{"id":311140,"date":"2025-11-27T22:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T22:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/311140\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T22:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T22:48:07","slug":"red-sox-interested-in-pete-alonso-kazuma-okamoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/311140\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Interested In Pete Alonso, Kazuma Okamoto"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Red Sox are looking to bolster the lineup. Jon Heyman of The New York Post<\/a> reports that the Sox are considering signing one or maybe two of Kyle Schwarber<\/a>, Pete Alonso<\/a>, Kazuma Okamoto<\/a>, J.T. Realmuto<\/a> and Alex Bregman<\/a>. MLBTR covered the club\u2019s interest in Schwarber<\/a> and Realmuto<\/a> earlier this month. Bregman was with the Sox in 2025 and team employees often complimented him for his skills and leadership abilities, so it\u2019s unsurprising that they would want him back.<\/p>\n

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow<\/a> admitted<\/a> earlier this month that the Sox would be looking for front-of-the-rotation starter and a middle-of-the-order bat this winter. While some Boston fans weren\u2019t thrilled with the move, the Sox feel they ticked off the first box by acquiring<\/a> Sonny Gray<\/a> from the Cardinals this week. After the Gray trade, it was reported<\/a> that the Sox would be shifting their focus to the lineup.<\/p>\n

There are certain spots on the field where it\u2019s easier for the Sox to add. They appear to be set in the outfield, so much so that a trade to clear out some space feels inevitable. Masataka Yoshida<\/a> is perhaps slated to be something like an everyday designated hitter at the moment, though it\u2019s possible a trade of him or another outfielder will open that spot a bit more. On the infield, Trevor Story<\/a> is going to be back at shortstop.<\/p>\n

The infield corners are more open. With Bregman opting out of his deal, third base is free. The Sox could fill that spot internally with Marcelo Mayer<\/a> but he could also take over at second base. Triston Casas<\/a> is a possibility at first but the Sox likely don\u2019t want to rely on him after a 2025 wherein he struggled before suffering a season-ending knee injury.<\/p>\n

Alonso is one of the better power bats in the league. He has been good for about 40 homers per full season, give or take a few, throughout his career. He just hit 38 bombs this year. His 8.6% walk rate was a career low but his .272 batting average a career high. Put it all together and he slashed .272\/.347\/.524 for a 141 wRC+, the eighth-best wRC+ tally among qualified hitters in the majors this year.<\/p>\n

Despite his skills with the bat, his market is unclear. He\u2019s not a great defender and he\u2019s not a burner on the basepaths. He was a free agent a year ago, coming off a lesser platform season, and didn\u2019t find the long-term deal he was looking for. He returned to the Mets on a two-year, $54MM deal with an opt-out halfway through.<\/p>\n

After putting together a better season at the plate, he opted out to take another crack at finding that elusive long-term deal. He is reportedly<\/a> hoping to get a seven-year commitment this winter. That\u2019s an ambitious ask for a guy who is about to turn 31 and isn\u2019t known for his athleticism, though he is apparently willing to spend more time as a DH<\/a> going forward. MLBTR predicted<\/a> him for a four-year, $110MM deal.<\/p>\n

Alonso would undoubtedly add some thump to the Boston lineup. The fact that he hits right-handed should also be attractive, since the current group skews to the left side. The question will be if they can line up on a price. There\u2019s still belief in some circles that the Mets and Alonso could reunite again, though he presumably has interest from plenty of other clubs as well, in addition to the Red Sox.<\/p>\n

RosterResource<\/a> estimates the Sox currently have a competitive balance tax number of $223MM, a little more than $20MM below next year\u2019s $244MM base threshold. They have been willing to occasionally pax the tax in recent years. It appears they went a bit over the line in 2025. Perhaps reaching the postseason and developing a young core will convince ownership to push spending a bit higher in 2026.<\/p>\n

Okamoto would be more of a wild card since he doesn\u2019t yet have major league experience, but he\u2019s also plenty interesting. From 2018 to 2024, he hit at least 27 home runs in each season for the Yomiuri Giants of Japan\u2019s Nippon Professional Baseball. In 2025, he was limited by injuries to just 69 games but had his best performance on a rate basis. He hit 15 homers in that time and slashed .327\/.416\/.598 for a 210 wRC+.<\/p>\n

Defensively, he has primarily been a third baseman in Japan but has also spent a decent amount of time at first with brief stints in left field. Some scouts believe he can handle third base in the big leagues for a while but others feel he would be better off at first. He\u2019s currently 29 years old and will turn 30 at the end of June. Like Alonso, he swings from the right side and would be a good fit for the lefty-heavy lineup.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always a risk that a wild card player like this won\u2019t be able to adjust to the major leagues as hoped. This is something that Boston fans know well, having watched Yoshida struggle lately. But Okamoto has plenty of appeal. MLBTR predicted he could land a four-year, $64MM deal, which doesn\u2019t include the posting fee which would be owed to the Giants. He has already been connected to the Pirates but should have lots of other suitors as well.<\/p>\n

If the Sox end up adding a player who projects to spend a lot of time at first, it would presumably increase the chances of Casas ending up on the trade block. He has already been in plenty of trade rumors over the years. As mentioned, the DH spot is already a bit crowded, so it would be hard for Casas and someone like Alonso to co-exist on the same roster.<\/p>\n

Casas still has options and could technically be sent to the minors but he\u2019s overqualified to be a depth piece. From 2022 to 2024, he hit 42 home runs in 840 plate appearances. His 26.9% strikeout rate was a bit high but he drew walks at an excellent 14.2% pace. Overall, he hit .250\/.357\/.473 for a 127 wRC+. His 2025 saw him put up a dismal .182\/.277\/.303 line but that was in a tiny sample of 112 plate appearances and with a .217 batting average on balls in play. His walk rate had dropped to 9.8% but he also improved his strikeout rate to 24.1%.<\/p>\n

It would be understandable if the Sox don\u2019t want to bank on Casas after those struggles and the surgery to address the ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee. But if they replace him with a more reliable option like Alonso, then it would make sense to flip Casas for pitching or some other upgrade. He is still controllable for three seasons and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz<\/a> projects him for a modest $1.7MM salary next year. MLBTR listed Casas 24th on our list of the Top 40 Trade Candidates<\/a> at the start of the season.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Red Sox are looking to bolster the lineup. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7679,49,48,133041,471,82,88522],"class_list":{"0":"post-311140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-alex-bregman","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-kazuma-okamoto","12":"tag-pete-alonso","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-triston-casas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}