Pete Alonso’s answer about the NY Mets season reveals a low bar set in 2025

New York Mets PBO David Stearns has executed a full-scale roster upheaval this offseason, and the house-cleaning effort has been contextualized by plenty of rumors about a troublesome Mets clubhouse in 2025.

While these rumors have been denied by Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and others attached to the organization, it's obvious that Stearns' priority entering the offseason was to re-build New York's clubhouse and depth chart dynamic from the ground up, starting with Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto as cornerstones. The specific reasons for the massive roster turnover are known only to New York's front office.

After trading Brandon Nimmo and letting Edwin Díaz and Pete Alonso walk in free agency, Stearns continued the house cleaning on Sunday by trading Jeff McNeil to the Athletics. This was perhaps the most predictable move of them all.

But despite the inevitability of McNeil's departure, the arrival of the deal itself has re-ignited media discusisons about New York's alleged clubhouse friction in '25. What do the players themselves have to say? Soto made a point to praise Lindor in an interview in December, doing something to erode the rumors of their reported tension.

Pete Alonso's appearance on Foul Territory on Monday was another fascinating watch for Mets fans in that vein. Although Alonso didn't speak to clubhouse issues, he did frame the Mets' season in a way that left some fans scratching their heads. When asked by Foul Territory's Erik Kratz if he foresaw all of the roster turnover coming for the Mets this offseason, Alonso's answer was a curious one.

Pete Alonso's opinion of the 2025 Mets defies logic

Alonso branded New York's new direction as a "philosophical thing" while reminding listeners that the Mets were just one win away from a playoff berth in 2025. "It just came down to one game ... there was a ton of guys hurt ... if they weren't, that would have put us in a better situation," Alonso said.

What's weird about Alonso's stance is that it suggests that a playoff berth would have made the Mets' season a successful one, or that this was New York's goal. This goes directly against the notion that the Mets were World Series contenders, a status they'd earned entering the 2025 season following a trip to the NLCS months prior.

The Mets came within two wins of a World Series in '24 and then went out and added Soto. 2025 was supposed to be their year to take things a step further and bring a championship to Queens for the first time since 1986.

That's not what happened in the slightest, and Alonso's insistence that the season would have been way different if not for one game doesn't change much. Something was off about the Mets all season long, whether that should be mainly attributed to clubhouse issues or something else.

Alonso's passionate efforts and robust durability certainly weren't part of the problem, even if his stance on the '25 season is a tad skewed. The Mets won't find another Alonso anytime soon, but that doesn't mean that Stearns can't build a better roster overall.