Met scandals and mysteries

[Guest iramets]

Elsewhere, I speculate on various Met scandals, mysteries, cover-ups, no-stories, rumors, gossip, innuendo, BS, sad-but-true etc. that often get swept (and stay swept) under the rug.

Among these nebulous events that I don't fully understand (and prolly never will) are

1) Why Trax got shitcanned quite the way he did--who said what to whom, why did it matter so much, etc.

2) What Bobby thought Hundley was doing too much of--steroids? Partying? Drinking? Blowing him off?

3) Mitch and the cat's head

4) Tug's dalliances with teammates' wives

5) What Keith threatened the Kid for on the mound in the 86 Series

6) Cleon, the van, the girl, the wife, and M. Donald.

Name your own mystery, solve one of mine, rank them in order, collect the complete set.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I can't solve any of them, but as for number 1, I suspect that Willie never liked Trachsel, and his walking off the mound in the NLCS was the last straw.

I think there had to be prior problems/tension that we're not aware of.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The girl in the van was M. Donald's girlfriend LaLa.

Don actually had a gun in his pocket pointed at Cleon during the apology.

[stevejrogers]

Here are a couple of recent ones

What was the real reason Scott Kazmir was traded, did any number of the suspects (Leiter/Franco, Peterson, ect) really have that big of a hand in the trade and why was his value so low where the organization would be willing to deal him off for someone who had a history of arm problems and wasn't anything to write home about despite moments of effectiveness.

What was the reason for not even telling Boras and Pay-Rod "Here is our offer, take it or leave it." Why did Phillips have to make a show of the prospectus that Boras was shopping around when a lot of the frivolous items (separate merchandise tent, private box, ect) never showed up in Texas or Yankee Stadium. Was there some sort of ulterior motive as to why the Wilpons didn't want to even enter the sweepstakes, one theory I've heard is that if ARod had signed the value of the franchise would have gone up, and therefore Freddie wouldn't be able to buy out Nelson.

Was there an ulterior motive in pursing Vladimir Guerrero? They announced they tendered the offer right around the due date for ticket plans for the coming season, hmmmmmm. Then they end up with their own doctor saying there was too much of a risk to give Vlad the years he was looking for. (3 and a half years in and he hasn't shown any signs of season jeopardizing injuries, plus we signed Pedro Martinez to a four year deal despite a greater health risk) Was this shoddy work by the Met doctors, or the spin the organization wanted to put out there once they were outbid.

Does Al Leiter and crew really have Bob Apodaca's and later Bobby Valentine's blood on their hands? Ask Ralph Branca and he says they do = Seriously, the Apodaca and Valentine firings supposedly have Leiter's hands all over them, I guess this should really be, did Al Leiter and John Franco really wield as much power with the Wilpons as they did during the late 90s and early 00s? Also it has been suggested that Gary Sheffield was not brought in based on player feedback (say what you will about Sheff, his bat in the middle of any decent order would have been great to have)

[Guest Iubitul]

SteveJRogers wrote: Also it has been suggested that Gary Sheffield was not brought in based on player feedback (say what you will about Sheff, his bat in the middle of any decent order would have been great to have)

For one year - He seems to historically behave during the first year in a new locale...

[stevejrogers]

Heh, I'll give you that with Sheffield, I was just throwing it out there as a rumor I've heard and knew there would be a few "And that was a bad thing, why?" type of responses. Hell I'll even say that when it comes to Sheffield. Great rent-a-player but don't try to sign to any sort of long term contract.

[Guest cooby]

Why were Rey O and Lopez fighting on the bus? I never heard it explained...

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

cooby - "Why were Rey O and Lopez fighting on the bus? I never heard it explained..."

They were in a heated disagreement over which of them was more pathetic at the plate. Of course, a fight between these two just ended with them both being winded since neither one of them could actually hit anything.

[Guest cleonjones11]

How about Dick Young writing in the Daily News that Nolan Ryan and Seavers wife were jealous of one another

[Willets Point]

Mystery still unsolved since 2000:

Who let the dogs out?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

cooby wrote: Why were Rey O and Lopez fighting on the bus? I never heard it explained...

I do know that one: Rey was "protecting" fellow Cuban Jorge Luis Toca from typical rookie hazing by his Met teammates.

[TransMonk]

Willets Point wrote: Mystery still unsolved since 2000: Who let the dogs out?

Mike Bordick

[stevejrogers]

Got a couple from another board that seem like urban legends about Mike & The Mad Dog's Influence in NYC sports

]They forced Nelson Doubleday to come off his yacht and tell future ESPN hack Steve Phillips into trading for Mike Piazza.

I question the validity of them being the true driving force behind Nelson pushing the trade. I do recall Phillips not wanting to do the deal because he promised Hundley that there would be no such deal. Mike did "thank" them on his very first interview after the deal though!

]They led the charge in ridiculing the Mets in 2004 about the Zambrano for Kazmir trade. According to Bob Klapisch who broke the trade, Mets management figured the fans would not care about trading a top prospect to be in a pennant race.

Another one that I really don't recall as it was happening. Francessa anyway has always been on the "go for the brass ring now" and "how can anyone say he's gonna be good when they haven't seen him?" side on such arguments on trading prospects for veteran help. I don't think they were leading the charge though.

