In baseball, sometimes fortune is more important than loyalty. Rick Kranitz, the pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves who helped them win the World Series in 2021, learned this hard lesson when the team fired him and hired Jeremy Hefner, a coach they got from the Mets.

Kranitz’s time with the Braves came to an end after he had been in charge of the team’s pitching development since 2019. He helped the Braves stay competitive by being one of the top 10 MLB teams in ERA for four of his seven seasons. But when a familiar opportunity came up, the group’s calculations changed.

According to Mark Bowman, “The Braves were planning to bring Rick Kranitz back until they gained the chance to add one of the game’s best young pitching minds.” In Hefner’s six seasons with the Mets, he gave the team the sixth-best ERA in the National League (4.02) and helped develop All-Star caliber pitchers, which made him one of baseball’s best pitching architects.

When Walt Weiss became the new manager and the Mets unexpectedly let Hefner go on October 3, the Braves took advantage right away. They announced on Wednesday that Hefner would take Kranitz’s place as pitching coach and Richardson would take Goodwin’s place as first-base coach.

Meanwhile, Fredi Gonzalez, the coach at third base, would not be back, either. Reportedly, he would be replaced with someone who can deal with the team’s infield defense.

Bowman further observed that “The Mets’ loss of Jeremy Hefner and Antoan Richardson should be Atlanta’s gain.”

Richardson ran the Mets’ baserunning program in 2025, and it had an 89.1 percent success rate for stealing bases. This was 7% points higher than any other MLB team, showing that he knew how to make the most of a basic competitive edge.

When Richardson talked about his departure, he admitted to a basic business reason.

“During the negotiation process, we weren’t fully aligned on how we viewed my value,” he stated, suggesting that the split was caused more by salary talks than by performance issues. The timing is especially bad for Mets fans because it happened just days after New York hired Troy Snitker, Brian Snitker’s son, as hitting coach.

The Braves had a 4.36 ERA this season, which put them in the bottom third of the league. This made their aggressive pursuit of coaches from division rivals even more surprising.

Mets face Pete Alonso contract battle as the coaching staff crumbles

The front office’s choices to cut costs by giving up Hefner and Richardson while trying to keep proven talent show that the organization is under a lot of stress, not just the coaching staff. And now, the New York Mets have to deal with their most important issue: keeping Pete Alonso, the team’s cornerstone player, at first base.

Alonso’s 2025 production shows how important he is.

The slugger hit 38 home runs, drove in 126 runs (second in baseball), and had a career-high .272 average, which makes him one of the best power hitters in baseball.

According to Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer, “This partnership has been going for seven years, and there’s no good reason for it to stop now,” predicting a six-year, $150 million contract extension.

Rymer further noted, “The Mets still need Alonso’s right-handed power at first base, and the team can add roughly $100 million in average salary and still not trigger the 2026 luxury tax.” These figures reflect the mathematical feasibility of retaining their franchise centerpiece without destabilizing payroll.

Negotiations have been contentious, with initial talks indicating that Alonso wanted seven years, but five or six years is more realistic. The Mets have enough money to sign him. And Alonso’s production trajectory justifies the investment, as well: his combination of power and run production meets New York’s offensive needs as they rebuild around proven players.