This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo¡¯s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Pete Alonso¡¯s free-agent decision will have clear and obvious ramifications on the Mets. You knew that already. Regardless of your opinion on Alonso¡¯s salary demands, it¡¯s hard to argue that adding him to the roster wouldn¡¯t make the team better.

For Alonso, however, this decision is about more than PECOTA projections. It¡¯s about legacy. Money earned is one thing. Time spent in a team¡¯s uniform is quite another, adding the weight of history to Alonso¡¯s choice. Stick around, Pete, and have an excellent chance to become an all-time Met.

Leave, and things quickly begin to look much, much different.

The Mets¡¯ history is littered with players who spent significant portions of their careers elsewhere. The quintessential example, Tom Seaver, was traded to Cincinnati in one of the most ignominious events in team history -- The Franchise leaving the franchise. But he was hardly the only one. Jon Matlack played nearly half his career in Texas, decades before Jacob deGrom decided to head there as well. Keith Hernandez won an MVP with the Cardinals. Gary Carter gave most of his production to the Expos. Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry both moved on before they turned 30, with Strawberry calling his decision to depart the biggest regret of his playing career.

¡°I just hope he doesn¡¯t leave,¡± Strawberry said of Alonso last year, ¡°because I ended up personally with a belly full of regrets. There¡¯s nothing like playing in New York.¡±

It¡¯s rare for a player to enter free agency on this type of platform. Currently, Alonso ranks third in franchise history in home runs -- just 26 behind Strawberry. If he stays in Queens, he¡¯ll not only have a chance to become the Mets¡¯ all-time home run king, oh, sometime this August, but he might push that record high enough to retain the title for decades to come. Alonso similarly ranks sixth in Mets history in RBIs, 12th in runs scored, 19th in hits, 20th in doubles, 21st in WAR, and so on and so forth. If he sticks around and stays even reasonably healthy, he¡¯ll approach rarified air in all those statistical columns.

No matter what happens, Alonso will always be one of the finest Mets of a specific era. Re-signing would give him a chance to become one of the greatest of any era. This is a franchise featuring few position-player idols outside of David Wright ¡­ and it¡¯s worth noting that a significant portion of Wright¡¯s popularity is linked to the fact that he spent his entire career in Flushing. It hardly mattered that Wright hit just 38 homers after signing his long-term deal.

What mattered is Wright stayed. He chose Queens, turning down the potential for more money elsewhere.

¡°Being a Met for life just meant more to me than [being] a mercenary-type player,¡± Wright said last month.

The only other reasonable Mets comp is Brandon Nimmo, who made a similar decision two offseasons ago (albeit after hitting the open market). If Nimmo continues riding his current career trajectory, he¡¯ll one day have his number retired alongside Wright¡¯s at Citi Field. At the ceremony, they won¡¯t mention his career earnings.

Apologies if that sounds a bit preachy. Do not consider this essay any sort of sales pitch; its intention is not to plead or prod. Life in Queens would certainly go on without Alonso. Likewise, Alonso is a human being with his own desires and values. As teammate Francisco Lindor put it last weekend, he should ¡°make the best decision for him and his family.¡±

In Lindor¡¯s estimation, Alonso should ¡°maximize¡± -- an apparent euphemism for making as much money as possible with what leverage he has. But there is another way to maximize: by reuniting with a fan base that adores him.

¡°I just hope that he reaches a point, and they reach a point as an organization, where they come together and keep him there,¡± was how Strawberry put it. ¡°Let him be the player that he has been. Let him break all the records.¡±

Over the past two years, public sentiment has turned significantly -- but not completely -- against Alonso. Owner Steve Cohen¡¯s recent condemnation of the negotiations created a sense of ambivalence within the fan base. Many folks are ready to move on.

Yet, Alonso can still change that with a simple phone call, a few strokes of a pen and, yes, a slight swallowing of pride. Few players get the opportunity to become such an integral part of a franchise¡¯s history, to have their number retired, to enter a team Hall of Fame, to return to their old stomping grounds late in life and still be treated as royalty. Re-signing wouldn¡¯t guarantee any of that for Alonso, but it would open such doors of possibility. It would certainly do more for his legacy than a few extra million dollars.

And yet -- a reunion hasn¡¯t happened yet. Perhaps that will change over the next week or two. Perhaps it won¡¯t.

In Queens, at least, the local perception of Alonso will forever hinge upon what he decides.