Intriguing Red Sox, Mets Trade Rumor Emerges After Pete Alonso News

The Boston Red Sox and New York Mets were the two teams who caught by far the most heat for Pete Alonso signing with the Baltimore Orioles.

Clearly, Mets fans had more reason to feel down about the news, considering Alonso is their franchise's all-time home run leader. But the Red Sox made Alonso an offer, albeit one that was reportedly a lot less appealing than the one he accepted, and they still have major needs to fulfill at the major league level.

Both teams should be aggressive for the remainder of the offseason, and perhaps there could even be a scenario where it makes sense for them to trade with each other.

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Red Sox and Mets make sense as trade partners

Credit to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel, who speculated Thursday that the Mets would make a lot of sense for a potential trade for Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran. It's a possibility that feels much more likely now that Alonso is gone, even if we haven't heard that the two teams have discussed it yet.

"The Mets' infield is pretty full right now while the outfield is begging for impact beyond Juan Soto," wrote McDaniel. "You can package together a few of the higher-end prospects in the system and trade for Jarren Duran or bite the bullet and pay Bellinger as a free agent, but I think the next move needs to be in the outfield.

"Duran, 29, comes with three years of control, so I think Stearns would greatly prefer that option if he can agree to a reasonable prospect haul with Boston."

The Mets have two big-league-ready starting pitching prospects they might be willing to part ways with in Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat, but it seems highly unlikely the Red Sox could pry Nolan McLean loose. Jett Williams and Carson Benge are all-world position player prospects, but they might not be available either, and Boston probably doesn't want to move Duran for anyone yet to make their major league debuts.

The other possible option would be to facilitate a three-team trade, enabling the Mets to send some of their prospect talent to a rebuilding team with a major league player the Red Sox wanted. It's purely a hypothetical, but maybe the Miami Marlins and starting pitcher Edward Cabrera could be a fit in a deal like that.

How the deal works for Boston is the obvious holdup, but Duran has likely never been more available, and to be candid, he fits the Mets better right now than he does the Red Sox.

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