in recent franchise history, the pitcher and catcher embracing after a World Series championship. Keith Foulke and Jason Varitek, Jonathan Papelbon and Varitek, Koji Uehara and David Ross, and Chris Sale and Christian Vázquez are featured.
⋅ Carlos Narváez is on Venezuela’s preliminary roster for the World Baseball Classic, which is in March.
Representing his country would be a dream come true, Narváez said, so he would love to suit up — if he would be a top-two catcher on the squad. If not, it is more difficult to justify leaving Red Sox camp, particularly as someone without a guaranteed contract, in his view.
As much as he pleasantly surprised the Red Sox by emerging as the best catcher on the team early in his rookie season, Narváez realizes he could just as easily slip to second or worse without a continued strong showing in 2026.
In addition to the Royals’ Salvador Perez, Narváez’s idol, Venezuelan catchers include the Brewers’ William Contreras, Diamondbacks’ Gabriel Moreno, and Padres’ Freddy Fermin.
⋅ With former Red Sox assistant GM Paul Toboni now running the Nationals, is there a deal to be made? MacKenzie Gore is due to be a free agent after the 2027 season, probably before the Nationals are actually good again. Toboni, of course, would know what talent from the Sox farm system he would like to pluck.
⋅ And finally, a shoutout to Globe readers. I was beyond impressed by how many of you reached out via email and other channels, chiming in not only with thoughts about that article or game, but also just to welcome me, having noticed my byline was new. That is heartening — and a rare degree of caring and attention to detail. As someone who likes to tuck interesting/fun tidbits or good quotes into the bottom of stories, I appreciate how many of you read that far. This job comes with intensely large shoes to fill from through the decades, so as long as you keep reading, I’ll keep trying to do it justice.
Tim Healey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @timbhealey.
