David Stearns offered his first acknowledgement on Monday that moving on from the Mets’ all-time home run leader after last season may not have been the best plan.
Pete Alonso delivered 43 homers and an .884 OPS this season for the Orioles, while the Mets struggled to piece together a solution at first base.
In his season wrap, the Mets president of baseball operations was asked if he would do anything different regarding Alonso knowing what he knows now.
“I think that’s a very fair question,” Stearns said. “The truth is, in this job I don’t get mulligans. I also recognize Pete had a tremendous year and the totality of our production at first base wasn’t good enough, and so now it’s my job to ensure that we have got better success across our roster, but for the entire season, better production at first base as well.”
Alonso received a five-year contract worth $155 million from the Orioles last offseason after the Mets showed an unwillingness to offer a long-term deal to the first baseman.
Jorge Polanco, signed to a two-year deal worth $40 million as Alonso’s primary replacement, played only 37 games due to physical limitations and wasn’t a factor. Mark Vientos also provided underwhelming results at the position before Jared Young emerged later in the season to provide a semblance of stability at first base.
“We try to learn from everything, and I think the entire offseason last year was a learning experience for me,” Stearns said a day after the Mets completed a 74-win season. “I give Pete an enormous amount of credit. He went out and had a really good year. Throughout the entirety of our season our first base production wasn’t good enough, and now it’s my job to put a group together next year that plays better.”
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