This story isn’t about Jordany Valdespin, this story is about the N.Y. Mets and their borderline comical PR machinations.
The Mets had another major twist in the Valdespin saga yesterday.
On this episode of How the Valde-spins, Jordany was notified that he would be demoted to AAA where he could get regular at bats.
Jordany proceeded to have a conniption, a melt-down, a tantrum, an epic hissy fit or whatever you want to call it.
That was certainly a story, one with creepy little centipede legs that would keep the Mets beat writers in business for another week at least. But wait, there’s more …
Later in the evening Michael Baron would tweet that a source from the NY Post reported that Jordany called Collins a “c—ksucker” and demanded that he be put on the DL. This would later be confirmed in a story by Mike Puma at 11:15 pm:
According to a Mets source, the volatile utilityman, upon learning he had been demoted to Triple-A Las Vegas on Saturday, got into a confrontation with Terry Collins, during which he called the manager a “c–ksucker.”
Someone needs to explain that one to me because it’s just weird.
TC: Jordany, I’m sorry kid, but we’ve decided to send you to Las Vegas where you can get regular at bats.
JV1: WHAT? You c—cksucker, put me on the DL.
That doesn’t make much sense does it? Valdespin isn’t even injured. And why would Terry suck clocks? What’s so bad about calling Collins a clocksucker? It’s not like he called him a juicebag.
A lot doesn’t make sense, like why all of a sudden do they now become concerned about Valdespin’s at-bats when he hasn’t been getting at-bats pretty much since they brought him up?
It took Terry Collins this long to notice that Valdespin wasn’t playing much?
Ricky Bones: Hey Terry, have you noticed Valdespin only has 6 at-bats this month?
TC: Gee, Ricky, no I hadn’t noticed that.
RB: Terry get your mouth off that clock, you don’t know where it’s been.
Again, not a lot of making sense here. They waited this long, why not wait until after the break to send Valdespin down?
Oh, right because they wanted to bring up scary old guy who punches out Starling (I love that visual) … ok never mind. I understand it was really important to shore up the bullpen for this final game of the series, because it’s all about winning correct?
Which is why Matt Harvey was rested for the Saturday game? He had a blister … one that takes more than a few days to heal, but not enough days to keep him out of the All Star game … we know a lot about this blister. The blister will heal sometime between Harvey’s scheduled start on Saturday and the All Star game, we somehow know this. Perhaps Terry Collins knows this because of all his clocks — he probably has a clock labeled “Matt Harvey’s Blister.”
Ok so maybe it isn’t about the blister. Maybe this is just an opportunity to start limiting Harvey’s innings?
Soooo … you pull your ace and you plug in one of your better relievers leaving an already tattered pen undermanned, which ends up biting you in the rear when LaTroy Hawkins who is battling triceps tendinitis (which is better than battling a triceratops with dermatitis) becomes “unavailable.”
That’s when you end up with a guy named Germen (who had a 5.70 ERA in AAA) in a crucial spot in an extra inning game against a team that presents a true test of just how “competitive” these Mets might be.
Long story short, we leave Pittsburgh just as unsure as we came in. But the point of all this is, we needed a reliever on Saturday, why couldn’t they bring up a body? Why didn’t they send Valdespin down on Saturday?
Because Atchison was still on the DL and they had no one else in the system to shore up the pen?
If that was the case wouldn’t it have been better to leave Torres in the pen and bring up someone else from Vegas for a spot start? But hey, who am I to second guess, I’m getting a headache just thinking about this and from all the clock noise. I’m sure they had reasons for playing their cards the way they did in Pittsburgh. What’s certain, however, is that the questionable player moves made it necessary that they cut a player for Sunday’s game, and that player was Valdespin … And Valdespin went kablam.
If the stuff on twitter about what Valdespin said to Collins is true, Valdespin might be suspended sometime today. As much as the Mets wish to quash this with the All Star game coming up (I’m sure they’d have preferred to deal with this after the break), the comments got out and there has to be a response … if only because MLB will probably force their hand if they don’t. The comments are in clear violation of the CBA’s behavior guidelines, namely insubordination.
So the Mets end up with pie in their face, much like Valdespin after he survived John Buck‘s decapitation attempt. They’re damned if they suspend Valdespin because it will cast a cloud of in-house drama over the All Star festivities, and damned if they don’t because everyone (including the office of the Commissioner) will know that Valdespin flipped out and called his manager a “c—ksucker” and the team didn’t discipline him, again because of said All Star festivities. This would make the organization look phony and pathetically image conscious.
It all makes me feel like the Mets are focusing way too much on this particular mid-season exhibition instead of focusing more on how to win games. The Mets, in a typical bout of public opinion paranoia have stepped in it by not taking immediate disciplinary action. They might be able to save face by promptly addressing this today, but the smart money says they will somehow botch it, worst case being a violation of Valdespin’s right to due process.
Enjoy the All Star Break…
