Polar Bear Leaving Queens

The end of an era has come in Queens. One of the more beloved players in New York Mets franchise history, Pete Alonso, has moved on. Alonso opted out of his contract at the end of the season, hitting the free agent market. There was some hope around the team that Pete would come back to Queens on a long term deal, becoming a Met for life. That didn't happen, as Alonso has signed a five year deal worth $155 Million to go play for the Baltimore Orioles.

There's a lot to take in from all of this.

From a Baltimore point of view, adding a guy of Alonso's talent to that lineup makes the O's an even bigger threat in an already tough and very competitive AL East. Think about it, last year they finished 5th in the AL East. Now they add a guy who can drive in a ton of runs and is a master at the long ball. So keep an eye out for the O's this season as being a big threat in this division.

Pete is a .253 lifetime hitter. He drove in over 100 runs four times in his six full seasons in the majors, and smacked over 30 home runs in his six full seasons (not counting the 2020 covid year). For the Mets franchise in his seven years, he entered the top ten in several offensive categories. He's the all time leader in home runs (264), 3rd in RBI's (718), 14th in hits (951), 12th in Doubles (183), 14th in walks (419). We could keep going on and on over this.

And it stings what has happened to the Mets over the last couple days, or even weeks. First the trade of Nimmo to Texas for Marcus Semien. Then Edwin Diaz signs a big deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and now this with Alonso. So now the two big stars in the Mets lineup are Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor. Nothing wrong with either guy, if they can both keep producing. But that's not going to be anywhere near enough. The New York Mets have, to this point, taken a major step backwards. Instead of building off the NLCS appearance two seasons ago, they got one good year pout of Pete, chocked away the playoffs last summer (after signing Soto), and now this.

I, for one, am not totally surprised by any of it. Alonso could feel like he was slighted by the Mets not getting a big contract two years ago, so he signed the deal he did, had the big year, and left. Yes, there is a lot more work to be done in this offseason. But let's be totally honest here. Steve Cohen said World Series within five years after buying the team. He had his five years and the deep run two years ago was as close as the team got. Last year was a disaster, None of the issues from last season have been addressed and three of the Mets top players are gone to different teams.

Things had better start turning around and fast, because if they don't.......it's not going to end well for Mets management.