Mar
9
2013

Inside The Mets’ Clubhouse; Past and Present

An article by John Delcos

tradition field spring Good Saturday morning. A little talk in the clubhouse about Team USA losing last night to Mexico. The operative word being “little.’’

I’ve only been here a few days, but trust me on this one, after doing 20 some Spring Trainings the days are usually all alike. We’re usually in the clubhouse by 7:45 in the morning, sometimes earlier depending on where the game is that day.

The first thing most players do is head straight to a corner wall where the lineup is posted. Most guys know the night before if they’ll be playing, but it is a force of habit for many.

The Mets’ clubhouse has changed over the years. Once shamed about not honoring their past, photos of Mets’ alumni are plastered over the walls. Tom Seaver, Ed Kranepool, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, Mookie Wilson and Jerry Koosman.

Always fun to look at.

At one time the clubhouse was divided by a row of lockers split down the middle. They are all gone now creating a wide-open space where everybody can see everybody else. It creates a different atmosphere similar to that at Citi Field. The idea is to foster closeness where the players actually have to see and talk with each other.

There are a couple of televisions attached to columns at each end. Under one, Ike Davis, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Justin Turner sit and eat breakfast at a small circle table. There’s a fourth chair, and every day there’s a new body.

The lockers are divided by position with the position players at one end and pitchers at another. There is no designated area for lefty relievers only.

Gone are the days when the Latin players dominated the clubhouse with their joking and music, led by pitchers Pedro Martinez, Geremi Gonzalez and Jose Lima, while the American, and yes – caucasian players – often congregated in clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels’ office.

Samuels, you might remember, is gone after stealing thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia and gambling. He is not a pleasant topic of conversation.

Perhaps it was the chemistry of the personalities at the time – Lima was very loud – but there was a definite divide hard not to notice. Especially noticeable was the difference in how Martinez and Tom Glavine were treated. There seemed a preference for Martinez, although both could end up in Cooperstown.

It was definitely an uncomfortable setting despite the Mets’ honest efforts to embrace their Latin players.

It’s more integrated and comfortable this way. Rarely do you see guys with their heads buried in their lockers wearing headphones listening to music or playing video games. There is no divide and both sides play and hangout as one unit – one team.

The wide-open space is like an aquarium for the reporters.

In an aquarium you see the fish drift from spot to spot, nibble and move on. It’s that way for us. We drift to a player, talk awhile and go onto the next. Reporters working on a feature will naturally stay longer.

There’s an unwritten rule or sign of respect when another reporter is one-on-one with a player to stay away until he or she is done conversing. When two reporters from competing papers are around a player, then it is all right to join in.

Only when there is an obvious story, like a player coming off an injury, do we go en masse to that locker. Swarm, if you will.

One of the Houston writers just entered the press-room and I asked him what was new. His response was: “The Astros … all of them.’’

The players are now stretching or hitting in the cages.

METS NOTES:

Jeremy Hefner, the first in line if Johan Santana opens the season on the disabled list will start today. Also scheduled are Brandon Lyon, Darin Gorski, Jeurys Familia, Bobby Parnell and Robert Carson. … Parnell will be working in back-to-back games for the first time. … Lucas Duda, who is struggling so far this spring, took extra hitting in the cage. … Travis d’Arnaud said he’s fine after taking a pitch on the elbow yesterday. … The Mets sent pitchers Cory Mazzoni and Rafael Montero, and catcher Juan Centeno to the minor league camp. … Nieuwenhuis is still day-to-day with a bruised left knee.

Here’s today’s lineup:

Marlon Byrd, RF
Justin Turner, 2B
Ike Davis, 1B
Lucas Duda, LF
John Buck, C
Matt den Dekker, CF
Anthony Recker, DH
Ruben Tejada, SS
Wilmer Flores, 3B

RHP Jeremy Hefner is starting.

Mets Country

About the Author: John Delcos

I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.

8 Comments + Add Comment

Matt Balasis March 9, 2013 at 12:53 pm

I remember in 2007 and 2008 when there was a lot of tension in the clubhouse because there was a perception among some of the white players (Loduca and Wagner and a few others) that some Latin players were hiding behind an exaggerated “language barrier” to avoid the media — the prime suspect was Castillo, whose English really wasn’t that bad. I understand there’s been a push by MLB to provide more translators, even allowing them to visit the mound with the manager but I wonder if that’s something we’ll see more during the regular season. Are translators made available in less structured media interactions like the one described above? Is there a player’s lounge where the Media are not allowed? How is contact with the players regulated on the field and around the batting cages? I love these “behind the scenes” reports.

Ultimately I wonder if clubhouse chemistry even matters. There have been some pretty successful teams over the years who absolutely hated each other — even the 86 Mets had their share of quarrels and blow ups.
- Metsie March 9, 2013 at 2:15 pm
  
  Chemistry is another of those Chicken and Egg questions….
  
  They say you need Chemistry to win…
  But no one ever seems to have chemistry UNTIL they have won if you notice..
  
