Alonso on staff changes: 'Confusing for me'

The Mets' starting first baseman and the rest of his team were scrolling through Twitter last night when they found out the news of the dismissal of hitting coaches Chili Davis and Tom Slater.

When Pete Alonso saw the news, he went to his locker and cried. He had a conversation with the acting general manager Zack Scott Monday night, hoping to get some answers.

“Our team has broken records, we've done a lot of great things,” said Alonso, adding the news came as such a shock. “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.”

Alonso thought of both Davis and Slater like family, calling them “uncle” during his pregame press conference.

“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.”

Players, coaching staff and front office staff gathered in person for a meeting to discuss the changes. Both Alonso and manager Luis Rojas decided to keep the specific content of the meeting behind closed doors.

“[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.”