What I still find the most hilarious thing about that whole weekend in 2004 was Wally Mathews' reaction. On Friday as the trades was announced he was in complete endorsement saying that he didn't know Kazmir or Peterson but he did know Benson and he did know Zambrano (since Victor had pitched in the majors.) On Monday, after an entire weekend of bashing and Met losing in Atlanta he was singing the complete opposite tune of "Lets trade all the veterans in waiver wire deals!" I mean the guy pulled both hammies backpedaling!

]They may have forced the Mets into rehiring Dallas Green after the second half surge of 1995, thus missing out on potential candidates like Tony LaRussa and Jim Leyland.

Anyone remember this? I would doubt they would have had that much pull to "force" the Mets in keeping Dallas Green in 1996.

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: The girl in the van was M. Donald's girlfriend LaLa. Don actually had a gun in his pocket pointed at Cleon during the apology.

Are you sure that was a gun?
Or was he just thinking about his girlfriend?

Later

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

]What Keith threatened the Kid for on the mound in the 86 Series

Game 6 NLCS, 2 outs, 2 runs in, tying run on 2nd, winning run on first, Kevin Bass batting. Conference at the mound with Keith, Carter and pitcher Orosco.

KH reportedly said to Carter, "If you call for one more fastball, we are going to have a fight right here!" Orosco was gassed and his fbs were losing steam. Carter called nothing but sliders and Bass whiffed.

What's funny is that Carter in his book says that talk never happened quite like it came out in the papers, but rather than focusing on whether there might be actual violence between teammates, he focuses on the idea that KH was calling pitches:

]After the game, Mex talking in a loose, postgame sort of way, told reporters he had instructed me to stay away from the fastball -- no fastballs, or we, Mex and I, would fight right there. Mex would never say that to me just as I would never tell him how to play first base. He warned me that I'd read the story in the papers. He apologized.

I guess the mystery is what would happened had Carter called for a fastball and Bass hit it.

[Guest Iubitul]

Sounds to me like Keith being Keith, and joking around with the reporters in the post-game euphoria.

Why does Keith keep alluding to Ron not being allowed in Florida? Is that Keith just joking around, or is there something more to that story? Does it have anything to do with the incident that was written about in The Worst Team Money Could Buy?

[stevejrogers]

Here is one I just thought about.

It has always been assumed by certain ownership hating/pro-player members of the media that Jeff Wilpon weilded too much power with the late 90s-early 00s Mets. Well it would seem that the Mets version of George Steinbrenner has not been as visable over the last couple of years as the aforementioned media members had stated he was in the past. Pretty much Jeff Wilpon is trotted out for press confrences, charitable functions, "tours" of Citi Field and other PR related gatherings.

So, just how much "power" did Jeff have/has in the day-to-day baseball operations, or did his "connections" dry up when Leiter and Franco (rumored to be his links to the clubhouse) were jettisoned, or was it all really the over-zealous delusions of anti-ownership/corporate America and anti-nepotisim in corporate America media wankers?

[metirish]

IIRC it was a consious decision by the Wilpons to take a step back when they hired Omar,plus Jeff had Citifield to occupy his time.

I could be over stating things here but I think the Wilpons saw the error of their ways and decided to take that step back.

[Farmer Ted]

Bobby V with a great endorsement for Visine.

Mets GM refutes report of widespread pot use
Sept. 20, 2002
NEW YORK -- Mets general manager Steve Phillips denied there is widespread drug use on the team following a report that at least seven players smoked marijuana this season.

"In my opinion, there is not rampant drug use on our major league roster," Phillips said Friday.

Tony Tarasco, Mark Corey and reliever Grant Roberts were identified by Newsday as among those who had used marijuana. The paper, which did not name any other Mets, cited unidentified sources close to the team.

"I guarantee you no one was in uniform and smoking marijuana, unless they were running around with a whole lot of Visine in their eyes," manager Bobby Valentine said. "I grew up in the '60s. I think I could tell by looking in a guys' eyes if he was smoking dope."

Valentine said he couldn't understand why a player would use marijuana before a game, and he did a silly impression of what it would be like to get in the batter's box while under the influence.

"Marijuana is not a performance enhancer. I don't think anybody would want to get in there and try to dodge a 95-mph fastball," he said. "Maybe I'm naive. Maybe afterwards. I don't know. I don't party with the guys."

A picture of Roberts smoking marijuana appeared in Newsday. Phillips said it was taken in the winter of 1998, while Roberts was in the minors.

The 25-year-old pitcher was visibly shaken as he spoke.

"I'd like to start by saying I'm sorry," Roberts said. "I'm embarrassed. I made a mistake. I apologize to the New York Mets organization and their fans. I love and respect this game. The picture you all saw, the woman who gave up the picture has also threatened me and tried to get me to give up other things, which I obviously have not."

Sam Levinson, Roberts' agent, said his client was the victim of extortion.

"Major league baseball security was notified about a month ago about this incident," Levinson said. "Grant was told that if he didn't pay, the picture would be released to the press. Obviously, he didn't pay, and the picture was released."