Mets stay quiet on Pete Alonso while searching for pitching help

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The New York Mets do not have plans to meet with Pete Alonso this week at the winter meetings.

The five-time All-Star first baseman, who turned 31 on Sunday, lives about two hours away from the hotel for the meetings in Florida. He is a free agent for the second straight offseason.

“I think Pete knows us really well. I think we know Pete really well,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said Monday, adding that Alonso will “take the time here to perhaps meet with organizations he doesn’t know quite as well.”

Alonso was drafted by New York and spent his first seven seasons with the Mets. After a slow free agent market last winter, he signed a $54 million, two-year contract.

He opted out of the final year of the deal after hitting a career-high .272 with 38 homers, 126 RBIs and an .871 OPS in 162 games.

“As a manager, his ability to post every day ... you don’t have to worry about who’s playing first base or who’s hitting in the middle of your lineup,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I think he knows how much we want him, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Mendoza said he's had intermittent contact with Alonso this offseason. Mendoza remains hopeful they can keep Alonso in Queens.

Stearns stuck to his no-public-negotiations script when pressed on where things stand, but he detailed where he thinks the slugger belongs with the market.

“Pete has demonstrated that he’s one of the best offensive players in baseball, and he’s performed at a high level for us,” Stearns said. “That would be a priority for any team. It certainly is for us.”

Beyond Alonso, Stearns said the team is prioritizing run prevention.

The bullpen upgrades are not finished — even after the Mets' deal with Devin Williams — and Stearns said they are looking at both free agency and the trade market for help. They also want to add a starting pitcher, though Stearns expressed confidence that the organization's young arms could play a significant role. Kodai Senga’s strong offseason progress was a major positive for Stearns.

The Mets also are looking for a replacement for outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who was traded to the Texas Rangers for Marcus Semien. Their fallback position would be Jeff McNeil in left field to start the season.

The disappointing 2025 season for the Mets had Mendoza defending himself and the organization on Monday.

On his podcast last month, former Mets reliever Adam Ottavino blasted the organization’s handling of its pitching staff, accusing Mendoza of mismanaging the bullpen, failing to communicate effectively with injured players and not doing enough to protect arms. The Mets used a record 46 pitchers this season due to injuries and performance issues.

Mendoza declined to engage in a back-and-forth with Ottavino, but he defended the organization. Despite the injuries, Mendoza said he thinks the club “was probably one of the teams that protected the bullpen guys better than anybody,” even with limited length from the rotation.

Mendoza also pushed back on reports of clubhouse friction involving shortstop Francisco Lindor, outfielder Juan Soto and McNeil. He said the players “enjoyed being around each other.”

“I’m not going to get into what happens in the clubhouse. Obviously it stays there,” Mendoza said. “Now, for the past few weeks, it feels like we were fighting pretty much every day. Nobody talked about our clubhouse when we got to the second week of June with the best record in baseball. We have the best clubhouse. And then we started losing, and now everybody’s talking about, oh, some of the issues.”

Stearns admitted that clubhouse could look different in 2026. While he would not rule out another big move this offseason, the Mets are looking for more balance this winter.

“I think we’re probably going to make some moves that don’t grab a ton of headlines, that we think are really impactful moves our organization,” Stearns said. “I’d imagine over the course of the offseason, there are also going to be moves that allow you guys to write a lot. And so I think it’s probably a combination of the both, and that’s what we should be doing.”

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FILE - New York Mets' Pete Alonso returns to the dugout after striking out during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Sept. 23, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)

Tens of thousands of airline passengers are stranded by the Iran war that has spread across the Gulf region, but some wealthy travelers are getting out — by paying large sums for luxury flights to Europe via airports that are safe from Iranian drone and missile attacks.

Demand for charter flights has skyrocketed, with some people paying up to 200,000 euros ($232,000) as major airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, Qatar, were closed after the start of the conflict last weekend.

Travelers from Dubai, usually known as a safe and luxurious destination, are seeking to evacuate by traveling overland either to Muscat, Oman, about a four-hour drive, or to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, more than 10 hours away. Then they board one of the few available commercial flights or take a charter flight, whose costs have soared since the start of the war.

“The demand is huge, and we can’t deliver enough aircraft to respond to the demand,” said Altay Kula, CEO of the France-based private jet broker JET-VIP.

Whereas normally a charter flight on a private jet that can accommodate up to 16 passengers from Riyadh to Porto in Portugal may cost around 100,000 euros ($115,800) these days, the cost has doubled, Kula said.

“This increase in cost reflects the aircraft’s scarcity, the repositioning costs as well, and the operator risk assessments. So this is not speculative pricing,” he added.

Prices can vary depending on the departure point, the type of aircraft and the route constraints, said Ameerh Naran, CEO of Vimana Private Jets. For flights from the Gulf region to Europe, prices are ranging from 150,000 euros ($173,800) to 200,000 euros, he added.

In order to reach functional airports such as those in Riyadh and Muscat, some travelers hire private security companies that coordinate transportation in vehicles ranging from ordinary passenger cars to coach buses.

Due to the heavy traffic, wait times at border points with Oman can be up to four hours, while costs range in the thousands of dollars, said Ian McCaul, operations and planning director with Alma Risk, a U.K.-based risk management and security firm.

Those seeking to leave are predominantly stranded travelers, as opposed to residents, McCaul added.

He estimates his company has made transfer arrangements for more than 200 people and advised several others in recent days.

Vimana's clients include business executives, families and entrepreneurs, as well as remote workers who had been based in the region, Naran said.

Elie Hanna, CEO for the Middle East headquarters of Air Charter Service, based in Dubai, said most of the flights out of the region are leaving from Oman. The prices are so high, he said, because few charter planes are available since most of them are stuck at airports that are now closed.

The clients he is seeing range from people who regularly charter private, as well as people who generally fly commercial but are trying to pool resources with other travelers or families to share the expense.

“Everyone is stressed," Hanna said. "To be honest, everyone is trying to accommodate as much as they can. Muscat Airport is overloaded with flights and everybody is stressed.”

Experts from the International SOS security and health services company expect the fighting to continue to affect transportation and energy infrastructure for weeks.

A few people walk in a public plaza in downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/ Fatima Shbair)

Light traffic moves along a main road in downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/ Fatima Shbair)

ADDS CAUSE OF BLACK SMOKE IN THE BACKGROUND.- A plume of smoke caused by an Iranian strike is seen in the background an an Emirates plane is parked at the Dubai International Airport after its closure in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)