The New York Mets entered the 2023 season as a serious World Series contender. By the trade deadline, the front office had already begun deconstructing the $364 million roster — the most expensive in MLB history. The team traded away ace pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer but curiously kept superstar slugger Pete Alonso despite a number of trade offers.

Alonso is likely going to be one of the hottest trade commodities this winter, and there are a number of MLB teams in hot pursuit of his services for 2024. Here are three franchises that should explore trades for Pete Alonso this winter.

Milwaukee Brewers

After the trade deadline, word got out that the Milwaukee Brewers were a surprise suitor for the Mets slugger and had a serious offer in place. The deal fell apart as New York ultimately decided not to pull the trigger, but the bridge has been built and Milwaukee should continue to pursue Alonso in the offseason.

The Brewers have been successful thanks to a core of strong pitchers for the last few seasons. Yet since Christian Yelich's season-ending injury in 2019, the team has lacked a true cleanup hitter — a guy that strikes fear in opposing pitchers. This has been especially true at the first base position. Milwaukee has rotated through first basemen since Prince Fielder left more than a decade ago, playing the hot hand for a season and then moving on. Rowdy Tellez led the team with 35 home runs last year, but his home run rate is down 30% this year and his OPS has dropped by nearly 100 points. Veteran Carlos Santana, a trade deadline acquisition, has faired marginally better with an OPS of .690 (vs. Tellez's OPS of .669) but is hardly a threatening presence.

Santana is a free agent after this year and Tellez has one year of arbitration before free agency, leaving the perfect opening for a superstar like Pete Alonso.

San Diego Padres

On paper, an All-Star infield of Jake Cronenworth, Ha-Seong Kim, Xander Bogaerts, and Manny Machado should have put the San Diego Padres in World Series contention. None of them have played all that poorly (in fact, Kim leads the team in WAR), but they also have not reached the galactic heights expected of them. Cronenworth has been the most disappointing of the bunch. Coming off a pair of All-Star seasons, the first-baseman has a middling .689 OPS and he ranks in the 14th percentile amongst MLB hitters in hard-hit percentage.

The Padres have not been afraid to make significant winter moves, and with so much talent already in place, the acquisition of Pete Alonso could be the addition that reignites this franchise moving forward and puts it back in position to reach the World Series.

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants have been on the cusp of contention for a few seasons now, and have seemingly been a superstar away from putting it all together. The franchise made a hard push to sign Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge last winter while also seeing a deal for Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa fall through at the last minute thanks to a failed physical.

San Fran has strong pitching but currently ranks 12th out of 15 NL teams in runs scored and 13th in slugging percentage. A guy like Pete Alonso is a big step toward a pennant-winning offense.