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The New York Mets have officially entered a new era.
After seven seasons, both Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz left the Mets for other teams on back-to-back days. Alonso is reportedly headed to the Baltimore Orioles, while Diaz is joining the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
It’s a hard reality for Mets fans to accept, especially after Steve Cohen, by far the richest owner in sports and a lifelong Mets fan, took control of the team five years ago. Still, the front office decided to let a homegrown talent and another fan favorite go.
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New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) watches his solo home run against the Miami Marlins in the third inning at loanDepot Park. (Jim Rassol/Imagn Images)
That prompted longtime New York radio host Joe Beningo to call his old station, WFAN, to oust ownership 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. Now we’re going to find out how damn smart David Stearns is. We’re going to find out how brilliantly that Harvard education serves David Stearns. We’ll see.
“But the guy who’s the real culprit is the owner. The owner sold us a bill of materials. We all thought, we were all sucked in, ‘Uncle Stevie’s big money, it’s never going to be the same as it was with the Wilpons,’ and he spent money. [Justin] Verlander, [Max] Scherzer, he went on and got [Juan] Soto. But where is this guy? He should be like Mr. Met, I’ll see him courtside at 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 about Stearns, he’s a fraud as far as a Met fan goes. He probably has Yankee gear at home.”
Beningo also compared Alonso’s departure to Tom Seaver being traded and Darryl Strawberry signing with the Dodgers before making a bold proclamation about the team’s previous owners, who were notorious for being cheap.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) hits a two-run home run to become the all-time Mets franchise home run 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 think that Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon would have recognized what Alonso specifically meant to the organization and they would have signed him. I really believe that,” Beningo said, citing the Wilpons extending David Wright to make him a lifelong Met. “As much as we get on the Wilpons and this guy is nowhere to be found. He sold us a bill of materials. I don’t care what they do, I don’t care what that little genius does now the rest of the way … it doesn’t make up for this and it doesn’t make us a better team than the Dodgers.”
“The owner, I’m p—-d with the owner,” he added. “I can’t tell you how ticked off I am… He sold us a bill of lading and put it right up our rear end.”
Earlier this offseason, the Mets also traded Brandon Nimmo, another homegrown 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 deal.
Pete Alonso #20 of the New York Mets rounds the bases after hitting a home run in the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on May 10, 2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
The offseason has plenty of time left, and players like 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 being hailed as heroes for ousting Soto from the Bronx.
