With about three weeks to go until Opening Day, there is a good chance that some more extensions will end up happening. Following Christian Yelich’s<\/strong><\/a> extension<\/a> with the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a> this past week, the Chicago White Sox<\/a>\u00a0reportedly<\/a> locked up a star of their own in third baseman Yoan Moncada<\/strong><\/a>. Both Yelich and Moncada represent the prime type of players that teams are looking to lock up.<\/p>\n In both scenarios, the Brewers and White Sox were looking to sign vital pieces of their core to team-friendly deals. With Christian Yelich, the Milwaukee Brewers got a nice discount and saved money compared to what they might have spent two years from now in free agency. Yelich received a seven-year, $188.5 million dollar deal on top of the two-year extension that he received earlier this offseason. According to USA Today<\/a>, the deal includes a full no-trade clause and $28 million dollars in deferred money.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox saw an opportunity to lock up a star of their own with their extension of Yoan Moncada. Moncada figures to play a vital role on the Southside for the foreseeable future. According to CBS Sports<\/a>, the extension is reportedly worth up to $90 million dollars and comes on the heels of what was a great campaign for Moncada in 2019. Moncada finished last season with a: .315\/.367\/.548 slash line over 559 plate appearances.<\/p>\n Now that the Brewers and White Sox have made their extensions with Yelich and Moncada official, what other names could receive an extension this spring? Take a look below for five potential extension candidates prior to Opening Day.<\/p>\n Compared with some of the other names on this list, first baseman Pete Alonso<\/strong><\/a> isn’t as young. However, Alonso is still very talented and a vital piece to the core of the New York Mets<\/a>. As such, the Mets might decide that now is the time to lock him up on a team-friendly extension. After all, Alonso burst onto the scene last year during his rookie season. Alonso led all of baseball with 53 home runs over 161 games.<\/p>\n Alonso, otherwise known as The Polar Bear, really became a player the Mets entire fanbase embraced. Besides the marketability factor, Alonso is a prime extension candidate because of his power at the plate. That power might only get better as Alonso gets more experience at the major league level. Besides leading baseball in home runs last year, Alonso had an Isolated Power (ISO) value of .323, according to FanGraphs<\/a>. Furthermore, that translated to a Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) value of 143 and a Hard Hit Rate of 42.2%.<\/p>\n While one season doesn’t dictate a players career, now might be the perfect time for the Mets to extend Alonso. If he puts together another season like 2019 this year, then his value is only going to get higher. For a team that is payroll conscious, it might be a wise decision to make sooner than later.<\/p>\n1. Pete Alonso (New York Mets)<\/h2>\n
2. Juan Soto (Washington Nationals)<\/h2>\n