San Francisco’s LaMonte Wade Jr.Andy Kuno/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images
6. San Francisco Giants (80-82)
Current 1B Situation: LaMonte Wade Jr., Wilmer Flores and, eventually, Bryce Eldridge
For all the talk of the Giants whiffing/passing on the likes of Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in recent offseasons, they did spend substantially more this past winter than every other team except for the Dodgers, agreeing to more than $320M worth of contracts in free agency for Jung Hoo Lee, Blake Snell, Matt Chapman and more.
Yet, even after re-upping with Chapman on a $151M extension last month, they could find the room in the budget to add Alonso, thanks to trading away Jorge Soler in July, Michael Conforto’s $18M salary coming off the books and Snell inevitably declining his player option for next season.
Do they even want or need to add Alonso, though?
Both Wade and Flores are in their final year before hitting free agency, but 2023 first-round pick Eldridge might be the answer sooner rather than later. Save for Kansas City’s 2024 No. 6 overall pick Jac Caglianone, Eldridge is the highest-rated first base prospect, per MLB.com. He just turned 20 this month and isn’t likely to crack the 2025 Opening Day roster, but he’ll probably be ready by the following spring.
That’s enough to keep the Giants out of the top five here, even though it’s otherwise a logical fit for a franchise that has spent the past two decades searching for (and routinely getting outbid on) a legitimate slugger.
5. New York Yankees (94-68)
Current 1B Situation: Ben Rice, Jon Berti, Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu
Between Anthony Rizzo’s poor start and his subsequent 2.5-month stint on the IL, first base became something of an “all hands on deck” situation for the Yankees. And with it looking highly unlikely that they’ll exercise their $17M club option to bring Rizzo back in 2025, finding a solution at first base is certainly part of New York’s winter to-do list.
Whether they’re going to go big for Alonso, though, probably hinges on whether they’re able to re-sign Juan Soto—which sure does seem like the most likely outcome.
What if they call Gerrit Cole’s bluff and let him walk, though?
We’ve been assuming for most of the season that Cole will opt out of the final four years on his contract to force the Yankees to add another $36M season to the end of the deal. But if he triggers the opt out, it basically becomes a question of whether they want five years of 34-year-old Cole for $180M or six years of 30-year-old Alonso for the same price.
Should they go the latter route, it sure would be a terrifying few years with Alonso, Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the heart of the order, not to mention Austin Wells, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez.
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