David Rubenstein’s Orioles Finally Give Free Agent Huge Contract

The Orioles under new owner David Rubenstein have finally made a major statement in the market.

Pete Alonso will head to Baltimore on a five-year, $155 million deal, according to multiple reports, accelerating Major League Baseball’s hot stove.

The agreement brings the slugger to Baltimore after a seven-year run with the Mets, one that had been marked by a difficult contract negotiation last offseason that ended in a two-year, $54 million pact to stay with the team. The deal, however, included an opt-out after the 2025 season—one that Alonso exercised to return to the free-agent market.

Alonso, represented by baseball mega-agent Scott Boras, ultimately gained and used that opt-out as a means to bet on himself—and he responded this year with 38 home runs and a league-leading 41 doubles.

Rubenstein, a billionaire private-equity executive and co-chair of Carlyle, had initially arrived as Orioles owner early last year to great fanfare and expectation that the extended losing and lower spending under previous owner Peter Angelos would end.

The ensuing two seasons, however, had been marked with significant disappointment as Baltimore was swept in the opening round of the 2024 playoffs, and then it sank to the bottom of the American League East division this year with a 75–87 record.

Additionally, the rest of the division is quickly strengthening around the Orioles, as the defending AL champion Blue Jays are now a power under owner Rogers Communications, the Yankees and Red Sox are retooling, and the Rays have greater hope under new owner Patrick Zalupski.

What happens to the Orioles and their player spending amid these rising competitive pressures has been a growing question in Baltimore. Rubenstein is now emphatically answering that, with the second-largest deal in franchise history. The pact trails only one worth $161 million with Chris Davis that was signed in 2016 under Angelos, who later died in March 2024.

Alonso is a five-time All-Star who had been a cornerstone of the Mets’ offense. His departure marks an increasingly glum offseason for that club and its owner, Steve Cohen. Earlier this week, closer Edwin Díaz left in a free-agent deal with the Dodgers worth $69 million over three years.

The $155 million in Alonso’s contract just beats the $150 million pact, also over five years, that Kyle Schwarber just signed to stay with the Phillies.