A short-term deal doesn't make Pete Alonso a good fit for this Cubs roster

The months-long standoff between Pete Alonso and the New York Mets continues - and shows no signs of ending anytime soon, with a reported gap in the tens of millions between the slugger's camp and the front office.

Scott Boras compares Alonso to Prince Fielder, who got a nine-year, $214 million deal from Detroit back in 2012. The rest of the league is showing trepidation even getting close to the deals Freddie Freeman (six years, $162 million) and Matt Olson (eight years, $168 million got in recent years.

The end result? Alonso could have to settle for a shorter-term deal with opt-outs built in - hardly the end goal he headed into the offseason with. That could lead to a reunion with New York, but according to Bob Nightengale, eight teams have expressed interest in Alonso, meaning a return to the Mets is hardly a slam-dunk.

We know the Cubs have been connected to Alonso this winter, to varying degrees, and I know that the reports of him potentially settling for a shorter-term pact is going to have folks screaming for Jed Hoyer to get it done. I hate to be the one to tell you this (again) but even on such a deal, he's an imperfect fit for this roster - period.

Let's go through this again. Alonso is a first baseman and DH, so there's nowhere else you can slot him in around the diamond. Hoyer made it clear the Cubs aren't interested in moving Michael Busch off first base and view him as a Gold Glove-caliber defender after a strong rookie showing. That kills Cubs Twitter's dreams of sliding Busch to third and signing Alonso to play first. For the team to even sort of consider that, Alonso's market would have to totally bottom out - and even then, I don't know they risk Busch's long-term development.

So have him DH, right? Wrong. Unless the rumblings we've heard for the last month surrounding a potential Seiya Suzuki trade, there aren't at-bats to be had there, either. The addition of Kyle Tucker, a Gold Glove-winning right fielder, pushes Suzuki to a full-time DH role whether he likes it or not and - spoiler alert - Suzuki was a better offensive player than Alonso last year, no matter how you slice it. It doesn't make sense to trade him just to sign a player coming off a down year who's undoubtedly going to cost you more annually, especially on a short-term deal.

I get the appeal of a massive power bat like Alonso in the middle of the Cubs' lineup - I do. But the fit just isn't there and the sooner everyone comes to terms with that, the sooner we can all set our expectations for the rest of the offseason accordingly.