PORT ST. LUCIE — Darryl Strawberry can’t understand why the player who broke his Mets all-time home run record left Queens.
Pete Alonso, according to Strawberry, is going to “regret” that he departed the Mets.
“I was really shocked that Pete would leave New York for Baltimore,” Strawberry said Monday at spring training. “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.”
Strawberry, who left the Mets through free agency to join the Dodgers after the 1990 season, said Alonso — who received a five-year contract worth $155 million from the Orioles — should have never opted out from his contract after last season. Alonso would have received $24 million this season from the Mets if he didn’t opt out.
After his opt-out, Alonso never received an offer from the Mets. According to sources, the team was expecting him to circle back after exploring the market, but the length of the Orioles’ offer made it a moot point.
“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.’”
Strawberry was asked if the Mets should have fought harder to keep Alonso.
“I think it’s a combination,” Strawberry said. “I think they both could have fought harder in that situation.”
Alonso last season eclipsed Strawberry’s previous franchise record of 252 homers. Like Strawberry, he was a homegrown Mets player.
“He worked his way up to become the player that he was,” Strawberry said. “He deserved all the credit for that and what he accomplished. I just don’t leave New York to go to Baltimore. Don’t get me wrong, I am not getting on Baltimore. But I am saying, this is New York, come on. Baltimore is a good place, but it’s not New York.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
