Mets’ Pete Alonso cried upon finding out about Chili Davis’ dismissal: ‘It doesn’t make sense’

Late on Monday night, the New York Mets decided that hitting coach Chili Davis and his assistant Tom Slater would no longer be part of the team. Despite the team’s obvious offensive struggles to open the 2021 season, it was a surprise to see them let go. After all, the Mets’ offense was competent in 2019 and among the best in 2020 under Davis.

And the players like and respect him. He has often been credited for JD Davis’ breakout season in 2019 and has a good relationship with most of the Mets’ offensive stars, including Pete Alonso.

According to Savannah McCann of MLB.com, when Alonso found out about the Mets’ decision regarding Davis, he went to his locker and started crying. Befuddled, the Polar Bear went to talk with acting general manager Zack Scott.

“Our team has broken records, we’ve done a lot of great things,” said Alonso, who said he didn’t expect Davis’ dismissal and that the ‘appearance’ of fictional approach coach ‘Donnie’ Stevenson was by no means a shot at him. “It’s confusing for me, and listen, I respect everybody who made that decision. But to me, it just doesn’t make sense right now. I know that the people who are in charge in the office, they want to win, everybody wants to win. I guess from a results standpoint, from two, two and a half years, the results have been there. And to me, it still doesn’t make sense.”

The Mets’ first baseman is sad and upset to see Davis go

Alonso considered Davis and Slater family.

“There’s a personal connection there, but that aside, professionally they’re outstanding individuals,” said Alonso. “For me, how I’m looking at this is, I can’t be upset that it’s over. I just have to be happy that I was able to have them, and they had an impact on me. And I know that I’ve had an impact on them. And that those two guys have had a tremendous positive impact on everybody in that clubhouse.”

The Mets held a meeting that included players, coaching staff and manager Luis Rojas, partly to talk about the changes.

“[It was a] typical team meeting where everyone gets to talk, and guys share their thoughts or their emotions and get to vent,” said Rojas. “We can talk as a family in there, and what was said in there doesn’t need to be shared. But the guys [were] sharing their thoughts and us talking as a group. Also, to shift gears and go after this game tonight, that’s the purpose of the meeting.”