Met Front Office angry at 3 Mets who hate America

[dgwphotography]

Edgy DC wrote: I don't know how we get from suspicion to "Of course they are."

Ok - full disclosure time (as much as I can).

My company's CEO doesn't know Jeffrey directly, but they have many of the same business contacts. Basically, he's a mean-spirited little shit who is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[G-Fafif]

dgwphotography wrote: Basically, he's a mean-spirited little shit who is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Can't speak for the knife sharpness, but from my slightly (and I mean slightly) informed perspective, that other part strikes me as not altogether inaccurate.

[metirish]

Ceetar wrote: I'm considering unfollowing on Twitter all the beat writers. .

Me too, Lennon has become a proper dick on everything, dumping him right now.

[metsmarathon]

"And because it involved skipping a visit to amputees who serve the country, it inevitably will create backlash and make those players look particularly bad. They deserve that, too."

well, shit. now i'm really curious as to who all goes on these trips each and every year. do other teams visit walter reed? who attends those visits? who sits out? if other teams don't elect to visit the wounded veterans, why not? when did jeter last visit a wounded vet? and arod? get the pitchforks and torches, folks, we're going a-mobbing!

[Ceetar]

metsmarathon wrote: "And because it involved skipping a visit to amputees who serve the country, it inevitably will create backlash and make those players look particularly bad. They deserve that, too." well, shit. now i'm really curious as to who all goes on these trips each and every year. do other teams visit walter reed? who attends those visits? who sits out? if other teams don't elect to visit the wounded veterans, why not? when did jeter last visit a wounded vet? and arod? get the pitchforks and torches, folks, we're going a-mobbing!

I did five minutes of searching on the Phillies and Yankees (after all, Baltimore is not far) yesterday just for the 'fun' of it. Was tough because it kept returning the recent Mets visit with all sorts of scrolling division stats or whatever that hit my 'Yankees' key word.

The entire Yankee team went to the hospital this year. But it's hardly fair since the event was planned in advance (probably as far back as when the schedules for finalized) and they did it on the way to the White House. There wasn't any way to skip it. Plus, April and September are two different times in the baseball season. I'm not sure when or how the Mets visit was planned or announced (hey, why not research _that_ information for us beat writers? no?)

I did find other examples of teams visiting (and various 'not all of them'). Every single major league teams visits that area though.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

bmfc1 wrote: Three Mets (Gee, Parnell, Thole) visited Ground Zero yesterday: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/sports/baseball/10mets.html?ref=baseball It might have helped stop the "controversy" if Beltran, Perez and/or Castillo also went. Gee didn't go to Walter Reed--he was excused as that night's starter--and he went yesterday.

It's also entirely possible that three of the newest Mets haven't yet been to Ground Zero since joining the major-league squad, whereas the Three Who Hate America have lived in/around the city for several years and have likely been before.

This says a lot more to me about the people writing than it does about the TWHA. By all reports-- online scuttlebutt, reports from friends and acquaintances who've had the "pleasure" of working with him-- Lupica's a miserable, cynical SOB with the biggest Napoleon complex since Elba, so, yeah, no big surprise he's waving the flag (no doubt with help from some taller spotters).

Lennon, on the other hand... man, this year's been a real eye-opener.

[Ceetar]

On Saturday, July 10, 2010 San Francisco Giants catchers Buster Posey and Eli Whiteside spent a couple hours of their afternoon giving back to the Washington, D.C community. In town for their series against the Washington Nationals, the two baseball players visited the Walter Reed Army Medical Center

(Roberto) Hernandez chilled as he recalled the experience he had shared with Mike Piazza, David Wright and Danny Graves. Two hours of saying thank you didn't seem to be enough. The four Mets were struck by what they saw -- young men missing arms and legs, a man missing a chunk of his skull, another missing the skin on the back of his neck and his head stapled together.

2005: Many..didn't name names.

A good visit: Many of the Phillies players and coaches went to Walter Reed Hospital and the Naval Medical Center on Friday. They talked, took pictures and signed autographs with patients, many of whom were wounded in the war in Iraq.

[G-Fafif]

metsmarathon wrote: when did jeter last visit a wounded vet? and arod? get the pitchforks and torches, folks, we're going a-mobbing!

