{"id":110589,"date":"2025-12-10T14:41:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=110589"},"modified":"2025-12-10T14:41:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T19:41:52","slug":"pete-alonso-signs-baltimore-orioles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/12\/10\/pete-alonso-signs-baltimore-orioles\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Alonso Signs With Baltimore Orioles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Baltimore Orioles and first baseman Pete Alonso agreed on a five-year deal Wednesday, according to <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/1998813906643701781\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ESPN&#8217;s Jeff Passan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">BREAKING: First baseman Pete Alonso and the Baltimore Orioles are finalizing a five-year, $155 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Alonso leaves the Mets to make a loaded AL East even better.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/1998813906643701781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Pete Alonso Signs With Baltimore Orioles<\/h2>\n<p>The contract is reportedly worth $155 million, worth a $30 million annual value for the team. There are no opt-outs or deferrals within the deal, according to New York Post columnist <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Joelsherman1\/status\/1998816996335718437\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Sherman<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Mets did not make a formal offer to Alonso during the offseason, according to New York Mets beat writer <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AnthonyDiComo\/status\/1998818184527581598\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony DiComo<\/a>. The team reportedly did not feel comfortable with where bidding was going and pivoted.<\/p>\n<h3>Alonso Immediately Boosts Orioles Lineup<\/h3>\n<p>The first baseman represents the second lineup player the team has acquired, with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/18\/orioles-acquire-taylor-ward-angels-trade-grayson-rodriguez\/\" target=\"_self\">Taylor Ward<\/a> being the first in November. Ward brings a steady bat coming off a career-high 36 home runs in 2025, along with 103 RBIs. Pete Alonso could represent the team&#8217;s second big bat in the lineup if not the centerpiece.<\/p>\n<p>The 31-year-old veteran is coming off another big year with 38 home runs and 126 RBIs, along with a National League-leading 41 doubles. He also saw a dip in his strikeout rate to 22.8% in 2025, along with his best season in terms of OPS, walk rate, and hard-hit percentage since his 2019 rookie campaign.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Woah. Pete Alonso to the Orioles for 5 years is a done deal! $155M that\u2019s a $31M AAV!<\/p>\n<p>In 2025: 38 HR, 126 RBI, .272 BA, .871 OPS, 144 OPS+. Career HR total is 264.<\/p>\n<p>Elias, move that LF fence in again\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qqWCBqoE2f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/qqWCBqoE2f<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sam Fosberg (@discussbaseball) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/discussbaseball\/status\/1998814998731305278?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-theme=\"dark\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When plugged into the lineup, Alonso immediately becomes the team&#8217;s best bat alongside Ward. He would lead the team in doubles, home runs, hits, OPS, and strikeouts when placed into the 2025 lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Baltimore had been looking to make upgrades given its low payroll, with Alonso a dream target for the team. Alonso&#8217;s signing would bring the team&#8217;s <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/mlb\/baltimore-orioles\/payroll\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">projected payroll<\/a> to around $145 million, based on arbitration projections.<\/p>\n<p>Alonso also has a potent bat on the <a  href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/pete-alonso-624413?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sabermetric<\/a> side. He is ranked 90th or better in barrel, hard-hit percentage, bat speed, and exit velocity. He does rank slightly below average in chase and whiff rates, but his production speaks for itself.<\/p>\n<h3>Ryan Mountcastle&#8217;s Days In Baltimore Are Over<\/h3>\n<p>The move could spell the end for fading first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who is coming off a disastrous season. It&#8217;s not exactly clear what will happen to the 28-year-old, but it could end in a trade or in his being designated to backup duties.<\/p>\n<p>Mountcastle is due $6.5 million in arbitration, suggesting the team might move him. It could also spell an interesting dilemma between Samuel Basallo and Adley Rutschman behind the dish at catcher.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Baltimore Orioles and first baseman Pete Alonso agreed on a five-year deal Wednesday, according to ESPN&#8217;s Jeff Passan. &nbsp; BREAKING: First baseman Pete Alonso and the Baltimore Orioles are finalizing a five-year, $155 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Alonso leaves the Mets to make a loaded AL East even better. \u2014 Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5304,"featured_media":110596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1071,22],"tags":[2402],"class_list":["post-110589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-orioles","category-mlb","category-mets","tag-pete-alonso"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110589"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110598,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110589\/revisions\/110598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}