2) Anthony Santander
Another recipient of the qualifying offer, Anthony Santander isn’t just a first base candidate. Found frequently in right field as well for the Baltimore Orioles, he’d be more of a hybrid replacement for Alonso. Those same negatives with the QO exist for him. A few years younger with his age 30 season coming in 2025, Santander measures up remarkably close to the offensive production Walker has given the Diamondbacks.
Santander smashed a career-best 44 home runs last year while driving in 102. A career .246/.307/.469 slash line, it wasn’t too much different from the .235/.308/.506 he hit for Baltimore last year. The obvious difference was the increase in slugging.
Defensively, Santander doesn’t measure up anywhere close to Walker. Only 73 innings in his MLB career at first base should create a little doubt the Mets would go in this direction. The greatest benefit he does offer is the flexibility to play some corner outfield. Not known for his outfield defense, he isn’t as atrocious based on the numbers as Starling Marte or Jesse Winker were.
Santander is a switch hitter which could help break up the Mets lineup in a couple of different ways. The qualifying offer penalty might be too steep for the Mets to seriously consider him. He’s not the guy you necessarily want to lose draft picks for when there are so many other alternatives, including re-signing Alonso.