I imagine a response to your query is being posted by some local columnists at this hour.

Most of the Mets visited wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital the other day. A few didn't. Meanwhile, their won-loss record remains in critical condition. While the Mets indulge in PR stunts gone bad, the Yankees keep their eyes on the prize. Do the defending world champion care about our veterans? Only enough so that they made the United States worth fighting for last November by winning yet another title within its borders. A nation is only as good as its national pastime, and when the Yankees win, it's better for all involved. The soldiers understand if nobody in pinstripes comes to visit them for the duration of American League hostilities. The Yankees have a battle to win. That is to be admired. In fact, it is to be preferred to what the all-but-eliminated Mets are doing. And of course it is to be respected. If you want to consider respect, you report on the double to the source. "We avoid distractions here," said Captain Derek Jeter, who takes his rank as seriously as any officer who served in Fallujah would. Jeter did not have to specify that "here" was a place that stands in contrast to "there" on the other side of the Triborough Bridge -- on the other side of the yawning competitive divide that separates the men from the boys. No need, either, to explain who the men are in this city. When the Yankees capture their 28th medal of championship valor this fall, the fallen at Walter Reed -- and at military hospitals everywhere (except, perhaps, Boston) -- will rise. If they cannot walk again immediately, surely their spirits will soar and they will instinctively salute Captain Jeter and all his courageous troops. A Yankee victory is the greatest remedy any wounded warrior can receive. The Mets have yet to learn that lesson. It's becoming painfully doubtful they ever will.

[Ceetar]

2009:

Because the Astros have only a two-day series, in Washington, the club made it voluntary for players to attend what has become an annual trip to Walter Reed Army Hospital. Nineteen members of the 25-man roster joined Cecil Cooper, the entire coaching staff, general manager Ed Wade and Astros owner Drayton McLane on the visit. Stars Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Roy Oswalt were part of the group, which awoke early to make the trip after arriving late Sunday night in Washington. �We had a great turnout,� Wade said.

[bmfc1]

I unfollowed Lennon months ago. He's way too nasty. The Newark Star-Ledger guy may be next.

Nice work Ceetar.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Six missing Astros. I want names.

I want heads.

[ashie62]

If my boss is going to Walter Reed and I am invited to go, I am going, whether I want to or not.

The fact that this trip and story has taken on a life of its' own is quite simply sick.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

G-Fafif wrote: Basically, he's a mean-spirited little shit who is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Can't speak for the knife sharpness, but from my slightly (and I mean slightly) informed perspective, that other part strikes me as not altogether inaccurate.

Full disclosure here, too: A current, very trustworthy workmate of mine/former longtime midlevel employee for the organization (untill about 2006) concurs, albeit very diplomatically. ("He's not someone who you want to annoy, or whise bad side you want to get on.")

[Guest Edgy DC]

Great, we've got second- and third-hand hand reliable information that he's Snidely Whiplash. But we're still just doubling down on the innuendo. If every beat writer is covering this, it shouldn't be that hard to come up with a fact supporting the notions that (a) the Wilpons are mad, and ( they're behind this nonsense.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy DC wrote: Great, we've got second- and third-hand hand reliable information that he's Snidely Whiplash. But we're still just doubling down on the innuendo. If every beat writer is covering this, it shouldn't be that hard to come up with a fact supporting the notions that (a) the Wilpons are mad, and ( they're behind this nonsense.

Yes, but we're just us talking to each other.

That said, the beat guys pulled a clumsy no comment out of Perez. They can't do the same for Wilpon? Not even the old "a spokesman for the Mets declined comment"? Or is it enough that they saw Jeff fuming or that somebody said "Jeff is mad."

[metirish]

Ceetar wrote: (Roberto) Hernandez chilled as he recalled the experience he had shared with Mike Piazza, David Wright and Danny Graves. Two hours of saying thank you didn't seem to be enough. The four Mets were struck by what they saw -- young men missing arms and legs, a man missing a chunk of his skull, another missing the skin on the back of his neck and his head stapled together. .

Danny Graves... a real Met and a Vietnam Vet ...take that beat writers..

