Would Mets slugger Pete Alonso be a good fit with Red Sox?

Okay, so Pete Alonso. He’s arguably been one of the best power hitters of the last decade. And he’s coming up on a new contract, which means we could see him in a new uniform. It all hinges on what the Mets are thinking about bringing him back for another go-around after free agency.

Speaking as someone who covered Alonso closely when I was on the Mets beat (before joining the Globe this past June) I’ve got to say it’d be kind of sad to see him playing anywhere else. Guys who stick with one team their whole career are rare these days, and Alonso has a real shot at that. Seeing him stay in New York would be fun to watch, and it would cement his legacy, maybe even help his Hall of Fame chances.

BUT, if he *does* leave… Boston wouldn’t be a bad place for him at all. His power bat and big personality would be a great fit here. He’d bring a lot to the city, the clubhouse, and, of course, the lineup.

Just a few things to keep in mind about Alonso:

1. He’s always liked playing in Boston, especially at Fenway Park. He seems to enjoy those older, iconic ballparks. In a small sample size (10 games), he’s hit .250 with six extra-base hits (including three homers) and a .893 OPS at Fenway. Not too shabby!

2. Even though he wasn’t always the *official* captain or anything, he’s always been a leader in the clubhouse. One small example: he learned Spanish to connect with his teammates. He would even use his Spanish to encourage the spring training call-ups (those no-name guys) to relax and dig into the major league food spread. Also, he’s always been good at opening up lines of communication between the pitchers and the hitters, which is similar to what Bregman and Crochet have been trying to do with the Red Sox.

3. This guy loves hitting rockets to left field. It makes me wonder how that would play with the Green Monster. Statcast data suggests that if he’d played at Fenway his whole career, he’d probably have around 250 home runs instead of his actual 264. But something tells me he’d figure out how to launch ’em *over* the Monster instead of into it.

Now, Alonso maybe doesn’t *perfectly* align with Craig Breslow’s vision of an “athletic, dynamic team” (which he mentioned recently, and was part of the reasoning behind moving Rafael Devers). But… Alonso *would* fill that void left by Devers – that middle-of-the-order power bat that Breslow didn’t add at the trade deadline.

He *would* fit in with Alex Cora’s idea of having “nine horses” instead of constantly mixing and matching the lineup, as the Red Sox did in 2025. He rarely misses a game. Over the last five years, he’s averaged 158 games, 39 homers, 111 RBIs, and a 134 OPS+. And that *includes* a couple of stints on the injured list!

(Just a side note: Kyle Schwarber, who Sox fans and Cora wanted back after his brief stint in 2021, has a similar 136 OPS+ over the same period. He’s averaged 148 games, 43 homers, and 101 RBIs. So, he’d be another great fit – a left-handed one.)

Alonso has always taken pride in his defense, so a move to more time at DH down the road might be a sensitive conversation. The defensive metrics weren’t great in 2025, but he *is* excellent at scooping low throws, saving his teammates from errors.

If there’s anyone who could explain the benefits of signing with the Red Sox and focusing on hitting, it’s his friend and fellow Floridian, J.D. Martinez.

And that should be a reminder for the front office too. Remember how after David Ortiz retired in 2016, the Sox didn’t really have that kind of impact bat in 2017? It was noticeable. They fixed that by signing Martinez, who played some outfield but was mainly there to launch homers and drive in runs. And then BOOM – 2018 World Series championship.

Sometimes, you just need a guy who mashes. 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 really get going, 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.

You can reach me at timothy.healey@globe.com. Or follow me on Twitter @timbhealey.