Former teammate addresses Pete Alonso's Mets future

Current San Francisco Giants outfielder Michael Conforto once played alongside Pete Alonso of the New York Mets and can't imagine the star slugger leaving the Amazins anytime soon. 

"I can’t picture him anywhere else," Conforto recently said about Alonso, per Anthony DiComo of the official MLB website. "That’s partly because he’s always been here, and he’s become what he’s become here. It’s just one of those things is you see a guy in a uniform and that’s just what it looks like. It just looks right." 

The Mets entered the season with baseball's most expensive roster and then became arguably the league's most disappointing team over the first half of the campaign. New York began Tuesday afternoon with a record of 38-46 and trailing the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East standings by a whopping 19 games. At that same time, the Mets were seven-and-a-half games back in the race for a wild-card playoff spot. 

Alonso recently earned the third All-Star selection of his career and is viewed by some as a possible future Mets captain. However, he is eligible for free agency after the 2024 season, and there's no indication he and the Mets are close to putting pen to paper on an extension. Thus, some have suggested New York could or even should trade him in an attempt to land badly needed younger talent. 

For what it's worth, MLB insider Jon Heyman of the New York Post noted as recently as Monday that it's "unlikely" Mets owner Steve Cohen will blow things up to the point of trading the popular Alonso this summer. Conforto, Alonso's New York teammate from 2019 through the 2021 season, said he believes the 28-year-old has the necessary "it factor" to succeed in the country's largest sports market. 

"My dream was a little different than the guys that ended up sticking around here, and I think I’m OK with that," Conforto added about signing with the Giants this past winter after he didn't play last season due to a shoulder injury. "I look forward. I look ahead to what’s next." 

Per ESPN stats, Alonso started Tuesday third in all of MLB with 25 home runs on the season. Across his first 76 games, he batted .221 with 58 RBIs.