Hey, Anonymous Mets Player: Shut Up

by James Kannengieser on Mar 31, 2010 9:00 AM EDT

As if we needed any more evidence that listening to players' thoughts on roster management is a silly endeavor, today Mike Puma at the New York Post stirs up some classic Post controversy with this bit of reporting about Jose Reyes:

One Mets player told The Post there is a prevailing feeling in the clubhouse that the shortstop is being "babied" because the organization fears a potential public relations hit should the shortstop reinjure his hamstring.

"It’s kind of silly," the player said. "You play the game. You can get hurt as easily playing [a minor league exhibition] as playing on Opening Day."

For all the talk of the revitalized clubhouse atmosphere, courtesy of Messrs. Francoeur and Bay, this kind of nonsense is disturbing. I thought everyone was on the same page this year, watching hockey games, playing golf and having one another's back. Apparently not. Questioning the team's admirable handling of the Jose Reyes situation (this spring training, at least) is to be expected of the various old-school tabloid sensationalists in this town -- not of one of Reyes's teammates.

Perhaps the Mets are worried about Reyes prematurely returning from his 2 1/2 weeks of inactivity and re-aggravating an injury due to being out of game shape, and not simply the "public relations hit" they would endure? If a person takes a 2 1/2 week break from training for a marathon, he doesn't immediately pick up right where he left off. Easing back into the routine is the right move, to protect against injury. The same is true here -- conservatism is the prudent policy. The sentiment that he can get hurt in any game is also true. However, in Reyes's comeback game yesterday, there were restrictions on his exertion level, as he was instructed to sprint only to first base (he hit a double yesterday, running hard to first base but jogging lightly into second base). He is less likely to sustain injury in an exhibition than on Opening Day, in a game that actually counts.

The Mets can't win. Last season, there was criticism that Reyes was pushed to hard to return. Now some anonymous fool is complaining that Reyes isn't being pushed hard enough. I won't throw out a guess as to the identity of said fool, but if it's someone from the 2009 Mets (who had a firsthand look at the team's injury issues), well, let's just say that I don't particularly care to listen to anything the fool has to say. Put me in Reyes's shoes right now and I'd be a pretty ornery individual.

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Comments

assuming there actually was one

the post? not sure it’s the colossus for journalistic ethics.

maybe the jubilee!

budumching

by firejerrymanuel on Mar 31, 2010 9:04 AM EDT reply actions 3 recs

This.

rec’d.

No respectable fish would ever be caught wrapped in the Post.

Oh, the butcher and the baker and the people on the street: wheredotheygo?!?!?

by CharlieH on Mar 31, 2010 9:15 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

my money is on GMJr being the source

or somebody else similarly unfamiliar with how guarded they should be with their words with the NY press.

by KeithsMoustache on Mar 31, 2010 9:08 AM EDT reply actions

That's a great guess for a few reasons

1. Possibly a player “competing” for a job, unhappy that he is busting his tail while a starter isn’t being rushed to play
2. Unfamiliar with NY media, like you said
3. Wasn’t on the team last year

by James Kannengieser on Mar 31, 2010 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions

yup

and he’s got a history of whining when he doesn’t get a starting position from what i’ve read.

by KeithsMoustache on Mar 31, 2010 9:18 AM EDT up reply actions

yeah, makes sense. Good work, Holmes

Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he’s the one.

"It’s just everytime we think the bar can’t get lower, they lower it. Now next year we’ll just be happy to hear that rogue shirtless officials aren’t implementing useless detrimental drills in spring training for no apparent reason."

-Gina, 3/1/10

by Greenpoint Ian on Mar 31, 2010 9:35 AM EDT up reply actions

agreed

I could see one of the infinite mediocre catchers as a possibility, too, or Catalanotto or another fringey veteran invitee, but Matthews has to be the odds-on favorite.

by anonymous on Mar 31, 2010 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions

that which we cannot speak of

we must pass over in silence

by firejerrymanuel on Mar 31, 2010 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

That's who I was thinking, too.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 31, 2010 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions

too much coverage

that is the problem, players are constantly interviewed, twittered, facebooked and all. They just talk, and then 1 line from a conversation is taken as fact. and many times out of contexted, there could be a 15 minute conversation, and this one line was an answer to a poorly worded question. Do we really need to know what these guys are saying every moment of the day.

by Rickfansince76 on Mar 31, 2010 9:21 AM EDT reply actions

I agree. This is why, for instance, the White House Press Secretary rarely gives more information than he or she wants publicly available. Anyone whose words are so closely scrutinized and dissected should learn quickly to say only what they mean, for casual, off-hand remarks get cycled through the news mill and blown out of porportion. The problem worsens in the 24-hour news cycle on cable and online.

by TheLetter2 on Mar 31, 2010 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions

I learned that on The West Wing, so it must be true.

In lobby campaign for Chris Carter.

by Michkin on Mar 31, 2010 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions

For the sake of your own sanity

Ignore this story. Close down this post. (I’m only half-kidding.)

It can lead to nothing but frustration.

Rejoice in the fact that the Mets are handling Reyes exactly right, and leave it at that.

"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin

by dcrockett17 on Mar 31, 2010 10:43 AM EDT reply actions 3 recs

rec'd

this is wisdom.

by Pack Bringley on Mar 31, 2010 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Rec'd

This also applies to a lot of the links on FanShots (no offense to the posters).

