Mancuso: Alonso and Diaz Gone And The Mets Regress

In a matter of 48 hours in Orlando, Florida, the Mets became pretenders and not contenders. Closer Edwin Díaz and first baseman Pete Alonso took their money to Los Angeles and Baltimore.

It’s caused a buzz. The Mets after their amazing and unexpected season of 2024, with a loss to the Dodgers in the ’24 NLCS, were then the darlings of New York sports. Owner Steve Cohen and his billionaire pockets lured Juan Soto to move across town from the Bronx.

Soto delivered on a good 2025 season, potentially a LatinoMVP-winning campaign, but the Mets failed to reach the postseason, which was a disappointment for a team with a top three team payroll in baseball. At the top, Cohen, five years ago alluded to winning a World Series championship. That was then as another fan-favorite in Brandon Nimmo, a part of the core, was recently traded to Texas.

Díaz from reports did not want the Mets, perhaps true when pitching coach Jeremy Hefner bolted to the Braves and took the three-year/$69 million deal—a difference of three-years/$66 million Cohen and Mets’ president of baseball operations, David Stearns, put on the table.

Alonso, inking a five-year/$155 million deal with the O’s, will now hammer the baseball at Camden Yards, an all-time fan favorite who was not offered a reasonable deal. Something is wrong and it goes beyond reports of an inside fractured Mets clubhouse.

It’s Cohen and Stearns and now it’s on their shoulders, yet regressing and not progressing to that championship goal. Last year at this time, Mets fans and the organization were no longer in fantasy world, as they lured Soto from the Bronx on a historic 15-year contract of over $765 million with escalators that could raise it to $800+ million. Soto no longer had Aaron Judge in the lineup a year ago, and now there is no Pete Alonso behind him, something surly he did not sign up for.

Soto is quiet, then again he still gets paid, but getting a World Series championship will be difficult, unless Stearns and Cohen have a plan to pivot and lure Cody Bellinger with the Yankees in hot pursuit. The 27-year-old superstar for sure is digesting this as a bad look, and talk will always revolve around if he should have taken the Yankees offer last December.

Regardless, these are the New York Mets with that ability to regress and not progress as they enter 2026 in their 64 years of franchise turmoil. Remember, as I do frequently the unfavorable trade of franchise pitcher Tom Seaver on June 15, 1977 for four players including pitcher Doug Flynn, outfielders Steve Henderson, and Dan Norman.

Recall how another fan-favorite and notorious home run hitter Darryl Strawberry was able to walk away, the previous owners of the Payson and Wilpon families were instrumental in allowing that to happen with Seaver and Strawberry.

Yes, Cohen got his guy in Soto and fans were celebrating across town at Citi Field. Cohen, though, was more decisive in allowing Stearns to acquire Devin Williams as the contingency plan to close games instead of retaining Díaz, the best closer in baseball. Williams has lots to prove in the role after a suspenseful one-year stint with the Yankees.

And Stearns says this Mets team will be competing for a championship, even with an older Marcus Semien, need I say who also has lots to prove coming off an injury campaign of 2025 with the departed Nimmo.

The Mets lost this season because of injuries to their starting pitching and bullpen that failed, Díaz though wasn’t the culprit. Neither was Alonso the culprit, he was the iron horse and played all 162 games in each of the past two years—38 home runs, and 126 RBI in 2025 and 264 home runs for his MLB career, all with the Mets.

The Mets lost, as Stearns said, because of run prevention. Instead they lose Díaz and Alonso, two heavyweights that have caused a rash of criticism from the Mets fans base and there will be ramifications.

My social media blew out of proportion, a majority of fans said they were cancelling their season ticket subscriptions. Some leveled a threat of never stepping inside Citi Field until Stearns is relieved or Cohen sells his team.

From this perspective, it’s still a Yankees town in New York. They lost Soto, but made the effort and granted Aaron Judge a lucrative deal prior, and anointed him their team captain. A totally different philosophy despite fan backlash at owner Hal Steinbrenner and his recent edict about exceeding a $300 million salary threshold.

Instead this is about Cohen and Stearns who may not survive this change and overhaul the roster. Simple, the Mets were not constructed to win as they said this past season. They were riding off the success of an unexpected playoff run the year before and failed to re-sign José Iglesias (OMG) who was a catalyst.

Stearns has to provide the proper answers. Cohen, the super Mets fan, has reportedly lost on his investment over the past few years, while a season record number of Mets fans passed through the gates of Citi Field in 2025—over 3,182,057 in attendance.

For sure, Cohen is losing revenue regardless of merchandise, parking, concessions and other factors that go in the books. A deep postseason run calculates to more revenue pumped into the structure. But his team, because of losing two key cogs will lose more revenue. Popular Mets packing their bags, money with Cohen was not supposed to make for that issue.

And if money or contract lengths were an issue, then I am convinced Cohen got his casino approved across from Citi Field and that was an agenda. The Mets and their fans were never his priority unless there is a pivot to make this better.

Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso