The Orioles’ $155 million signing of first baseman Pete Alonso is drawing a lot of reaction from those inside baseball and those who cover it. Here is a sample:
Tim Britton and Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic:
“Alonso, who will play 2026 at 31 years old, has hit at least 34 home runs in each 162-game season of his career; he hit 16 but was on pace for 43 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
He’s not just a home run hitter, however. His 41 doubles in 2025 led the National League, and he’s piled up RBIs year after year by saving some of his best work for situations with runners in scoring position. His career OPS in that spot is .933; he hit .309/.401/.634 with runners in scoring position in 2025.”
Travis Sawchik, Driveline Baseball and MLB.com contributor:
“Adding Pete Alonso to an excellent young core is a compelling move for Orioles. Consider some history:
The 2018 Red Sox added DH J.D. Martinez to a five-year, $110 million when Boston had a young core of position players including Devers (age 21), Andrew Benintendi (23), Betts (25), and Xander Bogaerts (25). Martinez slashed .330/.402/.629 and helped the Red Sox to a title. The Red Sox made a 15-game improvement that year led by an offense that scored more than 100 runs from a year earlier.
In 2008, the Yankees added Mark Teixeira to a core group that included second baseman Robinson Cano (then 26), Brett Gardner (25), and Melky Cabrera (24). The Yankees had other veteran stars, too, but Teixeira helped them to their last World Series title in 2009.
While Jason Heyward was a disappointing free-agent signing, he was part of the efforts to supplement a talented young core with veteran star talent in Chicago in 2016, when the Cubs broke their curse.”
“In 2024, Alonso returned to the Mets on a frontloaded two-year deal with an opt-out, having struck out on his search for a longer-term contract. And he did more than just run it back in 2025; he got more aggressive within the strike zone, shored up his weakness against sliders, posted the best quality-of-contact numbers of his career, and ran a .272 batting average and a 141 wRC+.
The Orioles have had only three offensive seasons that good in the past 20 years: Two by Chris Davis in the 2010s, and one by Gunnar Henderson in 2024.
Alonso is clearly an upgrade at either first base or DH for almost anyone, and the Orioles, who traded Ryan O’Hearn at the deadline, are not one of the exceptions. Combined with the Taylor Ward trade from earlier this offseason, Alonso’s signing brings balance to a Baltimore lineup that was a little lefty-heavy, with Henderson and Jackson Holliday up near the top of the order, and Colton Cowser and Samuel Basallo showing up later on.
And like the Corbin Burnes trade before the 2024 season, this is a sign that Elias and his boss, David Rubenstein, are willing to go outside the homegrown talent pool to find pieces that’ll put Baltimore over the top. Even if they cost a lot.”
“Alonso, 31, feels like the kind of player the Orioles would have missed out on in other years, with the team unwilling or unable to go for that fifth year or a few extra million. His signing is, of all the offseason moves so far, the most significant indication that the organization is operating like a team ready to spend big in its win-now window.
Panned last year for failing to address their offseason needs before missing the playoffs, the Orioles have long wanted a veteran with some star power to add to a clubhouse of primarily young, homegrown hitters.
Alonso perfectly fills that void. Loved by Mets fans for his eccentric personality and big swings, Alonso was as consistent a bat as the Mets had, turning in his best season since a 2019 rookie campaign that earned him NL Rookie of the Year. Alonso lowered his strikeouts and increased his power, hitting .272/.347/.524 with 38 homers and 126 RBIs. He’s been incredibly durable, playing in all 162 games in each of the past two seasons and in 152 or more in every full season since he reached the big leagues.”
“In 2025, Pete looked like Vintage Pete again. (Mostly. We’ll get back to that.) His 142 OPS+ was a huge step forward and was slightly better than his already-impressive career average (133), but the real standout here was — and we cannot express this part enough — A career-best hard-hit rate, by a lot, from a guy who’d already hit 34 homers in every full season of his career. Among qualified hitters, his 54.4% mark was 11th-best, and almost all of the 10 guys above him are the names – Judge, Schwarber, Ohtani – you’d expect. (And also Romy Gonzalez, somehow.)
Add “more hard-hit” to “somewhat fewer grounders” and you end up with a barrel rate that was the third-best in baseball, behind only the two men operating on a clearly different level – Judge and Ohtani – and that’s one of the more predictive Statcast metrics. Toss in a strikeout rate that actually improved a little, and you have the perfect recipe for a walk year bonanza.”
Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield, ESPN:
“For the Orioles, they’ve now added Alonso and Taylor Ward, two right-handed sluggers who combined for 74 home runs in 2025. The Orioles tied for 11th in the majors in home runs in 2025, but they hit 44 fewer home runs than in 2024, so adding power was their clear offseason priority. Their first basemen — a combo of Ryan Mountcastle, Coby Mayo and Ryan O’Hearn — were especially weak, ranking last in the majors with just 14 home runs and tied for last with 62 RBIs (they were 23rd in OPS). Alonso might end up at DH, or at least get some time there, but his power will fix a problem at first base.
His durability is a plus. His energy and enthusiasm — which Mets fans loved — are a plus, especially for an Orioles team that seemed to lack those characteristics last season. He’ll provide a jolt to a lineup that needed it. It’s interesting the O’s found themselves in this position, considering everyone thought a couple of years ago that they were printing position players. You could also argue that if the Orioles were going to make one big splash this offseason, it should have been for a front-line starting pitcher. Maybe they’ll surprise and do that as well.”
Ken Rosenthal on Foul Territory:
“They will be active on starting pitching. I reported yesterday with Will Sammon that they’ve been talking to the Marlins about Edward Cabrera. They’re also talking about other trades. There have been published reports linking them to Mackenzie Gore, and they’re also involved in Ranger Suárez at the top of the free agent market, Valdez as well. So this is not it for them. But the breadth of what they have done so far is somewhat astonishing. It starts with Leodys Taveras. Andrew Kittredge, they trade for him, then they exercise his option. Ryan Helsley, they trade for Taylor Ward, and now Pete Alonso. That’s a team that is doing things. That’s a team that finished last last season and said ‘not good enough.’ And it’s also an ownership that while operating in a mid-market is stepping up and saying ‘it’s time, let’s go.’
Maryland Governor Wes Moore on X:
“Christmas came early.”