[Guest Edgy DC]

G-Fafif wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Great, we've got sedond- and third-hand hand reliable information that he's Snidely Whiplash. But we're still just doubling down on the innuendo. If every beat writer is covering this, it shouldn't be that hard to come up with a fact supporting the noitons that (a) the Wilpons are mad, and ( they're behind this nonsense. Yes, but we're just us talking to each other. That said, the beat guys pulled a clumsy no comment out of Perez. They can't do the same for Wilpon? Not even the old "a spokesman for the Mets declined comment"? Or is it enough that they saw Jeff fuming or that somebody said "Jeff is mad."

Lord knows he could have just been mad about the breakfast cereal again.

Danny Graves... a real Met and a Vietnam Vet ...take that beat writers..

Well, a son of Vietnam vet and a Vietnam national, anyhoo.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy DC wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Great, we've got sedond- and third-hand hand reliable information that he's Snidely Whiplash. But we're still just doubling down on the innuendo. If every beat writer is covering this, it shouldn't be that hard to come up with a fact supporting the noitons that (a) the Wilpons are mad, and ( they're behind this nonsense. Yes, but we're just us talking to each other. Lord knows he could have just been mad about the breakfast cereal again.

"I HATE it when my Penny-Os taste all zinc-y!"

[Chad ochoseis]

The player who annoys me the most in this whole non-story is Big Pelf. Who the hell gave him the authority to tell the team that the trip was mandatory?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Get this ranty man a Forum invite.

(Oh, wait-- I did!)

[Centerfield]

I put this on the Wilpons.

If they're going to be pissy, make it mandatory. If you didn't make it mandatory, fume in a way it won't be public.

If it does become public, come out and say you're not mad. Even if you are. Staying silent has allowed this story to fester.

Sure, the beat writers suck too, but an argument could be made that this is part of their job.

[metirish]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Get this ranty man a Forum invite. (Oh, wait-- I did!)

A passionate defense of Beltran, pretty good read. I'll admit to thinking at times that Beltran wishes he never came to the Mets.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Until a Statement of Pissiness is released, I put this on the press by about 96%, with about 2% each on the players and the Wilpons.

Maybe the 2% has grown to 10% in the last 24 hours with the Wilpons, who at least have had that time to get out in front of this, but (1) I've gotten used to the idea that they're committed laying low come what may until the offseason, and (2) I think Jay Horwitz has long since stopped serving their interests.

[G-Fafif]

Haste that beats the others cold, Klapisch pours it on. (A figurative nickel to whoever gets that reference.)

Anyway, Klap calls Ollie a militant and says the Mets, when you factor in K-Rod, are, you know it, doomed. Gosh, I had no idea a columnist of Klap's soft rain stature was following the Mets on their recent road trip...or is this just the same Klaptrap anybody with a keyboard and a high-speed connetion could have posted?

