Darryl Strawberry believes that Pete Alonso will come to "regret" leaving the Mets for the Baltimore Orioles this offseason.
Strawberry said he was “really shocked” that the man who broke his all-time home run record with the franchise traded Queens for Charm City.
“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 said, via The New York Post’s Mike Puma.
Strawberry added that Alonso “deserved all the credit” for what he accomplished during his seven seasons with the Mets, but questioned his decision to go to the Orioles.
“I just don’t leave New York to go to Baltimore,” Strawberry said. “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.”
Alonso opted out of the second year of the two-year deal he signed with the Mets the previous offseason after the final game of the 2025 season and hit the open market for the second time in as many winters, but this time he ended up signing elsewhere.
Strawberry believes that it was a “combination” of the club and player not working hard to get a deal done: “I think they both could have fought harder in that situation,” he said, via Puma.
“The biggest mistake I saw was after they lost in Miami he opted out,” Strawberry said of the final game of the regular season that saw New York eliminated from postseason contention. “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.’”
After the game, Alonso said from the clubhouse in Miami that he would be foregoing the final year of the deal and leaving $24 million on the table in the hopes of securing a longer-term deal after a stellar regular season.
“Playing for this organization and this city, they've continued to believe in me. And I’ve loved playing here,” Alonso said at the time. “There's some great guys in this clubhouse, there’s some great people on the staff. Every single day, it's been a pleasure coming to work and putting on the orange and blue.
“For me, I've really appreciated it and have been nothing but full of gratitude every single day. Nothing is guaranteed, but we'll see what happens – I've loved being a Met. Hopefully, they've appreciated me the same."
It has been reported that the Mets did not offer Alonso a deal. The first baseman signed a five-year, $155 million contract with Baltimore 73 days after the end of the regular season.