Sports

Edgardo Alfonzo was thinking promotion just as Mets fired him

Edgardo Alfonzo is unsure where his next opportunity in baseball lies following his surprise dismissal from the Mets organization this offseason.

The popular former Mets infielder managed Single-A Brooklyn to the New York-Penn League championship last season, but was later told by the organization his contract wouldn’t be renewed. Alfonzo spent three seasons as Brooklyn’s manager.

“I thought I might get promoted a little bit because we won the championship,” Alfonzo told The Post on Tuesday. “And I liked what I did with the guys, because I taught them how to play, how to compete, how to play in New York the way you are supposed to.”

Alfonzo said he never received a real explanation for his ouster from general manager Brodie Van Wagenen. The Mets have since named Ed Blankmeyer, who spent 24 seasons as the head coach at St. John’s, as Brooklyn’s new manager.





Alfonzo, who played eight seasons in Flushing – the club announced Tuesday that he will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame on May 17, along with Jon Matlack and Ron Darling – is hoping to receive an opportunity with another organization.

“In the beginning when I first came back to the Mets, I told [COO] Jeff Wilpon I don’t want to be manager, we’re talking about six or seven years ago, but the last couple of years I had been doing the managing,” said Alfonzo, who previously spent three seasons as Brooklyn’s bench coach. “I didn’t want to be a manager early because I wanted to learn. I wanted to learn the system and I want to learn how to do it because when you retire as a player being a manager is not easy.





“There is a lot of stuff to do, a lot of responsibility to have, and I learned that and I became a manager for the last three years and then I loved it because you get more into it with the players and teaching and talking about the game. And I would like to do that, if not with the Mets, with somebody else, but baseball is like that. I am still waiting to see what happens.”

Alfonzo has not ruled out the possibility of at some point serving as a club ambassador, in which he would make appearances for the Mets. But his focus for now is on returning to the field.

“I talked to Jeff and he knows me,” Alfonzo said. “I am always going to be a Met. I like the Mets and I understand this is a business situation, but I am here and I really appreciate it and hopefully one day we can do some stuff together.

“To the Wilpons and Mets organization, I have no problem at all. I like it, I love it. I understand this is business and that’s it. Now I am looking forward to where I might go.”





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