With the Baltimore Orioles signing Pete Alonso to a free agent contract, it puts the final stamp on the dissolution of what had been the core of the New York Mets. With Edwin Diaz signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Brandon Nimmo traded to the Texas Rangers, Mets management has made a statement about the thought process within the organization. Although what that thought process is…

The late great Ralph Kiner used to tell the story that the old general manager Branch Rickey, the famous baseball executive, once said to him when negotiating a contract, “We came in last place with you, we can come in last place without you.” And Kiner was gone.

So are now three players who were the core to the New York Mets for the last seven-plus seasons – Nimmo since 2016, Diaz and Alonso since 2019.

So this one puzzles me…letting Edwin Diaz go to sign a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers  just seems like an epic fail on the part of New York Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns.

I got the news thanks to a text from my dear friend John Delduca asking, “Can you please tell me what the Mets are trying to accomplish?”

The report is that Diaz accepted a three-year deal worth $69 million dollars. The report is also that the Mets had offered three years at $66 million but were “willing” to go higher.

For one, I can understand that you can’t “bid against yourself” so when asking why didn’t you go higher in the first place, well, I guess you wait to see what the person comes back as a counter offer. But I also can’t see that Diaz, who made it public that he wanted to remain with the Mets, would leave for $3 million, or at least not allow the Mets to increase their offer.

Keith Hernandez should be the next former New York Mets player to be selected to the Hall of Fame. I would love to understand the reasoning behind the disrespect of his candidacy. What’s behind it?

There are not many New York Mets who really deserved to go into the Hall of Fame as Mets. Tom Seaver was the no-brainer…the one true Met regardless of any other team he played for. Mike Piazza, even though he went into the Hall as a Met, I’m pretty sure he had his best days with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gary Carter…he too had better days elsewhere with the Montreal Expos. Billy Wagner, Roberto Alomar, Jeff Kent…all one-time Mets...made their marks as Hall of Famers with other teams as well. But Keith Hernandez, while he rose to prominence with the St. Louis Cardinals, he made his career and put the stamp on it as a New York Met. And Hernandez is certainly deserving of being a Mets player in that Hall of Fame.

Jeff Kent is proof that the Mets were not always the best home for a Hall of Famer to be. Kent finally got his due by being elected to the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee but, truth be told, there were a number of other second basemen who saw their careers come to a screeching halt in Queens.

Think Juan Samuel, Carlos Baerga, Roberto Alomar.

During the 1992 campaign, suffering with the worst team money could buy, GM Gerry Hunsicker traded his best asset, ace David Cone, to get a couple of young prospects - infielder Jeff Kent and outfielder Ryan Thompson.

Some fans have called the New York Mets trade of Brandon Nimmo "devastating" and they are calling for the head of David Stearns. But the fans are way overreacting. Nimmo’s departure from the New York Mets is only a shock because he has a contract that can end up being an albatross for some team, as his age goes up and his production goes down. That “up” and that “down” had already become apparent in recent seasons with the Mets.

Back in May, I had reluctantly advocated for the Mets to move him before it got to the point of no return. While a fan favorite, and definitely one of MY favorites, the timing was right for Nimmo to move on.

If I were Pete Alonso, I would want to leave the New York Mets organization. He has been insulted multiple times in a number of ways. Why would anyone want to stay under such circumstances? And so the Pete Alonso free agent saga begins again.

While it is true that Alonso had a down year – for him – in 2024, he still deserved to be treated better than he was, with a better offer than he received. His down year still provided a kind of power bat in a lineup that is not easily found.

Whether or not it was Scott Boras making unreasonable demands, unfortunately for him, no other team thought that way, no other team thought Alonso’s power bat appealing enough to make him an offer. And so he was compelled to return to the Mets on a mutually beneficial opt out contract.

Alonso ended up rebounding and actually having what is probably his best season overall in 2025, even if he didn’t top 50 home runs. Now the saga begins again, to re-sign Alonso to a big contract, or let him walk away. If I am Alonso, I would take the opportunity to go where I am more appreciated and under less scrutiny.

However, the Pete Alonso argument to keep, or fold, is subjective, and can be viewed a few ways.

The 2025 New York Mets season is finally over, as is the pain that has gone along with it. There are those who would use the phrase “epic collapse” but that is really not an accurate description of how the season actually went.

While it IS true that the Mets were 45-24, a .652 winning percentage, 21 games over .500 and a 5 ½ game lead in the NL East, that was in June. The “collapse” began on June 13 and continued in a steady deterioration as the Mets were able to even recapture first place for a few days, only to rapidly descend further and further until they weren’t even the third best wild card team.

First, it was Jimmy Kimmel. Now it’s the New York Mets broadcasters, Gary Cohen and Todd Zeile who fans, well some fans, are targeting. And why? Because it was revealed that Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw left the team and missed a game because he thought it more important to attend the “memorial service” for Charlie Kirk.

Gary Cohen said, “I don’t want to talk about the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a race for any reason other than a family emergency. Really strikes me as weird.”

Todd Zeile followed it up with, “It’s unusual, I think it’s unprecedented at least from my experience as a player, and I think it made it a little more unusual that it was not revealed until after it came to issue because he was thought to be in the dugout and maybe available, and was not, and that’s how it was revealed.”

On August 5, 1973, the New York Mets were 12 games under .500 with a record of 48-60, 11 ½ games out of first place.

Although they would begin to level off, they would sink to 13 games under .500 with a record of 53-66 on August 17, but would be only 7 ½ games back. So, record-wise, August 17 would be their low watermark of the season.

Then, in coordination with the return of front-liners Cleon Jones, Bud Harrelson, and Jerry Grote, the Mets went on a tear going 29-13 the rest of the way, a .690 winning percentage.

On June 12, the New York Mets were sitting atop the Eastern Division of the National League, 5 ½ games in front of the Philadelphia Phillies. They were 21 games over .500 with a record of 45-24. It would be their high watermark of the season.

So what happened?