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The New York Mets have officially entered a new era.
After seven seasons, Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz left the Mets for other teams consecutively. Alonso would head to the Baltimore Orioles, while Diaz would join the back-to-back defending champions Los Angeles Dodgers.
It’s a difficult reality for Mets fans to accept, especially after Steve Cohen, by far the richest owner in sports and a longtime Mets fan, took control of the team five years ago. Yet the front office decided to let go of a local talent and another fan favorite.
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New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) watches his solo home run against the Miami Marlins during the third inning at LoanDepot Park. (Jim Rassol/Imagn Images)
This prompted longtime New York radio host Joe Beningo to call his former station, WFAN, to rip into owner and president of baseball operations David Stearns.
“You know, I can’t stand David Stearns. He thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. We’re going to find out now how smart David Stearns really is. We’re going to find out how well the Harvard education serves David Stearns. We’ll see.
“But the real culprit is the owner. The owner sold us a bill. We all thought, we were all sucked in, ‘Uncle Stevie’s big money, it’ll never be like the Wilpons,’ and he spent the money. [Justin] Verlander, [Max] Scherzer, he continued and got [Juan] SO. But where is this guy? He’s supposed to be like Mr. Met, I got to see him on the field at the Garden during the playoff games with the Met hat on. What kind of Met fan are you? Are you telling me you’re a Met fan, Cohen? Forget Stearns, he’s a fraud as a Met fan. He probably has some Yankee gear at home. »
Beningo also compared Alonso’s departure to the Tom Seaver trade and Darryl Strawberry signing with the Dodgers before making a bold proclamation about the team’s former owners being known for being cheap.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) hits a two-run home run to become the Mets franchise’s all-time scoring leader in the third inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field. (Wendell Cruz/Imagn Images)
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“We all knew what the Wilpons were…but you know what? I really believe that Fred Wilpon and Jeff Wilpon would have recognized what Alonso meant specifically to the organization, and they would have signed him. I really believe that,” Beningo said, citing that the Wilpons extended David Wright to make him a Met for life. “As much as we get to the Wilpons, and this guy is nowhere to be found. He sold us a bill of goods. I don’t care what they do, I don’t care what the little genius does now the rest of the way…that doesn’t make up for it, and it doesn’t make us a better team than the Dodgers.”
“The owner, I’m fucked with the owner,” he added. “I can’t tell you how pissed I am… He sold us a bill of goods and stuck it up our rear ends.”
Earlier this offseason, the Mets also traded Brandon Nimmo, another local talent, to the Texas Rangers for Marcus Semien. They also signed Devin Williams, who had a tumultuous season with the New York Yankees, to a three-year contract.
Pete Alonso #20 of the New York Mets rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on May 10, 2023, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
There is still plenty of time left in the offseason and players such as Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette and Framber Valdez remain available. But for now, Cohen and Stearns are public enemy No. 1 in Queens — just a year after they were hailed as heroes for pulling Soto out of the Bronx.
