Former Chicago Cubs Star Believes Their Free-Agent Target Fits ‘Any Team’

Former Chicago Cubs star Ryan Dempster recently talked about one of the top free agents-to-be during a podcast.

Sep 4, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) breaks his bat over his leg after striking out during the eighth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Citi Field. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Ryan Dempster knows a little something about what the Chicago Cubs might need this offseason.

The former Cubs ace was also a part of the front office for a time. These days, he does plenty of work on television.

Earlier this week, he went on “The Show” to talk with New York Post reporters Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman about free agency, most specifically New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso, who will be one of the most sought-after sluggers in the game should he hit free agency in November.

Alonso is in the final year of his contract and is almost certain to at least test the market, as his agent is Scott Boras, one of the game’s top agent and one who is smarting from last offseason when many of his clients didn’t get top-dollar, long-term deals in the market.

There has been a lot of talk about Alonso entering free agency. The first baseman has hit 233 home runs for his six-year career and has hit 31 this season. Aside from the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, he’s hit at least 30 home runs in each of his five full seasons.

That should make the 29-year-old slugger — who turns 30 in December — a valuable commodity for a long-term deal.

But, will he get one?

Dempster is all for Alonso getting a long-term contract, but he also believes there’s a reason there are questions about his future, even though he doesn’t seem to agree with them.

“Pete has, I don't know if it's necessarily a stigma or what, but what happens is when somebody's so good at hitting 30 to 40 home runs every year teams go, ‘Well eventually he won't continue to hit those homers’ and they won’t commit that kind of long-term deal,” Dempster said.

The Cubs were a team connected to Alonso last year when there was a believe among MLB insiders that the Mets might try and move him in a trade entering the final year of his deal to ensure they got something in return for him.

Instead, the New York signed him to a one-year deal worth more than $20 million to avoid arbitration.

Now, the Mets will either have to re-sign Alonso or watch him walk. Dempster said that Alonso is a fit for “any team,” a statement that would include Chicago.

“There's guys who are just bona fide home run hitters every year and run producers,” he said. “I just think those guys are hard to find and you just can't find them and you can't make them. There something that's in them from the time they were in high school or college or the minor leagues. They’re home run hitters and when you plug those guys of your lineup as a pitcher it's not fun. If I'm any team in baseball, I'm trying to sign him.”