It would be impossible for the New York Yankees to find someone to replace Juan Soto this winter. No one in Major League Baseball is a greater pure batter than him. Considering that Soto is only 26 years old, the Yankees must have a plan to retain him.
Even while the Yankees are the front-runners to re-sign him, they would still need to take some action to replace him if they lose him, which appears to be a possibility. They see Pete Alonso as a “backup plan,” according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, but Soto is still the primary goal.
While the Yankees have expressed genuine interest in Mets star free agent Pete Alonso, it is only a backup plan to Soto, which is both teams’ top priority. On November 5, Heyman stated, “Alonso is a big star, but in this case, he’s only a very intriguing secondary story.” The Soto competition between New York and New York appears to have the potential to turn into the winter’s battle royal. The Mets also have some clear advantages, even though the Yankees do.
Alonso will also cost a lot.
Tim Britton of The Athletic estimated that Soto would earn $611 million over 13 years, which might translate into a deal worth more over $660 million. That’s a lot of money, even though it’s a reasonable price to pay for the slugger.
Even though Alonso would be far less expensive, the New York Yankees would still have to pay him a sizable salary. Britton estimated that his contract would cost $130 million over five years.
“A free agent’s evaluation is based on their years of experience and hundreds of plate appearances; Alonso has over 3,600 of these. However, on November 7, Britton observed, “One of them can be the most defining.” “Alonso hadn’t hit an extra base hit in two weeks when he took the field in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the Wild Card Series. In his last 40 at-bats, he had only managed five hits. In a first-round postseason exit, he appeared to be the main culprit.
“And then he hit a three-run home run off one of the best pitches in baseball, reminding the league of his power and sending the Mets on a run to the NLCS.” After a lackluster regular season, Alonso made a significant turnaround by finishing the postseason with nearly 1.000 OPS. He is a right-right first baseman who is over thirty and mostly focuses on hitting home runs, something he did fewer of in 2024.
Britton pointed out that Alonso’s skill was limited to hitting home runs, therefore signing Soto would be a better option given the Yankees would be looking at $26 million AAV.
Could Soto and Alonso be signed by the Yankees?
According to almost all reports, the New York Yankees will make every effort to re-sign Soto this winter. That is their strategy, and it would be unexpected to see them take numerous actions unless it doesn’t work out.
The rising celebrity needs as much money as possible, which may affect Alonso’s and other people’s freedom of choice.
The Yankees would ideally sign Alonso and re-sign Soto. It’s unclear, though, how realistic that is. They are wealthy, but if they lose Soto, they might search for a less expensive alternative and just consider Alonso as an offensive substitute.
