New York Mets legend Darryl Strawberry generated headlines and sparked some discussions on local sports-talk radio programs when he recently said he believed first baseman Pete Alonso will one day “regret” leaving the Mets to sign a five-year, $155M contract with the Baltimore Orioles earlier this offseason.
After news of Alonso’s agreement with the Orioles went public, a report shared that Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns never extended a formal offer to Alonso during free agency. According to Abbey Mastracco of the New York Daily News, Strawberry admitted on Tuesday that he “didn’t know anything” about Stearns’ role in Alonso’s departure.
Darryl Strawberry understands what Pete Alonso meant to the Mets
“I wasn’t into these decisions with [the Mets],” Strawberry explained. “I was talking about Pete from the player standpoint of what he meant to this organization, like some of the other guys that came through this organization.”
While making his original comments, Strawberry noted that Alonso “could have broken all” of the franchise’s offensive records had the “Polar Bear” and the organization agreed to a long-term contract. Last season, Alonso became the Mets’ all-time
home run king, and he left the club with 264 homers on his career resume.
Strawberry is second on the Mets’ all-time list with 252 home runs.
Alonso is now on the lengthy list of homegrown Mets who didn’t retire as one-club men. Strawberry played for the Mets from 1983 up until he left the team to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 1990 campaign.
Darryl Strawberry: Winning in New York is “very hard to do”
While previously discussing Alonso, Strawberry insisted that “there’s no greater place to win” than New York. The former slugger who earned World Series rings with the Mets and New York Yankees later expanded on that take.
“There’s not many of us,” Strawberry added on Tuesday. “It’s only a handful of us that have come to this organization from the ground up and had success in New York. That’s very hard to do, and hopefully some of these other younger guys get that opportunity to do that too.”
The Mets haven’t played in a World Series since they lost the 2015 Fall Classic to the Kansas City Royals.