"I've been trying transcendental meditation, and that helps me be passive and wait on the curve. I've got to find something else to hit the slider." - George (The Stork) Theodore

"Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger, sometimes you're the ball." - Dire Straits, "The Bug"

by StorkFan on Mar 31, 2010 11:55 PM EDT up reply actions

1. it's clearly cora

he would have made a cast for his thyroid. and 2. I don’t think he’s calling out Reyes as much as he’s calling out the organization

"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'

it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.

by Gina on Mar 31, 2010 10:57 AM EDT reply actions

Right, on #2

But I still wouldn’t be pleased to hear this if I were Jose.

by James Kannengieser on Mar 31, 2010 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions

The Post is just trying to provoke him so they can run the headline

THYROID RAGE

by Pack Bringley on Mar 31, 2010 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions 5 recs

Haha, nice

by James Kannengieser on Mar 31, 2010 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Hee.

by LeiterMilnerFasterStronger on Mar 31, 2010 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Haha, rec'd

"Wait till Biggus Dickus hears about this!"

by scott from peekskill on Mar 31, 2010 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Also I know this was a problem with the steelers and big ben's concussion

and a lot of nfl teams and concussion, players don’t understand the seriousness of things like thyroids/concussions, basically anything that’s not physically injured or visible, because the other players seem perfectly fine to them and because old school philosophy was to just play through it unless it was just physically impossible, so they don’t understand what the point of the precautions are.

"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'

it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.

by Gina on Mar 31, 2010 11:00 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah, the "controversy" surrounding Ben's concussion was absurd.

"Seriously, Lana, call Kenny Loggins ‘cause you’re in the danger zone."

by keithprime on Mar 31, 2010 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions

I was just about to ask whether Hines Ward had been seen in the Mets clubhouse lately.

Perhaps today IS a good day to die.
- Klingon proverb

by Thomas Wachtel on Mar 31, 2010 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions

There is an easy solution to this problem:

Bring back Tony B. to lay the smack down in that clubhouse! Tony would find out who the anonymous player is and then manwrestle him into submission.

by RedRobot8 on Mar 31, 2010 11:09 AM EDT reply actions

Tony B would agree with the anonymous player

and would tagteam with him to take down reyes

by gbaked on Mar 31, 2010 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions

The anonymous player must be Nick Evans

Nobody in Port St. Lucie knows who he is, so they couldn’t put a name to him if they wanted to.

Who cares how bad the Bay deal will look in 2013, the world is going to end in 2012 anyway

by Stephen Schmidt on Mar 31, 2010 11:49 AM EDT reply actions

Anonymous my A##

Anytime I read a quote from an “anonymous player” I just think that it’s the author of the article putting HIS opinion into someone else’s mouth so that he/she doesn’t have to take the heat later.

I never believe “anonymous” sources…

by Joshuah on Mar 31, 2010 12:22 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

I tried putting down "anonymous source" on one of my term papers

I got an anonymous D as my grade.

"Wait till Biggus Dickus hears about this!"

by scott from peekskill on Mar 31, 2010 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah, me either

…waitaminute.

by anonymous on Mar 31, 2010 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions

RE: Player Smarts

Um… we are talking about a group wherein doing crossword puzzles and speaking extemporaneously and coherently marks you as a f*cking genius.

by LeiterMilnerFasterStronger on Mar 31, 2010 12:22 PM EDT reply actions

I don't believe this for a second.

As someone above me noted, this is probably a writer placing his opinion in the article and sticking the “anonymous player” tag to it. All this junk will do is gonna ring up the call-in shows as usual. James called them fools, I’ll use this Daunte Culpepper quote:
“I have found over the years that ‘people with knowledge of the situation’ are usually the most ignorant, and ‘anonymous sources’ are usually synonymous with cowards who don’t want to go on the record.”

by Brian. on Mar 31, 2010 1:03 PM EDT reply actions

This is awesome.

The one time the Mets handle an injury issue anywhere in the neighborhood of properly, and now we have players popping off about it. Great.

Perhaps today IS a good day to die.
- Klingon proverb

by Thomas Wachtel on Mar 31, 2010 1:20 PM EDT reply actions

Some of the comments for that article are classics:

Johnny says: "This is because he has produced nothing in 3 years for the team. They need to get this glass figurine to post a few numbers on the board and then trade him as soon as possible on whatever percieved potential he still has left in the league. They should have traded him when he was healthy two years ago but Manuel was convinced 2009 was going to be his “breakout” season."

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 31, 2010 3:34 PM EDT reply actions

yeah it's amazing how many fans

really think Jose is useless.

"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'

it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.

by Gina on Mar 31, 2010 3:46 PM EDT up reply actions

What's really amazing is how many people are so weak minded that their thinking can be so easily influenced by the media.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 31, 2010 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow.

by SuperT on Mar 31, 2010 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm pretty sure 2006 was his breakout year

followed by two more breakout years. Sports fans are dumb.

by Evan_S on Mar 31, 2010 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions

I tried to warn you Brooklyn...

"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin

by dcrockett17 on Mar 31, 2010 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions

And you know what the worst part is

while I’m certain Omar isn’t dumb enough to believe this, I also have almost no doubt in my mind that Jeff is. If he’s really pulling the strings and/or he fires Omar and hires a yesman I’d be really worried about them choosing not to retain Reyes.

"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'

it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.

by Gina on Mar 31, 2010 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Could somebody tell Bobby Bonilla

that just because he is on the payroll for another 25 years, doesn’t mean he can have a say in team matters.

by Steve Schreiber on Mar 31, 2010 6:23 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

That's poor, Jose Reyes.

That’s poor.

"I've been trying transcendental meditation, and that helps me be passive and wait on the curve. I've got to find something else to hit the slider." - George (The Stork) Theodore

"Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger, sometimes you're the ball." - Dire Straits, "The Bug"

by StorkFan on Mar 31, 2010 11:50 PM EDT reply actions