This Week in Mets Quotes: Manaea on the coolest, most magical run; Vientos is ready for next year

Lots of interesting, funny, idiotic, and insightful things were said by the Mets—and about them—recently. Here are some of our favorites.

Your 2024 New York Mets: We didn’t want to lose.

“We didn’t want to lose. We wanted to keep going, we wanted to win the World Series. That was the plan. It sucks.” -Mark Vientos [New York Times]

“No one envisioned it ending.” -Jesse Winker [New York Times]

“I’m just super proud of everything we accomplished, everyone here. There’s nobody else I’d do it with. These boys grinded, the whole year. It’s sports. It just is what it is.” -Sean Manaea [New York Times] [As an aside, during a Mets Kids Club event, Sean Manaea led the kids with pre-game stretches and asked if they had any questions. My 6 year old, who didn’t really know who Sean Manaea was, asked ‘Do you know Pete Alonso?’ and Manaea laughed saying ‘Yes, [he] knows Pete Alonso, and that he’s a really good player’. For the rest of the season, during a Manaea start, my 6 and 4 year old would point to the TV and say that’s the guy who played with us. Just a mensch.]

“It sucks not winning the last game of the year. It doesn’t feel good, especially when you know you’ve got a good team. We did a lot of special things as a group and just came up short.” -Ryne Stanek [New York Times]

“I wouldn’t say we ran out of gas. I would say we left it all out there. We definitely didn’t leave any stone unturned. We grinded our asses off and did as much as we possibly could.” -Ryne Stanek [New York Times]

“Shit, man, look where we came from. Look at the journey we’ve been on. This is not something to hang our heads about.” -J.D. Martinez [New York Times]

“You have this strange mix of guys that came together, bonded together, experienced so much. You can look at every guy in this locker room and they did something to contribute to help get us here.” -Pete Alonso [New York Times]

“The chemistry was very tight. We loved each other and were pushing for one another. Every day I showed up to the ballpark it was fun.” -Mark Vientos [New York Times]

“We’re all brothers in here. That was one of the coolest, most magical runs I’ve ever been a part of.” -Sean Manaea [New York Times]

“It was an amazing roller coaster.” -Francisco Lindor [New York Times]

“You never know with this stuff. You don’t want to think, ‘Oh, well, there’s always next year.’ Because I think you should try and take advantage of the opportunities you have in front of you. And you don’t know when the next one is going to come.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Times]

“Honestly, I haven’t thought of anything that far. I mean, I love this team. I love this organization. This fan base has treated not just myself but my family so, so well. Right now, I am just thinking of the group. We’ll see what happens. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. But I love New York. I love this team. This group is really special. The memories we created together are just, wow.” -Pete Alonso [New York Times]

“Pete has done so much for this organization, right from the get-go. He means a lot to the fan base and to this team. We’d love to see him back here. But also going through that process, I understand it’s a business. He will end up doing what’s best for him and his family. He’s earned the right to get this point, there’s no question about that. But I think this October has definitely topped it off. He came through in clutch situations. He was just vintage Polar Bear Pete. I think Mets fans will remember that fondly regardless. But we will see what happens this offseason.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Times]

“This is all I’ve known. It’s been a blessing and an honor. I can’t thank everyone enough for not just the past six years but all the people who helped get me to the big leagues in the minor league system. There’s so many coaches, teammates that I’ve had that have helped get me to this point. Over the past nine years, this is all I’ve known. I’ve loved every second of it.” -Pete Alonso [New York Times]

“Now we raised the bar. This is what we should strive for every year, to be playing deep into October.” -Carlos Mendoza [New York Times]

“I really think that this is kind of the jumping-off point. We want to set this as a standard now. But it’s hard to get here. There’s no surprising people. People are going to be a little more wary of us next year to start things off.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Times]

“The organization got better, for sure. (But) nothing is promised in this game. I am sure they are going to put an extremely high amount of energy and effort into the offseason to continue to make the organization better. So should the players. The players should continue to work as hard as they can, including myself.” -Francisco Lindor [New York Times]

“It’s going to be good to have some stability. We know the core, we know the front office, we know who’s in charge, we know what kinds of standards we are setting now.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Times]

“We’ve got financial flexibility. It means pretty much the entirety of the player universe is potentially accessible to us. That’s an enormous opportunity. I envision us taking advantage of that opportunity and being aggressive in certain spaces.” -David Stearns [New York Times]

“My job and our job is to put teams together that are going to win going forward. We’ll do our best to put a team together that allows us to compete next year and for years to come.” -David Stearns [New York Times]

“We also have to recognize that we want to set up our organizational pattern so that we can invest in free agency, invest where we think we need to complement the club on an annual basis. We’re not going to do anything that hamstrings us in future years and prevents us from continually adding to and supplementing our core group.” -David Stearns [New York Times]

“I’m just ready for next year. I’m ready to get back to work.” -Mark Vientos [New York Times]