On Sunday, Pete Alonso, the All-Star first baseman, indicated that he’s not worried about the uncertainty surrounding the July 30 trade deadline, despite the New York Mets’ diminishing chances of contending.
“We’re still a long ways away,” Alonso told Will Sammon of The Athletic before New York’s come-from-behind 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon. “We have at least two months. That’s a lot of time. That’s a lot of games left. It’s not like the trade deadline is 10 days away. So I feel like there’s plenty of time for us to make up ground and then also really showcase who we are as a team and what our potential can be.”
According to Tim Britton from The Athletic, David Stearns, the Mets’ president of baseball operations, mentioned during the SNY broadcast of Friday’s 8-7 loss to the Giants that the team was still in the process of gathering information about the trade deadline. This statement came amid a five-game losing streak that saw the Mets’ record drop from 18-18 on May 7 to 21-30 before their Sunday victory.
Regarding Alonso, trade rumors surrounding him persist, and these rumors are unlikely to subside even if the Mets start winning more games before summer officially begins. The power hitter, who will be turning 30 in December, is set to enter free agency after this season and has not shown any signs of nearing a contract extension with the Mets, the only MLB team he has played for since his debut in 2019.
“The only thing I can control is my attitude and my play; I can’t really control those decisions,” Alonso said. “But for me, I love this place. I love putting on the uniform. This place is obviously very special to me. But the only thing I can control is my effort level on a day-to-day basis and how I can impact the game on the field.”
On Monday, New York found themselves 15 games behind the leading Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East standings. Despite this significant gap, the Mets are still in the wild-card discussion as of Memorial Day, primarily due to the season not yet reaching its halfway mark.
Alonso suggested that he and his teammates in the clubhouse are the sole ones capable of preventing Stearns and team owner Steve Cohen from conducting a summer fire sale between the final week of May and July 30.
“The biggest way to solve it is to go out there and make it happen between the lines,” Alonso explained. “That’s really it. Yeah, we haven’t been playing well. But the only way to solve it is to win.”
The next opportunity for New York to secure a win will be when they host the 33-22 Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday afternoon.
