MLB insiders rip Mets for letting Pete Alonso leave

Pockets of New York Mets fans are still mourning the fact that first baseman Pete Alonso signed a five-year, $155M contract to join the Baltimore Orioles this offseason after Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns allowed Alonso to reach free agency.

For a piece published on Wednesday, Jayson Stark of The Athletic spoke with 36 MLB executives, former executives, managers, coaches and scouts about "the most irreplaceable subtraction any team endured" and "the best subtraction" embraced by a club this offseason. 10 of those 36 individuals referred to Alonso as the subtraction that may sting the most for a team later this year. 

Why Pete Alonso could be tough to replace for Mets

"I wouldn’t view the contract as a good value, nor do I believe it will age well," one unnamed rival executive said about the deal Alonso inked with the Orioles. "But I do think his combination of power/performance and character are tough to replace." 

StatMuse shows that only Aaron Judge (285) and Kyle Schwarber (268) have hit more regular-season home runs than Alonso (264) since the "Polar Bear" made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2019. As for Alonso's character, some previously viewed the 31-year-old as a potential future captain for a Mets side that allegedly dealt with some clubhouse issues during its epic collapse last season. 

In the end, the Mets never extended a formal offer to Alonso before they parted ways with closer Edwin Diaz, outfielder Brandon Nimmo and utility man Jeff McNeil. Stearns will now hope that first baseman Jorge Polanco, third baseman Bo Bichette, second baseman Marcus Semien and center fielder Luis Robert Jr. will provide enough offensive pop in the lineup. 

Pete Alonso was more than just a big bat for the Mets

"He owned that city," an unnamed American League executive added about Alonso's Mets tenure. "Or at least the other half of the city — the half that doesn’t belong to Judge. He was a force in that clubhouse. And essentially, every year, starting in February, you penciled in his numbers. You knew what you were getting. And when you take that out of your lineup, that big run-producing bat, that’s a big hole. That’s huge."

Alonso was already one of the more popular Mets players in recent memory before he became the franchise's all-time home run king last summer. He was also seen as a defensive liability, so much so that Stearns let somebody who could have eventually had his number retired by the Mets walk away for nothing this past fall.