The gods won’t save Baltimore, but Pete Alonso might.
The former Mets slugger was introduced by his new team at Camden Yards on Friday afternoon, after signing a five-year, $155 million contract during the Winter Meetings. One thing was certainly made clear: The Baltimore Orioles wanted the first baseman badly during free agent negotiations. Alonso appreciates how much they appreciate him.
Owner David Rubenstein even went so far as to compare the acquisition of Alonso to the trade 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 told 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.”
Maybe it was fate. After all, Robinson’s number in Cincinnati was No. 20, the same as Alonso’s number in New York. Alonso and his wife, Haley, charmed some of the most notoriously tough baseball fans over his seven seasons in Flushing, and the Charm City faithful are desperate for a hero. The city that became a lacrosse town and a football town when the Orioles fell on extra-tough times has become a baseball city once again with an infusion of young talent and a deep-pocketed new owner eager to turn his hometown team into a juggernaut.
“Both of them are great power hitters, and both of them are people that really can work with younger players,” Rubenstein said. “Makes us think we’ve got a great future ahead of us.”
Alonso feels wanted and valued, and the feelings appear to be 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 said. “To me as a player… them pretty much giving me the entire blueprint of the organization is extremely refreshing.”
Negotiations with the Mets, the team that drafted him and helped develop him into a five-time All-Star, didn’t exactly become contentious, but that’s because they didn’t really become much of anything at all. The Mets never made Alonso a formal contract offer, growing uncomfortable with his market.
It’s no secret that the Mets have been planning on moving past Alonso for some time. President of baseball operations David Stearns said all of the things you would expect him to say about welcoming the 31-year-old franchise face back into the fold, but behind the scenes, it was a different story. Last year, Alonso lingered on the free agent market for months until owner Steve Cohen decided he wanted him back, with Juan Soto asking the Mets to re-sign the Polar Bear to provide the right-handed protection in the lineup he desired.
A 31-year-old right-handed first baseman who has regressed defensively over the last four seasons, Alonso seemingly meant more to his teammates and fans than he did the front office. It was nothing he did or didn’t do, it was simply a group of executives who aren’t beholden to the players who came before them.
Still, a player of his caliber deserves to be wanted and deserves to be valued for all of his contributions to the organization. Alonso has seemingly found 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 said. “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 manager Buck Showalter, who was the skipper of the O’s for nine seasons, and is still a revered figure in town. Showalter, one of Alonso’s “favorites,” had only “beautiful” things to say about the city and its fans. The Orioles blew Alonso away with their presentation in Orlando.
He called Haley and told her this was the place for their family.
Alonso has always loved hitting in historic ballparks, and the Orioles put out a video of him saying he hopes to become the first right-handed hitter to hit a ball out to Eutaw Street. With No. 20 being retired for Frank Robinson, Alonso chose No. 25 to honor the year their son was born. He also revealed his name, Teddy, for the first time publicly.
The home of Stringer Bell, Edgar Allan Poe and Babe Ruth, there is now a Teddy Bear and a Polar Bear in Birdland.
The Mets might not see Alonso as a championship-caliber player, but the Orioles do. With what they’re building, all the pieces matter.