Is Oliver Perez playing a game of chicken with the Mets, daring ownership to release him so he can walk away with next year�s $12 million salary? That�s just one of the questions the Wilpon family is asking after yet another PR fiasco for baseball�s most troubled franchise. Perez, Luis Castillo and Carlos Beltran all missed a team-sponsored trip to visit wounded veterans at Washington�s Walter Reed Hospital this week � ignoring Jeff Wilpon�s personal appeal for the players� cooperation. Two of the Mets at least tried to defend themselves. Beltran said he had a meeting regarding the high school his foundation is building in Puerto Rico. Castillo said he simply didn�t have the stomach to be in the presence of amputees. Neither excuse softened ownership�s anger, but it was Perez�s reaction that drew the most heated response from above. The left-hander didn�t even bother with an alibi, saying he wouldn�t talk about anything �outside the stadium.� Senior officials resisted the temptation to respond publicly, but one person familiar with the mood in the front office said Jeff Wilpon was �livid� with Perez. That could very well be the reaction he�s seeking. Last month, Perez told WFAN he was being treated �unfairly� by the Mets, a comment that was met with derision, both in the clubhouse and upstairs at Citi Field. With a 6.65 ERA and a three-year, $36 million contract that runs through 2011, Perez has become the billboard of the Mets� ineptitude. A bad pitcher with an absurd contract and a defiant attitude, to boot. If the blow-off of the soldiers was the tipping point, the next move is now the Wilpons. Do they have the stomach, or the financial insulation, to fire Perez? No one believes the left-hander can be resurrected, at least not in New York, but the Mets are already at war with Francisco Rodriguez, trying to void his guaranteed contract after he allegedly assaulted his daughter�s grandfather at the ballpark last month. One rival executive said the Mets would�ve had an �air-tight� case against K-Rod had they sought to merely recoup the remainder of his 2010 salary. It would�ve been impossible for the union to defend a player who�d injured himself in the commission of a crime and was subsequently unable to compete. But Mets ownership is seeking the maximum penalty, looking to get out from the $11.5 million K-Rod is owed in 2011 so he can be released in spring training. An executive from another team said, �(the Mets) have zero chance of getting an arbitrator to agree to that much. It�s so outrageous that they might not even get the (partial penalty) that�s rightfully theirs. An arbitrator might just say, �you�re asking for too much� and rule entirely in Rodriguez� favor.� Clearly, there�s no way the Mets could eat the contracts of Perez and K-Rod; no team, not even the Yankees, can burn that kind of cash. A more modest option would be to trade both players, although with their emotional baggage and respective salaries it�s impossible to imagine any team willing to take them. Perez is as close to poison as any player in baseball, especially if his blow-off of the soldiers was as selfish and mean-spirited as it appeared. K-Rod�s for-sale sign might not be quite as tainted, especially if the Mets portray him as a man working his way back to the community. Rodriguez will have completed anger management therapy by spring training, which, coupled with his embarrassment and remorse over his arrest, might be enough to at least get another GM to pick up the phone. But the rest of the list goes on and on. Beltran, going into his age-34 season, is the oldest centerfielder in the majors. Forced to wear a brace to protect a fragile knee, he�s lost his defensive mobility and looks just as helpless at the plate, almost 50 points under his career average at .235. Beltran might not be as volatile as K-Rod or as militant as Perez, but he�s nevertheless just as disconnected. No need for a look-at-me display to let teammates know how Beltran feels about being a Met. He�ll be a free agent after 2011 and is already counting the days. Castillo? He�s hated by fans simply because he�s in his decline phase, pulling down $6 million to hit .236. Like Perez, Castillo represents the era of big contracts to under-performing players, creating a roster that�s expensive ($128 million) and practically frozen. Rebuilding the franchise will be the mandate of whoever follows Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya. There�s been talk lately, generated by Peter Gammons, that Bobby Valentine will be the Mets� next manager. But that comes as news to both Valentine and the Wilpons. It�s far more likely that Wally Backman, successfully running the Mets� Class-A team in Brooklyn, will replace Manuel. The process of toppling Minaya might not be so simple. While most everyone assumes the GM will take the fall for the summer�s catastrophes, Minaya isn�t necessarily willing to be re-assigned, as has been widely presumed. His contractual tie to the Mets is strictly as their general manager, meaning he�s not obligated to take any other job in the organization. If the Mets want to turn Minaya into a super-scout and hire, say, Kevin Towers, they have two choices: They either re-work Minaya�s contract, or else fire him and eat the last two years of his pact. That�s no small dilemma for an organization that�s looking to clean house, devise a new business plan and rise from the ashes by 2012. No team in the majors is bleeding attendance faster than the Mets, so it�s essential they act forcefully. The obvious question is whether they can afford it. The better question is can they afford not to.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jeez, feed me poison, whydoncha?

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jeff_pearlman/09/10/mets/index.html

Pearlman, who aspires to be Klapisch, chimed in. Missing is the praise that 22 Mets DID visit the hospital....

[ashie62]

Castillo is hated? Geez..

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

English is Klapisch's first language, is it?

Pity.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

metirish wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Get this ranty man a Forum invite. (Oh, wait-- I did!) A passionate defense of Beltran, pretty good read. I'll admit to thinking at times that Beltran wishes he never came to the Mets.

Nice find LWFS. Who could blame Beltran if he rued the day he chose to join the Mets? I can't say I would. The Mets organization seems to be a chaotic mess and Beltran has become a scapegoat to many looking to place blame. I'm sure there are individuals that would say he has millions of reasons to be content as a Met, but he could have had millions from other teams as well. Beltran likely wouldn't have been subjected to the level of scorn he has endured in New York had he gone elsewhere.

[ashie62]

Solid piece. Scratchbomb rocks.