Pete Alonso finally signed. Plus, Phillies’ looming decisions and umpire Pat Hoberg’s firing

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Pete Alonso isn’t going anywhere. Plus: One of baseball’s best umpires made one of the game’s biggest mistakes, Cody Stavenhagen found a baseball ghost and Ken ponders the Phillies’ payroll situation. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!

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While You Were Sleeping: Alonso back to Mets

We’re running out of free-agent mysteries to solve. After an “exhausting” negotiation between Pete Alonso’s camp and the Mets, the Polar Bear will be returning home to Queens for at least the 2025 season.

• It’s actually a two-year deal, but that includes a player option after the first season. Alonso will make $30 million in 2025 and (should he decide to stay) $24 million in 2026.
• Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the Mets did offer Alonso a three-year deal worth $71 million, but Alonso opted to take the shorter deal with the higher AAV (particularly in the first year).
• That makes 2025 a big year for Alonso. His 34 home runs, 88 RBIs and .788 OPS last year were his lowest marks in a full season since his NL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2019 — in which he hit 53 home runs. If he can bounce back and prove last year was just a bump in the road, he can re-enter free agency at age 31 and aim for a longer deal. If not, he’ll likely stick around in 2026 and try again.

Alonso was No. 8 on our Top 40 Free Agent Big Board, leaving Alex Bregman as the lone top-10 player still unsigned. Ultimately, Mets fans got their guy back. Toronto can put to rest the “Alonso and Guerrero on the same team?” questions, and Mets fans no longer have to wonder if Mark Vientos is going to be the first baseman. Handing off to Ken…

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Ken’s Notebook: Big decisions await Phillies

From my latest notes column: 

Compared to recent offseasons, the Philadelphia Phillies have been a little boring. President of baseball operations David Dombrowski accomplished his stated goals, adding Jordan Romano as a late-inning right-hander, Max Kepler to play left field and Jesús Luzardo and Joe Ross to boost the starting rotation.

Still, as The Athletic’s Matt Gelb notes, this is the first time since 2016-17 the Phillies did not sign a free agent to a multiyear deal. Next offseason, with nearly $75 million coming off the payroll, figures to be different.

That number is somewhat deceptive. The Phillies likely will want to keep two of their potential free agents, designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, who ranks third in homers behind Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani the past two seasons, and catcher J.T. Realmuto, who plays a position where the Phillies lack internal alternatives.

The problem is that by 2026, the Phillies’ roster will be aging. Schwarber will be 33 that season, Realmuto 35. Zack Wheeler will be 36, Aaron Nola, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper 33. The incorporation of prospects such as right-hander Andrew Painter and shortstop Aidan Miller should help. But the Phillies also might need to add a free agent or two in their primes. Right fielder Kyle Tucker, who will hit the open market next offseason while turning 29, could make particular sense.

The Phillies, in fact, should have plenty of reason to go big in ‘26, the last year of the current CBA. In the worst-case scenario, an owners’ lockout could wipe out part or all of the 2027 season. In a more optimistic scenario, a new CBA would include luxury-tax rules that are less cumbersome. And after the ‘26 season, the Phillies’ payroll will be even more flexible, with a combined $38 million between right fielder Nick Castellanos and righty Taijuan Walker coming off the books.

Consider this offseason, then, something of a pause. To maximize their current window, the Phillies are going to need to spend. And be creative. And be smart. More here. 

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Yikes: Umpire Pat Hoberg fired

It turns out, they can fire an umpire, it just takes an unprecedented situation.

Pat Hoberg, who was an MLB umpire from 2017-2024, was fired for sharing a gambling account with a professional poker player. The league found no evidence Hoberg had bet on baseball, nor that he had directly influenced a game to benefit his friend. In fact, Hoberg was widely considered to be one of the league’s best umpires. He worked a “perfect game” (no missed ball-strike calls) in the 2022 World Series.

But there were eight instances in which the poker player bet on games in which Hoberg was an umpire, including Game 4 of the 2021 World Series. The poker player didn’t come out ahead on those bets, and Hoberg maintains that he did not know that his friend was betting on baseball. It seems like this was more poor judgment than anything nefarious. Hoberg can apply for reinstatement in 2026.

But yeahhhhh, you just can’t do this.

It’s the latest gambling scandal to hit the sport in recent years. Most notable, of course, was with Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who is now facing a prison sentence for stealing millions of dollars from the three-time MVP. But last June, four players were suspended for a year for making smaller bets on games in which they were not involved, and infielder Tucupita Marcano was banned for life for gambling on games in which he was involved.

How much longer do we think it will be before a bigger scandal hits — one that truly shakes fans’ belief in the integrity of the game?

I’m not sure what the solution is, and I fear it’s going to get much worse before it gets better. And I’m not alone in my concerns. Tyler Kepner has quotes from a former commissioner of the sport.

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Hi, My Name Is: The mystery godfather of modern pitching?

Weighted balls, biomechanics, Driveline, the Texas Baseball Ranch … before all that, there was an engineer in Connecticut who had never played or coached professionally, inventing some unconventional methods he was sure could change the game. He was right.

His name is Paul Nyman. And while he has been a relative hermit to the baseball world for more than 15 years — he eventually got frustrated and moved on to other things — Cody Stavenhagen finally got in touch with him for an interview.

The story recounts how Nyman — a collegiate high jumper — became fascinated with Russian neurophysiologist Nikolai Bernstein, who cited studies on the swings of blacksmiths in his work. Nyman thought about baseball and theorized that increased velocity could be taught, not just inherited. 

Nyman never rose to fame in the game — there’s a good chance this is the first time you’re hearing his name. He could be prickly, especially on the online forums on which he communicated with the outside world in those days. But his ideas have grown and spread such that many of the modern pitching analysts credit his work for advancing the science that changed the sport. This was so fun to read.

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Handshakes and High Fives

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