NEW YORK -- Last week’s seismic Mets story was the shattering of their roster core, which had been in place to varying degrees since 2019. Shortly after trading Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers, the Mets watched Edwin Díaz and Pete Alonso sign elsewhere in rapid succession. As a result, the 2026 Mets will look quite different from their recent antecedents.
Many fans reacted with a mix of sadness, anger and betrayal. Over the better part of a decade (and in Nimmo’s case, longer), Mets followers grew an attachment to those players. As someone who covered the entire careers of all three, the moves likewise realigned my reality. Walking into the Spring Training clubhouse in February will feel a bit foreign.
Before closing the chapter on Alonso, Nimmo and Díaz for good, I wanted to take a moment to remember the tenures of three longtime Mets, both on and off the field.
Brandon Nimmo
Mets tenure: 2016-25
Most memorable game: June 18, 2018 @ COL (4-for-6, 2 HR, 4 RBI)
Nimmo still had not played a complete Major League season when the Mets arrived in Colorado for a four-game series in 2018. Before the game, the Wyoming native gushed about his time growing up in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, driving to Coors Field and rooting for a fellow left-handed hitter, Todd Helton. Then Nimmo went out and did something even Helton never did, leading off the game with an inside-the-park home run. He finished with four hits in front of his friends and family, in what remains one of the best games of his career.
Off the field, I’ll always remember Nimmo’s introductory conference call after the Mets selected him 13th overall in the 2011 Draft. Eighteen-year-olds understandably tend to be less polished than college draftees, and certainly less so than the big leaguers I cover on a regular basis. But Nimmo talked and talked and talked, in a harbinger of how his career would go. As the conference call seemed like it was about to break up, Nimmo asked if he could say something more, then spent the next several minutes thanking just about every human he had ever encountered. I’ve never covered a player quite like Nimmo before or since.
Pete Alonso
Mets tenure: 2019-25
Most memorable game: Oct. 3, 2024 @ MIL (1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI)
It’s easy to pick a most memorable game for Alonso, whose Mets legacy hinged in large part on the go-ahead three-run homer he hit off Devin Williams in the ninth inning of 2024 National League Wild Card Series Game 3. Before that moment, Alonso seemed to have one foot out the door, ready to head into free agency and probably never return. Then he powered an air-bending changeup over the fence and, before long, the Mets were in the NL Championship Series. Alonso’s legacy permanently changed that day.
I rather enjoyed my conversation breaking down that at-bat with Alonso the following spring. But the Alonso interview that most stands out to me is the press conference he conducted after arriving at Spring Training in February 2020. Fresh off his record-setting rookie season, Alonso spent a good while waxing poetic on his career goals, his offseason, his love of wine and travel and more. He cracked a few jokes. He was unguarded and disarming. It was an early peek into the personality we all eventually came to know well.
Edwin Díaz
Mets tenure: 2019-25
Most memorable game: Sept. 22, 2024 vs. PHI (2.0 IP, 0 R, 4 K, SV)
The caution with which the Mets used Díaz throughout the 2024 season was plain to see ... until suddenly it wasn’t. Entering late September in need of as many victories as possible, the Mets leaned on Díaz for four outs in a must-win Sept. 21 game against the Phillies. The following evening, it wasn’t clear if Díaz would be available. Yet any doubt eventually proved misguided, as Díaz entered to protect a one-run lead in the eighth inning, stranded a man on third base, then blew a 98 mph fastball by Kody Clemens in the ninth to leave two more in scoring position. Pitching for the third time in four days, Díaz threw 30 pitches to continue powering the Mets down the stretch.
In a quieter moment two years earlier, I remember being surprised to turn the corner in the bowels of Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati to see a large group of Díazes waiting outside the clubhouse. Countless family members, including his parents, were on hand to see Edwin and his brother, Alexis -- then a rookie -- both in big league uniforms. I remember being struck by the makeshift family reunion, which became a party unlike anything that concourse had likely seen in some time.