MLB insider questions Darryl Strawberry’s critique of Pete Alonso leaving the NY Mets

Darryl Strawberry knows a thing or two about leaving the New York Mets prematurely. His free agency three and a half-decades ago closely mimics what happened with Pete Alonso this offseason. He departed with the all-time franchise home run record only to see it fall in 2025 when Alonso overtook him.

The NY Post’s Mike Puma talked to Strawberry about Alonso. From the discussion came a theme of regret.

“I was really shocked that Pete would leave New York for Baltimore.”

“Pete could have broken all the records and could have been on top of every offensive category for this organization and then sometimes when you don’t see that and realize how important that is, one day he is going to wake up just like I did and regret you didn’t stick where you are at.”

Who could relate better to this than Strawberry? In defense of Alonso, Jon Heyman quickly came in to point out the most important part of the Polar Bear’s free agency tweeting “Did Pete have a choice? 5 years, $155M from Orioles vs. no offer from Mets.”

For a change, Mets fans have to agree with Jon Heyman over a franchise icon

Strawberry added some more peculiar logic to why he believes Alonso should have stayed:

“The biggest mistake I saw was after they lost in Miami he opted out,” Strawberry said, referring to the Mets’ final game last season. “I think if he just waited and said, ‘OK, I’ll stay at that, but give me a four-year deal, something like that, they could have worked it out.’”

Alonso certainly followed the money to Baltimore. However, with no official offer ever extended to Alonso, how could he possibly even take the actions Strawberry suggests? It’s the ball club who needs to offer the contract and not the player’s job or agent to demand a lesser, team-friendly deal. Alonso crushed baseballs throughout the entirety of 2025. He earned his chance to test free agency. It was the Mets who barely showed any interest.

Going to Baltimore could prove to be a mistake for Alonso. But to leave $155 million on the table and choose $24 million to bet on yourself all over again defies the whole point of free agency existing in the sport.

The “good guy” thing to do would be to needlessly opt into the deal. A pay cut from his 2025 salary, not even Dr. Strange saw a different outcome in any of the 14,000,605 scenarios. Alonso was always opting out once the Orioles came to the table with the deal they did.

The Alonso storyline is just underway with early spring training home runs and fans all over social media arguing how much is too much discussion about the ex-Mets slugger. The 7 Line picking on others for too much Alonso content this past weekend is one of the latest examples.

Every dinger for Alonso and golden sombrero will be analyzed during his years with the Orioles. What we can’t debate is he made the smart choice. It’s not as if Alonso departed for a team with no chance at winning. He’s aiming to be a sparkplug veteran on a ball club trying to crawl out of the rubble. Kudos to him. He has his place in Mets history already. It was up to the organization to show him more love, not the player to take a lesser payday hang around.