OT: MLB Thread XLV

[nyr2k2]

"The Mets clearly exacerbated this. They can claim different. But the truth is there was a genuine public concern percolating about Cespedes’ well-being. As Van Wagenen himself said, “Baseball has suffered some tragedies” and you can take that all the way back to Eddie Waitkus getting shot in his hotel in 1949, a story much more familiar when his name was later changed in the book and the movie to Roy Hobbs.

Clearly they had an idea of why the player was AWOL Sunday morning. There was no good reason to speculate about what had happened to him until they knew what happened to him. It was a perplexing choice and a bizarre turn in what is already a 10-game baseball season plucked out of the imagination of Stephen King."

Mets’ dysfunction made Yoenis Cespedes drama much worse

Vaccaro hit the nail on the head. There was one Mets reporter there--Mike Puma--who isn't even allowed in the clubhouse. He wouldn't have known about Cespedes until afterwards. No one knew there was any issue with Cespedes, publicly, until the Mets issued their vague public statement that they lost their player. And then they had to clarify it, since people were worried, as their initial statement was rushed and apparently couldn't conclusively say that Cespedes was actually fine. Brodie, who I always defend, apparently felt it necessary to be transparent and "real time" about something people would have otherwise not known about until it was resolved later.

And, as I figured, of course there was actual discord. Not over OF vs DH but simply

Stupid manufactured Mets drama. Whatever. Don't blame you, Yo.

 

[Machinehead]

Devers doing what he does best and only hitting against the Yankees.

 

[Machinehead]

"The Mets clearly exacerbated this. They can claim different. But the truth is there was a genuine public concern percolating about Cespedes’ well-being. As Van Wagenen himself said, “Baseball has suffered some tragedies” and you can take that all the way back to Eddie Waitkus getting shot in his hotel in 1949, a story much more familiar when his name was later changed in the book and the movie to Roy Hobbs.

Clearly they had an idea of why the player was AWOL Sunday morning. There was no good reason to speculate about what had happened to him until they knew what happened to him. It was a perplexing choice and a bizarre turn in what is already a 10-game baseball season plucked out of the imagination of Stephen King."

Mets’ dysfunction made Yoenis Cespedes drama much worse

Vaccaro hit the nail on the head. There was one Mets reporter there--Mike Puma--who isn't even allowed in the clubhouse. He wouldn't have known about Cespedes until afterwards. No one knew there was any issue with Cespedes, publicly, until the Mets issued their vague public statement that they lost their player. And then they had to clarify it, since people were worried, as their initial statement was rushed and apparently couldn't conclusively say that Cespedes was actually fine. Brodie, who I always defend, apparently felt it necessary to be transparent and "real time" about something people would have otherwise not known about until it was resolved later.

And, as I figured, of course there was actual discord. Not over OF vs DH but simply

Stupid manufactured Mets drama. Whatever. Don't blame you, Yo.

They should have just played the David Quinn card and said "he's uhhhhh unavailable."

 

[Machinehead]

f***ing fat ass Gary Sanchez with talent looking motherf***er

 

[LeetchisGod]

DJ must be re-signed. He just plays the game the right way.

 

[LeetchisGod]

All rise, mofos!

 

[NYR94]

Cespedes said goodbye to some teammates after Saturday's loss. And none of them bothered to tell anyone in a leadership position on the Mets that he bounced? Sounds fishy. Mets knew why he didn't show up.

 

[mrmovies779]

MVP Judge..has a nice ring to it

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

MVP Judge..has a nice ring to it

Should have happened already if not for a cheating midget.

 

[Machinehead]

Should have happened already if not for a cheating midget.

Unironically, there should be a height requirement on individual awards.

 

[Leetch3]

so this article says that cespedes was pissed about his playing time. he wasn't playing everyday and felt that the mets were trying to prevent him from getting enough at bats to earn his incentives (which I'm sure they were). apparently spoke to both rojas and brodie about it and then when he saw he wasn't in the lineup today he decided to opt out

https://nypost.com/2020/08/02/yoenis-cespedes-confronted-mets-about-playing-time-before-opting-out/

 

[Cassano]

Yankees look like the team to beat TBH. It sucks that the season may get cancelled at the rate it's going.

I wonder if this is how Expos fans felt leading up to the 95 strike.

 

[Irishguy42]

Judge on a revenge tour to show the world that the 2017 AL MVP was rightfully his (it was)

 

[nyr2k2]

Cespedes said goodbye to some teammates after Saturday's loss. And none of them bothered to tell anyone in a leadership position on the Mets that he bounced? Sounds fishy. Mets knew why he didn't show up.

so this article says that cespedes was pissed about his playing time. he wasn't playing everyday and felt that the mets were trying to prevent him from getting enough at bats to earn his incentives (which I'm sure they were). apparently spoke to both rojas and brodie about it and then when he saw he wasn't in the lineup today he decided to opt out

https://nypost.com/2020/08/02/yoenis-cespedes-confronted-mets-about-playing-time-before-opting-out/

I said from the get-go this was probably a dispute over something (I said maybe DH vs OF). Of course it was. It's now been reported he told certain players goodbye, teammates knew he was disgruntled, he was generally frustrated with the Mets, and he was specifically concerned the Mets would prevent him from getting playing time to hit his incentives. Taken together, and with the deterioration of things with regard to COVID, he probably just said, "f*** it, this isn't worth it for a couple extra million," and opted out.

