The top two first basemen in free agency this winter are Arizona Diamondbacks fan favorite Christian Walker and New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso. Despite being similar in talent and WAR, Alonso is projected to land a much more lucrative contract than Walker.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale recently reported on the growing interest in Walker.
“The hottest name among free agent players not named Juan Soto was three-time Gold Glove first baseman Christian Walker,” Nightengale wrote. “There are at least six teams who plan to aggressively pursue Walker, with everyone involved from the New York Yankees to the Diamondbacks to the Washington Nationals, believing he’ll come at less than half the price of Alonso. He could ultimately be involved in bidding war between the Yankees and Mets.”
Who could land the most underrated free agent of this offseason?
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New York Yankees
The Yankees declined its club option for former first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Aaron Boone tried prospect Ben Rice at first base last season but he struggled more than he succeeded.
Looking at free agency, Walker would be the perfect complement to Juan Soto in New York’s free agency plans. It would be nearly impossible for Hal Steinbrenner to afford both Soto and Alonso, so taking a step back and going after Walker would be the smartest move for their offseason.
Plus, Walker, the three-time Gold Glove winner, makes the play that Rizzo and Gerrit Cole faltered on to ruin the Yankees season.
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals aren’t ready to enter a full-scale rebuild. Instead, they have the ability to bring in quality major-league talent to compete rather than rebuild.
A team like the Nationals will likely only go after one big-name free agent this winter rather than trying to land three, four, or five like the other teams on this list. For that reason, Washington could overpay in a spot that the Yankees or the Mets may not be willing to overpay.
New York Mets
As Nightengale notes, this could turn into a bidding war between the Mets and the Yankees. But, honestly, I don’t believe that. Instead, I see the Soto sweepstakes dictating the Mets’ entire offseason.
If the Mets don’t land Soto, it’s likely that Steve Cohen prioritizes bringing Pete Alonso back, which would effectively put them out of any Walker rumors. If the Mets land Soto, it’s unlikely that Cohen would be willing to fork up $250 million to $300 million to bring Alonso in. In that scenario, Walker would be the perfect option for Cohen’s Mets.
I would expect the Mets to prioritize Alonso over Walker, but they’re still a top team to land the former Diamondbacks first baseman because money likely won’t be an issue.
Arizona Diamondbacks
You can’t have this discussion without bringing up the Diamondbacks. Walker has spent the last eight years of his big league career with Arizona and he’s been quite the staple of their lineup.
Walker will likely be the top priority for the Diamondbacks this offseason. Arizona would be making quite a massive mistake if it were to let Walker walk out the door and head to a New York team simply because its front office didn’t want to cough up a little extra cash.
Arizona should just hand Walker a blank check, especially because of how elite he’s been the last three seasons.
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