A constant companion to the Mets season will be speculation over Pete Alonso’s future with the team. It’s widely assumed if the financials can be worked out, the slugging first baseman wants his long-term
baseball address to be in Flushing. Yet how can anyone be sure? Especially when a segment of the fan base, along with sports-talk radio Gasbags, seem intent on making it hard on him. They speak more like their goal is to run Alonso out of town. In return for daring to appear on stage with country
music singer-songwriter Zach Bryan last Saturday night (March 30) at UBS Arena, Alonso was serenaded by a choir of Micro Managers including Norman Julius Esiason. They sang in the key of negative. On his WFAN morning show, Esiason referred to Alonso as “Clueless Pete.” He magnanimously said Alonso had every right to go to the concert (thanks for the permission slip, pops) before lowering the boom, accusing Alonso of not understanding the big picture. “But when you go on stage at a concert after you lost your first two games and have a game at 1:40 the next day, that’s a bad look and you’re going to get roasted for it,” Esiason said. “I’m sorry, that’s just not part and parcel to a winning athlete with a winning DNA and someone who wants to lead their team out of the abyss.” That’s a mighty long leap to arrive at a dubious conclusion. What Alonso does with his own time and life is his business. Is staying locked in a room between games going to guarantee a Mets win the next day? Esiason may as well have told Steve Cohen to forget about signing Alonso to a new deal. Yet is self-imposed confinement going to make Alonso play any harder? There isn’t anything in his Mets history leading us to question his passion for playing and his desire to win. So, if the Mets didn’t lose coming out of the chute, the denizens of Panic City, including Esiason, would have had no problem with Alonso joining Bryan on stage, right? It sure sounds that way. If Alonso adhered to his critics rigid rules it would be inconsistent with the live-and-let-live personality he projects. Alonso would not be Alonso. He is an entertainer. When Cohen/David Sterns try reaching agreement with him, they should realize Alonso is currently the only must-see at-bat in the lineup. And outside of closer Edwin Diaz, Alonso is the only legitimate box office/ratings attraction on the Mets. That particular fact of life is worth something. At least Zach Bryan recognized it when he invited Alonso on stage. It’s no surprise the Knicks organization mislead the media when updating boss scribes on the status of Julius Randle’s shoulder injury . On Thursday, Randle, dealing directly with his own reality, told Bleacher Report he was finally opting for surgery. The Garden organization, under the James (Guitar Jimmy) Dolan regime, has always been fond of secrecy. Turns out the Randle situation was no different. We expected nothing less from Knicks management. When it comes to something like communicating in good faith, we have no faith in Knicks prez Leon (Sphinx) Rose. Now it will be up to the organization, and the Fan Boys of sports-talk radio, to spin the possibilities of the Knicks succeeding in the playoffs without Randle. There are other mouths who will keep it real. On Thursday’s PTI, while discussing the Randle situation, Tony Kornheiser said: “They [the Knicks] are done. They’re not winning anything without Julius Randle.” In between screaming at schlubs on the other end of a telephone, WFAN/SNY’s Sal Licata shows he doesn’t lack confidence. In the space of less than 24 hours last week, the Mayor of Panic City not only criticized afternoon drive mouth Evan Roberts but his own partner, Brandon Tierney. Licata took issue with each Blabbermouth for putting family obligations ahead of radio show commitments. When a caller protested, telling Licata that Roberts is the straw that stirs the drink at FAN, the Talkie answered by saying he’s the man with a plan — and a goal. “I’m knocking at the door and I’m not stopping until I get the top spot [at the station],” Licata said on the air. “Watch out….I’m coming.” Considering Licata’s rough rise to the spot he now occupies, we don’t doubt his commitment (at times he sounds like he should be committed) or why he has so much faith in himself. Caitlin Clark could be generating ratings juice for NBC’s Summer Olympic in Paris. The WNBA takes a month off in mid-season to allow its top players to go to the Olympic Games. Clark is on the short list of players who were invited to
USA basketball Olympic camp. The team will play in
Paris from July 26-Aug. 11. Before that, Clark will likely start her pro career with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. The WNBA season starts on May 14. The WNBA Draft (on ESPN) is set for April 15 in Brooklyn. SNY’s cameras were all in on dugout shots of Carlos Mendoza during the Mets string of Week 1 losses but the manager didn’t crack. His face was stuck in neutral as he weathered the storm before the “calm” arrived in the form of a win in Game 2 of a Thursday afternoon double header. At one point during the second game, with the Mets losing 1-0 to Detroit, Gary Cohen asked Keith Hernandez how the rookie manager was handling the opening week blues. The camera was on Mendoza and Hernandez said: “He [Mendoza] can’t show any emotion. He has to stay with his players.” Perfect caption for a revealing picture. For a guy who has often been billed as a basketball “expert,” by his employers, Charles Barkley has no use for the category. “There’s no such thing as an expert,” Barkley told Dan Patrick. “It’s just somebody’s opinion.” True. But these faux experts are more a menace now than ever. Networks involved in sports hype these mouths as gambling “experts” based on their ability to help you, the sucker, win money. … After sinking to 0-5, following a loss in the first game of a Thursday doubleheader, WFAN’s Tiki Barber said the Mets problem is “they lack ‘IT.’” When asked what “IT” is, Barber said “urgency.” Why didn’t he just say that in the first place? … Some news that will rock the baseball world: The Yankees 6-5, 11-inning win over
Arizona on Wednesday recorded 104,558 unique streams, the most unique streams ever on the YES App for a non-Opening Day game. Be still my heart! * * * DUDE OF THE WEEK: RON DARLING For (once again) showing common sense behind the microphone. No surprise the SNY analyst was on target, on the fly, after the Mets threw at Rhys Hoskins once he already had demolished New York’s staff. Darling: “You don’t throw at someone after he beat your head in.” Ouch! DWEEB OF THE WEEK: NFL NETWORK EXECS For looking to go on the cheap. No doubt it was a collective decision by NFLN bean counters to shut down the New York-produced and thriving “Good Morning Football” franchise and ship it to
Los Angeles where costs can be lowered. DOUBLE TALK What Tom Thibodeau said: “He [Julius Randle] took it [postponing shoulder surgery] as long as he could and he felt this [getting the surgery] was the best course of action.” What Tom Thibodeau meant to say: “The organization mislead the media as long as it could.”