Guardians could capitalize on Orioles-Pete Alonso deal with trade for O's slugger

On Wednesday, the Baltimore Orioles pulled off arguably the biggest surprise of the MLB offseason when they signed Pete Alonso to a five-year, $155 million contract that has the highest AAV ever for a first baseman. 

While there’s a lot of time to figure out the long-term ramifications of Alonso joining the American League, there’s no denying that it’s turned the Orioles into one of the AL’s biggest contenders. 

But that doesn’t mean that the deal won’t have ramifications on the Orioles roster, especially when it comes to the future of Ryan Mountcastle, who at one point was viewed as the Orioles’ first baseman of the future. 

It’s clear that’s no longer the case, both because of Alonso’s presence on the roster and his struggles in 2025 (.250, 7 HR, 35 RBI in 89 games). But just because he’s coming off a rough season doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t be an impactful player for a team like the Guardians. 

Ryan Mountcastle would be a worthwhile addition to the Guardians' lineup

Even though Mountcastle isn’t a perfect fit for the Guardians thanks to Kyle Manzardo, it would be worth it to kick the tires on his availability given they’d be able to buy-low on a player who has had some MLB success. 

Mountcastle made his debut in 2020 and hit .333 in 140 at-bats, which helped him earn some down-ballot Rookie of the Year votes. But he was still able to keep his rookie status (the 2020 season was weird), which led to him getting Rookie of the Year votes again in 2021 in a season where he mashed 33 home runs. 

But his production has slowly dwindled season-over-season since then, culminating with his truly subpar 2025 that has led to him being expendable. He’s also struggled with a variety of injuries, including a hamstring strain that kept him out for two months last season. 

But all of that still doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s been a productive player who could bring some much-needed power to the Guardians lineup. 

The Guardians opened the year with a platoon of Kyle Manzardo and Carlos Santana at first base before letting Santana go at the end of August, and the right-handed hitting Mountcastle would be an obvious upgrade — even with the obvious downside that he could potentially take at-bats away from Manzardo. 

That said, the designated hitter spot is going to be open again thanks to David Fry being able to play the field, which would give Stephen Vogt a golden opportunity to shuffle both of them between first base and DH depending on the matchup. 

Mountcastle also played some left field early in his career, but it didn’t go well (-6 Outs Above Average in LF in 2021). He’s ranked as a league average first baseman in recent seasons. 

The Orioles are in dire need of pitching, so the Guardians could dip into their MLB-ready pitching stock to get him (Joey Cantillo) or even some of the minor league depth (Austin Peterson). 

The Guardians need to do something to improve their lineup after a quiet Winter Meetings, and taking a swing on Mountcastle could be worth it.