Howard Megdal of Capital New York, caught up with utility infielder Justin Turner, formerly of the Mets and now with the Dodgers, on Friday morning.
Like Carlos Beltran last month, Turner called out the Mets handling of Ruben Tejada and the way they use the media to say things with no real accountability.
“I think the issue is that nobody takes responsibility for what they say,” Turner told me as we chatted in front of his spring training locker. “You’ve seen that with Tejada over the last few weeks. It’s all ‘a source said that they’re not happy with him.’ It’s like, you know what? If you’re gonna come out and gonna attack a guy’s character, and his work ethic, be man enough to put your name on it. Don’t say, ‘This is off the record’, and then off the record means they’re gonna write it anyway.”
“I’ve been there for three years. All I can do is say if I was running an organization, in charge of it, I would look at all my players as assets, and want to build them up. So even if I didn’t want them to be on my team, they would have value. But for some reason, I don’t know, that’s not the thought process over there.
Turner says he’s happy in LA and was recently told he won a spot on the opening day roster.
(Photo: LA Times)
