48 hours after Javier Baez admitted that a "thumbs down" gesture among he and his Mets' teammates was directed at the fans for booing them, Baez and Francisco Lindor publicly apologized -- even though it felt half-assed.
Lindor struggled to find a way to spin reasons why the thumbs down was used as a target for the fans, stuttering and pausing to explain that the thumbs down to him resembles the "adversity" the team has gone through this year.
As for Baez all he said was he "didn't mean to offend anyone."
Too late bud.
What's worse was the tone-deaf response from manager Luis Rojas and owner Steve Cohen. Rojas said that the matter was handled in house, players are being held "accountable," adding that it was a "teachable moment" the exact "kick the can down the road" words Cohen used to describe the situation when pressed by the New York Post the other day.
To make matters worse, Cohen -- who has become synonymous for issuing tone-deaf Tweets like they are going out of style, implored fans to get behind the players.
"Glad to hear our players apologizing to the fan. Let's get behind our players today and go out and win two today!"
How inspiring Steve! Seriously, this is the same guy they based the Bobby Axelrod character off of when they wrote "Billions"? Really?
Cohen has come off as a totally out of touch buffoon with his latest missive, acting more like school teacher in the playground than an owner of a billion dollar baseball franchise, who should be furious that his players basically waved the middle finger at his customers.
If anyone believes the Mets are sorry for what they did, I got a stack of Lindor jersey's to sell you.
Lindor and Baez aren't sorry they insulted the fans, they are sorry they got caught in their own stupidity. Sorry that their little game inside the clubhouse got exposed. Maybe letting Baez in about about how much the players hate the fans was a bad idea, otherwise nobody would know what the hell was going on out there.
Let's face it, this has been an issue that has been brewing in the Mets clubhouse for some time. Earlier in the year Lindor expressed how much he hated getting booed, and has even hinted at how disturbed he is that struggling outfielder Michael Conforto would hear it from the fans.
The problem is the Mets seems more worried about what the fans think of them than what is going on between the lines. That is a huge issue that goes beyond the stats sheet.
There is a lack of leadership in the Mets organization. It seeps from the top on down. From Steve Cohen to Sandy Alderson and Zack Scott to Rojas -- who has done more damage to his reputation by pleading ignorance on all controversial matters.
Remember this is a organization that in the last eight months hired a GM, Jared Porter, who was accused of sexual assault before firing him, and was more than willing to toss $400-plus million at Trevor Bauer before he went to the Dodgers instead, who was also accused of sexual assualt.
This is also the same organization that decided it was not worth going for it when they were four games ahead in the NL East, instead trading for a 41-year old slow ball pitcher in Rich Hill and of course sending a former first round pick to the Cubs for Baez. Oh, and they also screwed up the Jacob deGrom injury on a regular basis.
Now we have this disaster on the heels of the Mets 8-19 record in the month of August.
And this is a disaster, don't let anyone tell you different. The damage is done.
If the Mets are smart, and if Javier Baez is smart, neither side even thinks about talking extension and Baez walks away at the end of the year. As for Lindor, he is stuck here for the next decade. He is getting paid $341 million, or $32 million a year. He needs to play out of his mind from here on out if he wants to fans to forgive him for his idiocy. Otherwise he will continue to hear it.
Maybe Lindor should have realized that he was too thin skinned for New York, and not signed that mega deal in March. Guess, the ravioli with Steve Cohen wasn't the problem.
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