Washington Nationals Named Contender To Steal Pete Alonso in Free Agency
The Washington Nationals head into the offseason looking to improve a roster that has finished in last place in four out of the five years since winning the World Series in 2019, including back-to-back 71-91 seasons over the last two years.
Unquestionably, this has been a rebuilding team for a while now and the young talent is really just starting to take shape into something that resembles a core.
As one of the youngest teams in baseball, though they have promise, the Nationals aren't expected to contend for anything significant in 2025. But one of the benefits of having a team comprised of a core of young talent is that fact that payroll is low and Washington can afford to stretch the budget in free agency if they want to supplement with elite free agents.
Washington has ranked among the bottom three teams in baseball in terms of home runs hit by the team for three years in a row now and one of the top goals of the offseason should be figuring out a way to create more long balls.
There's not a better way to do that in free agency than by signing a player who is second in the league in home runs since entering the league in 2019 in New York Mets slugging first baseman Pete Alonso.
In a recent article, Manny Randhawa of MLB.com named Alonso as a player who could remain within the division and end up with the Nationals.
"The Nationals have been a popular dark-horse pick for landing Alonso," Randhawa wrote. "As Washington moves closer to contention following a rebuild, with young stars showing they belong in the Majors and significant financial flexibility this offseason, Alonso could be the star veteran they need to take a big step forward in 2025."
Over the last three seasons, Alonso has belted 120 home runs and has never had less than 34 in a full season. Him ending up on a home-run needy team like Washington, which is desperate for an injection of power into the lineup, would be an absolutely perfect fit for the Nationals.
Plus, Alonso would help the Nationals at a position were needs help, as they didn't have a productive first base-tandem last season and don't have an obvious solution in the pipeline.
While bidding against the limitless Steve Cohen is a daunting task — especially as it seems the Mets have a strong desire to keep the four-time All-Star who is one of thefaces of the franchise — Washington must make a real effort to sign Alonso.
Assuming Juan Soto is off the table, there's not another player in free agency who would be a better fit than Alonso and the Nationals must be willing to do whatever it takes in order to bring the Polar Bear to the nation's capital.
