The gods gained’t save Baltimore, however Pete Alonso may.
The previous Mets slugger was launched by his new workforce at Camden Yards on Friday afternoon, after signing a five-year, $155 million contract throughout the Winter Conferences. One factor was definitely made clear: The Baltimore Orioles needed the primary baseman badly throughout free agent negotiations. Alonso appreciates how a lot they admire him.
Proprietor David Rubenstein even went as far as to check the acquisition of Alonso to the commerce for Frank Robinson in 1965.
“When I was in high school in Baltimore in 1966, the Orioles brought onto the team a young, 30-year-old player was going to meld with the young players that the team already had, like Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson,” he instructed reporters in Baltimore on Friday. “That player’s name was Frank Robinson, and the result was we won a World Series that year, and we beat a team called the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were thought to be unbeatable.”
Perhaps it was destiny. In any case, Robinson’s quantity in Cincinnati was No. 20, the identical as Alonso’s quantity in New York. Alonso and his spouse, Haley, charmed a number of the most notoriously powerful baseball followers over his seven seasons in Flushing, and the Allure Metropolis trustworthy are determined for a hero. The town that grew to become a lacrosse city and a soccer city when the Orioles fell on extra-tough instances has turn into a baseball metropolis as soon as once more with an infusion of younger expertise and a deep-pocketed new proprietor keen to show his hometown workforce right into a juggernaut.
“Both of them are great power hitters, and both of them are people that really can work with younger players,” Rubenstein stated. “Makes us think we’ve got a great future ahead of us.”
Alonso feels needed and valued, and the sentiments seem like mutual.
“What they told me is like, ‘Hey, this is where we see you and how we’re going to get there. You’re going to be a big part in winning a championship here,’” Alonso stated. “To me as a player… them pretty much giving me the entire blueprint of the organization is extremely refreshing.”
Negotiations with the Mets, the workforce that drafted him and helped develop him right into a five-time All-Star, didn’t precisely turn into contentious, however that’s as a result of they didn’t actually turn into a lot of something in any respect. The Mets by no means made Alonso a proper contract provide, rising uncomfortable together with his market.
It’s no secret that the Mets have been planning on transferring previous Alonso for a while. President of baseball operations David Stearns stated all the stuff you would count on him to say about welcoming the 31-year-old franchise face again into the fold, however behind the scenes, it was a distinct story. Final yr, Alonso lingered on the free agent marketplace for months till proprietor Steve Cohen determined he needed him again, with Juan Soto asking the Mets to re-sign the Polar Bear to offer the right-handed safety within the lineup he desired.
A 31-year-old right-handed first baseman who has regressed defensively over the past 4 seasons, Alonso seemingly meant extra to his teammates and followers than he did the entrance workplace. It was nothing he did or didn’t do, it was merely a bunch of executives who aren’t beholden to the gamers who got here earlier than them.
Nonetheless, a participant of his caliber deserves to be needed and deserves to be valued for all of his contributions to the group. Alonso has seemingly discovered that with the Orioles.
“The free agent process, once that kind of starts, you really kind of don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s kind of like this weird baseball limbo,” Alonso stated. “But then as you start to sit down and really kind of think about things, you kind of have some time to really reflect. Then as the offseason progressed and realistically, as we got further along, this partnership for me, it was just head and shoulders above everybody else. This park, this city, this team, this organization — everything combined, everything just clicked.”
Alonso consulted with former Mets supervisor Buck Showalter, who was the skipper of the O’s for 9 seasons, and remains to be a revered determine on the town. Showalter, one in every of Alonso’s “favorites,” had solely “beautiful” issues to say concerning the metropolis and its followers. The Orioles blew Alonso away with their presentation in Orlando.
He known as Haley and instructed her this was the place for his or her household.
Alonso has all the time beloved hitting in historic ballparks, and the Orioles put out a video of him saying he hopes to turn into the primary right-handed hitter to hit a ball out to Eutaw Road. With No. 20 being retired for Frank Robinson, Alonso selected No. 25 to honor the yr their son was born. He additionally revealed his title, Teddy, for the primary time publicly.
The house of Stringer Bell, Edgar Allan Poe and Babe Ruth, there may be now a Teddy Bear and a Polar Bear in Birdland.
The Mets won’t see Alonso as a championship-caliber participant, however the Orioles do. With what they’re constructing, all of the items matter.