  There are teams who might have great chemistry but don’t win…
  And then there are teams who can’t stand each other and do…
  
  Chemistry to mee has little to do with how much they like each other and more to do with how they complement each other performance wise….
  - Matt Balasis March 9, 2013 at 2:52 pm
    
    Here’s an interesting topic for discussion, the tightest most cohesive units I’ve ever been part of invariably had one thing in common … abject hatred towards our Commanders/Management … we became closer as a result of the adversity of dealing with these unreasonably demanding, hard nosed, unforgiving persons in charge … it wasn’t pleasant at the time, but looking back those were technically some of the finest units I’ve ever been a part of. Was it the high demands of those in charge that made us so effective? Or was it our cohesiveness which was born from an “us against them” dynamic? Or was it a little of both? Whichever, it is abundantly clear to me that Alderson has very much imposed this sort of overbearing top down approach. He’s been cold and ruthless in his willingness to cut ties, has employed cutting wit in reflecting on his players during dealings with with the press, and he’s made it clear that his financial parameters are set in stone having clearly instituted a system whereby pricey veterans routinely get pushed towards the chopping block … retaining (to date) only one such veteran (Wright). I don’t think his players like him, I think they may even fear him a little … and I wonder if that’s such a bad thing?
    - Metsie March 9, 2013 at 3:29 pm
      
      There can be no US until you have first identified a THEM…..
      
      In the 80′s THEM was the Cardinals…Even when the Mets were playing the Pirates they were actually playing against the Cardinals!
      
      If you want everyone to bind together you first have to find a common enemy.
      
      All it takes is one!
      
      I’m not sure they think of Alderson as the enemy yet…Perhaps… but too many guys are here because of what Sandy did….
      Perhaps if it exists it will show itself sometime during this season…
      Terry is fighting for a job and will be under heavy scrutiny.
      Perhaps they rally around Terry and cite the FO as the enemy and play to get Terry an extention.
      
      But that only happens if Terry turns on Management and how can he do that without trashing the same players he needs to rally around him? So I don’t think it happens….
      
      Last season when they played up the UNDERDOG and the media was saying NO CHANCE they played some pretty damn good baseball!
      Then when the stories in the press started taking notice of that they lost the ENEMY they were trying to defeat and tanked the rest of the way….
      
      The best example was in the movie Major Leagues….
      They hated the owner and thats who the enemy was….
      I don’t see that here though…
    - ray sadecki March 9, 2013 at 3:30 pm
      
      good cases to your point come from the 70′s A’s Dyanasty who all shared a common hatred for owner Charlie O finley. Another is the bronx zoo yankees what hated steinbrenner
Seligman March 9, 2013 at 1:31 pm

Well, I have to say this is something you would never find on other Mets site including their flagship Metsblog. This is something that can only come from years of access and experience and I enjoyed the insight into what it’s like to cover the Mets beat. Thanks for sharing..
Joey D. March 9, 2013 at 5:26 pm

Hi John,

I remember the friction that came out in the open during 2007 but I wonder if that had to do more with the Mets disappointment in 2006 and the frustration of not being that same caliber-type team the following season that was aging quickly and could just run away with things.

I remember when Sean Green was acquired he remarked how those around the league knew how tight the Met clubhouse was in which case even though there was a dominating Hispanic presence it didn’t seem to matter.

Perhaps it’s just that bitterness that brings out the worst of people. The Mets were used to everything previously coming so easily and for one year being by far the dominant team in the league playing in front of the biggest sports market in America. Perhaps that caused all that cohesiveness we were led to believe existed in 2006 fall so far apart in 2007. That’s often what happens when performance stops matching uninhibited “swagger”.
METS62FAN March 10, 2013 at 11:43 am

PERHAPS BECAUSE I’M 1H SLEEP DEPRIVED, I AWOKE THIS MORING YEARNING TO COMPARE WHAT I PERCEIVE AS OUR FIRST IMPORTANT OPOST-MERCENARY ACE INFLUENCED ROTATION AS THE 2015 ROTATION I ENVISION AS BEING…
HARVEY
WHEELER
NIESE
SYNDERGAARD
GEE
AS COMPARED WITH BOTH NYM WORLD SERIES CHAMPION ROTATIONS OF 69′s
SEAVER
KOOSMAN
GENTRY
McANDREW
TAYLOR
AND THOSE FROM ’86″
GOODEN
OJEDA
DARLING
FERNANDEZ
AGUILERA
NOT SUPRISINGLY THE 2015 CONTINGENT IS MUCH LARGER PHYSICALLY WITH 4 STANDING EQUALLY @ 6’4″ & ONE @ 6’5″ RANGING FROM 185# TO 225# WITH AN AVERAGE AGE OF 26.4 YRS OLD.
QUITE REMARKABLY THE EXACT SAME AVERAGE AGE AS THE MUCH MORE DIMINUTIVE 69ers AS BOTH ROTATIONS WERE A TAD OLDER THAN IN 86 WHOSE AVG AGE WAS A MERE 25.2 YRS OLD
THE TALLEST SP IN ’86 WAS AGILERA @ 6’5″ SAME AS SYNDERGAARD’S TOPPING HIS ’15 MATES WHILE THE STILL DEVELOPING YOUNGER SYNDERGAARD WEIGHS IN @ 200# EVEN, A MERE 5# LESS THAN AGILERA’S FIGHTIN’ SCALE TURN @ 205#. WHILE THE 69ers WERE TOPPED BY KOOSMAN’S MERELY HUMAN HEIGHT OF 6’2″ AS HIS SVELT 208# OUT TIPPED EACH OF HIS STABLEMATES

I HOPE U FIND THESE COMPARATIVES AS INTRUGING AS I DID…

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