Of course the Mets knew what was going on. If they didn't know with 100% certainty what was going on with him then apparently they sure as shit should have been able to figure it out. Either way, yet again they look like idiots.

I have been vocally supportive of BVW to this point, but he's losing me.

 

[BleedBlueNYR]

Red sux no match. SWEEEEEEP

 

[Cassano]

I said from the get-go this was probably a dispute over something (I said maybe DH vs OF). Of course it was. It's now been reported he told certain players goodbye, teammates knew he was disgruntled, he was generally frustrated with the Mets, and he was specifically concerned the Mets would prevent him from getting playing time to hit his incentives. Taken together, and with the deterioration of things with regard to COVID, he probably just said, "f*** it, this isn't worth it for a couple extra million," and opted out.

Of course the Mets knew what was going on. If they didn't know with 100% certainty what was going on with him then apparently they sure as shit should have been able to figure it out. Either way, yet again they look like idiots.

I have been vocally supportive of BVW to this point, but he's losing me.

I agree that it reflects more poorly on the Mets and it makes me sympathize for Cespedes.

 

[ThirdEye]

Yankees look like the team to beat TBH. It sucks that the season may get cancelled at the rate it's going.

I wonder if this is how Expos fans felt leading up to the 95 strike.

Still a little concerned about the all of nothing approach. And Gary Sanchez... doesn't appear that he's made any kind of adjustments at the plate. Starting pitching is still up in the air until we see some consistency from starters other than Cole or Tanaka. Montgomery looks promising at least

But yeah, who wouldn't take 7-1 right now.

 

[Crease]

 

[mrmovies779]

 

[Cassano]

You can't help but feel the league got robbed of Mookie vs. Judge to market for years to come.

Still very happy that Mookie is gone though.

 

[PanniniClaus]

I agree that it reflects more poorly on the Mets and it makes me sympathize for Cespedes.

You must hate the Mets to sympathize with someone with a grade 3 education that has bilked the team for millions of dollars and when the team decides they are not going to piss anymore money away on him... he up and quits. Fascinating. Grand theft to the highest degree . If i hated my team this much i would find a new team.

 

[Cassano]

You must hate the Mets to sympathize with someone with a grade 3 education that has bilked the team for millions of dollars and when the team decides they are not going to piss anymore money away on him... he up and quits. Fascinating. Grand theft to the highest degree . If i hated my team this much i would find a new team.

Or you can put that hateful energy towards your billionaire owners who are being deliberately cheap to prevent a player from reaching his bonuses.

 

[SA16]

Or you can put that hateful energy towards your billionaire owners who are being deliberately cheap to prevent a player from reaching his bonuses.

Why is not starting a player who is hitting .161/.235/.387 with 15 strikeouts in 31 at bats automatically seen as benching him to keep him from hitting his bonuses as opposed to simply not playing a player who has barely played in 3 years and is not performing?

 

[Leetch3]

Why is not starting a player who is hitting .161/.235/.387 with 15 strikeouts in 31 at bats automatically seen as benching him to keep him from hitting his bonuses as opposed to simply not playing a player who has barely played in 3 years and is not performing?

the wilpons haven't really earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to being cheap...the whole lineup stinks and if it was another owner no one would think it but its the wilpons. And i'm sure cespedes would argue that the fact that he was out so long is why they need to give him more time to find his game and he needs more at bats not less...

its also possible that cespedes saw how bad the team sucks and realized how little he is getting paid and was like yeah screw this

 

[nyr2k2]

the wilpons haven't really earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to being cheap...the whole lineup stinks and if it was another owner no one would think it but its the wilpons. And i'm sure cespedes would argue that the fact that he was out so long is why they need to give him more time to find his game and he needs more at bats not less...

its also possible that cespedes saw how bad the team sucks and realized how little he is getting paid and was like yeah screw this

I think the Mets would have had a pretty strong case to completely terminate Cespedes' contract. They didn't go that route, though.

I do not like them and think they're terrible owners. That said, it's not like they spend like the Athletics or something. They're usually top ten. They hand out big deals. The last two years they've used that 0-5% overage taxed dollar for dollar to sign all their picks. Not big things for sure but not like they're truly squeezing every single penny. And honestly before the Madoff thing they weren't afraid go throw money around--they made plenty of splashes.

Cespedes looked awful this year. Whether you think this was a Wilpons thing or not, he didn't exactly do anything to justify being in the lineup everyday, striking out in 50% of his ABs. I don't know, I actually would side with the team wanting to give him days off while he works his way back into it.

I think he was pissed in general, unhappy with how things unfolded, unhappy he had to accept a reduced salary, was probably concerned the team wasn't going out of its way to put him in a spot to earn his bonuses (which really, if he's not playing, they shouldn't go out of their way to do that; he created this situation), and then with the deterioration of COVID things and the Mets looking like garbage, he said f*** it, I'm done.

I think the Mets look bad from a PR perspective, as usual, even though they didn't do much that was actually wrong beyond not understanding how to talk to the fan base and baseball public. The rest is on Cespedes. He acted pretty lame, IMO.