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To make a big splash at the Winter Meetings, the Orioles shed their conservative ways and took the Polar Bear Plunge.
The reception from the industry and fan base was anything but chilly.
Pete Alonso passed his physical and signed his five year, $155 million contract, giving the Orioles an infield composed entirely of Scott Boras clients – Alonso at first base, Jackson Holliday at second, Gunnar Henderson at shortstop and Jordan Westburg at third.
Long gone are the days when the Orioles hated to deal with Boras and tried to avoid negotiating with him – at any cost.
Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, appearing as a call-in guest last night on the “Orioles Hot Stove Show,” explained how quickly the deal came together.
“It was pretty rapid as these things go,” he said. “We were gonna have a meeting with Alonso on Sunday, and all the travel into Orlando was messed up. All the agents and executives, nobody got in, so we pushed the meeting to Tuesday and we presented him with an offer, and the next day we were able to wrap it up, so it was a very rapid negotiation. His market was moving and working, and so I think Scott wanted to do it at the Winter Meetings. And Pete, after he met with all the teams, was ready to make a decision.
“We had quite a nice presentation for him about the Orioles, living in Baltimore, the types of players that we have on the team, the great facilities that we have. We’re opening a brand new, huge performance center in Sarasota. We’ve got so much good stuff going on around the organization, so I think he was really appealed by all of that.”
Alonso is one of only four players in major league history to accumulate at least 150 doubles and 250 home runs in his first seven seasons, along with Eddie Mathews, Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard, according to STATS. He’s the only Met to appear in 162 games multiple times and has played in 416 consecutive games since 2023, the second-longest active streak behind Atlanta’s Matt Olson (783).
Alonso’s 264 career homers are ninth-most in major league history through a player’s first 1,008 games and third-most in the first seven seasons behind Ralph Kiner (294) and Pujols (282).
No one has more RBIs since 2019 than Alonso’s 712.
“It’s a huge move for the organization and it’s a huge boost to our lineup, and I think that Pete has been one of the most productive, steady and consistent middle of the lineup sluggers,” Elias said. “Plays every game, and just the consistency and volume of the production that he brings has been elite around baseball, and so we’re gonna get a lot of production around him. But I also expect that the way he’s going to interact with the rest of the batting lineup is going to hopefully help raise the performances of the young guys around him.
“I like the way that the lineup looks now with a lot of really strong bats from the right side with Westburg, Pete, Taylor Ward, whom we traded for, Tyler O’Neill. There’s others. We have a switch-hitter in Adley (Rutschman). And then all the young left-handed players we have, it’s going to be a lot harder to navigate. So I think we have a really good-looking lineup. Our front office is working very, very hard right now, and so we’re not resting and we’re looking for more opportunities out there and doing more to improve the team the rest of the offseason.”
The Orioles posted a video yesterday that showed Alonso wearing No. 25, which belonged to catcher Jacob Stallings and outfielder Greg Allen in 2025. Anthony Santander wore it from 2017-24.
“I think the fans here are going to quickly fall in love with him, the way those in New York have,” Elias said. “He’s very passionate, loyal, and he’s had playoff experience, good playoff experience. He works really hard. He’s a student of hitting. He’s kind of in the science of hitting. He works at his craft, and he’s had to grind his way throughout his career.
“For as elite of a player that he is, this is a guy who didn’t sign out of high school. You’re a right-handed first baseman coming out, goes to the University of Florida, goes in the second round, has to hit his way through the minors, has to really fight for everything. He’s a self-made player, and I think you’re gonna see his drive and the energy that he brings. And I know that he is super excited to join all of us here in Baltimore and have this be his new home and his new team and playing with all these young guys around him.”
Elias stated at the Winter Meetings that position didn’t matter as much as production. Ryan Mountcastle, Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo also play first base.
“We want talent and we have a lot of good position players right now, and obviously we do our jobs as front offices and we have conversations and see if there are ways that other rosters line up with ours and provide fits, but it is never a problem if you have too many good bats,” Elias said. “We saw last year how much depth a baseball team needs, and it’s more than ever, and we really like all these guys. So I view it as a big addition. And we have designated hitter at-bats to go around for these players, too.
"He’s a star slugger, and when you have a chance to add him and have it elevate your team, you’ve got to take your shot at that, so that was a focus of ours this winter. The team, the power output wasn’t what it could have or should have been and we didn’t want to take a chance on that front.”
The leadership component with Alonso and Ward is just as big as their power numbers. You can’t force that responsibility on a young core. It's got to come naturally.
“I think guys that have been in the majors longer, have more experience, played in other markets – we’re talking about guys who are coming in from LA and New York – playoff experience with other teams, I think it’s going to be huge for our guys,” Elias said.
“I think we’ve had a lot of really great homegrown players come at the beginning of the rebuild, and then over the last four years when the team’s been competitive. But on the position player side, we haven’t brought in a huge presence like this from the outside, and so I think it’s really going to be a lift for that group, and I think it will help them shoulder the load of what happens on the field but also off the field.”
The Orioles have two catchers left on their 40-man roster after designating Maverick Handley for assignment yesterday to make room for Alonso. Handley went 3-for-41 with three RBIs this year, and runners were 13-for-13 attempting to steal.
Elias isn’t done with position players but doesn’t seem inclined to make another big strike in free agency unless it’s for starting pitching.
“I definitely think front of mind right now is the pitching side and we have work to do there and we’ve been working on it all winter, but that market is still developing and it’s still happening both in trade and free agency, and we’re heavily focused on that,” he said.
“I do think there are still ways to spruce up the position player side of the roster, get the depth that we want, get some of the role players that we want. But I guess it’s safe to say that we’re working and talking a little bit more pointedly on the pitching side.”
