David Stearns was officially appointed president of baseball operations for the New York Mets on Monday and one of his first messages to the team and its fans regarded the future of first baseman Pete Alonso.

Alonso was the subject of trade rumors during the season but stayed put in New York. Speculation of the Mets moving the slugger this offseason was virtually put to bed by Stearns, who said he expects Alonso to be the Mets' Opening Day first baseman in 2024, according to Jon Heyman.

Alonso had another fine slugging season for the Mets, hitting 46 home runs and notching his third 100-plus RBI season. Despite that, he had a career-low .217 batting average and New York failed to make the playoffs after winning 100 games in 2022.

The Mets are entering a very important offseason and should be busy throughout the winter. The first task for Stearns is to find the team's next manager after it dismissed Buck Showalter after two seasons. Then he'll have to deal with retooling the roster in order to become a contender in 2024.

The Mets have shown they are never shy of spending money, but there are some murmurs that New York might restrain from dishing out crazy contracts after retaining a lot of money from traded contracts. That includes Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander who were supposed to be the aces of the staff before being dealt at the deadline last summer.

David Stearns is seen as a home run hire for the Mets. Pete Alonso may very well be the face of the franchise. One of his first moves can't be trading him away.