Potential Red Sox Free Agent Target Dealing With Injury

The Boston Red Sox are keeping an eye on first basemen ahead of the July 31 MLB trade deadline. Should they fail to land an upgrade before the end of the month, the Red Sox could be in the mix for an All-Star slugger after the season.

Several insiders have predicted Boston will chase New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso when the hot stove heats up. So this update is worth monitoring: Alonso was not in the Mets’ starting lineup Sunday.

“He’s dealing with a right-hand confusion, kind of like on the base of the thumb area,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza revealed before the game, per NJ Advance Media’s Manny Gomez. “Felt that the first couple of at-bats yesterday. We took some X-rays, and they were negative. So he’s day to day.”

The injury ended Alonso’s consecutive games started streak at 353. But he came off the bench in the seventh inning and replaced Mark Vientos at first base. Alonso got one at-bat, striking out in the eighth inning of New York’s 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

“When you’re dealing with a hand injury, like we thought it was best to get ahead of ourselves here, because it can linger, you know,” Mendoza added. “So having a conversation with him, with the trainers, we thought it was just best, ‘Hey, let’s see how you feel (Sunday),’ which he’s feeling a lot better, getting treatment. But like, if you keep pushing these types of injuries, it could affect him.”

The 30-year-old will be a free agent after the World Series. Red Sox fans can just imagine the two-time Home Run Derby champion taking aim at the Green Monster.

But Alonso, a five-time All-Star, sounds like he’s not even thinking that far ahead, even though he’s expected to opt out of his two-year, $54 million contract this fall.

“There’s a lot of things that happen business wise and a lot of unpredictable things that happen in free agency,” Alonso said last week, per SNY.

Alonso is hitting a career-high .275 this season. He tied for eighth in the National League with 21 home runs and third with 77 RBIs.