Top MLB insider links San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles to pursuit of top slugger in free agency

The San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles are two of the best teams in baseball this season. If they don’t end up meeting in this year’s World Series, a prominent MLB insider believes they could be battling it out in the winter for the top slugger available.

Heading into the MLB games today the Padres and Orioles own the top two spots in the American and National League Wild Card races. Both clubs would love to enter the 2024 MLB playoffs as division leaders, but they have the bad luck of being in the same division with two of the elites in the league this year — the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.

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San Diego and Baltimore are legitimate contenders to reach the World Series in October. However, if they don’t bring their franchises a championship this year, they are sure to make some moves in the winter to improve their already stacked rosters. And it seems one notable MLB insider believes they could end up targeting the same slugger.

Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres linked to Pete Alonso free agency pursuit

On Thursday, New York Post league insider Jon Heyman suggested that the Orioles and Padres would likely be among seven teams that could pursue Mets slugger Pete Alonso. The four-time All-Star is having a down year compared to previous seasons. However, he is still on pace to hit 35 or more home runs. Which would be the fifth time in six seasons that he has achieved the feat.

If San Diego or Baltimore can add him to their stacked batting orders, how much would it cost? Well, Heyman also revealed what the price tag could be for the powerful first baseman.

“The Mets reasonably tried [ and offer of] $158M last year, but he can probably beat that. One rival predicts $185M,” Heyman wrote.

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