Mets: The Worst Team(ate)? in the League?
On Wednesday afternoon, New York Mets reliever Jorge Lopez was ejected from the baseball game for arguing a check swing call on first baseman Freddie Freeman with third base umpire Ramon De Jesus.
Lopez showed a lot of emotion after his ejection, something this New York Mets team has not had this year. In aggravation, Lopez took his glove off in frustration and threw it into the stands. Lopez said in his post-game comments “I think I’ve been looking at the worst team(ate)? in probably the whole F—ing MLB” about either himself or the Mets. When asked why he thinks the team was embarrassed by him Lopez responded, “Watching me walking into the dugout and throwing the glove in the middle of the game”. These comments make it sound like he is talking about himself, not the team. Nevertheless, these comments and actions led to the organization designating him for assignment.
“We have standards here,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. He added “When you are not playing well, guys are going to show emotions. There is frustration, but there is a fine line and yesterday we went over that line and we are not going to tolerate that.”
Lopez took to social media the next day to try and clear up his comments. Lopez posted on his Instagram story saying that he was not talking about the team, but in fact, he was talking about himself as the worst teammate.
“I also want to clarify my post-game remarks, because I had no intention of disparaging the New York Mets organization,” Lopez wrote.
“I spoke candidly about my frustrations with my personal performance and how I felt it made me “the worst teammate in the entire league”.” Lopez wrote in his Instagram post.
Lopez’s comments do sound a little confusing as he was asked multiple times to clarify his comments. It does sound like he is referring to himself during the interview and it is backed up with his statements on social media. Players are human and competitors, in the moment it seemed like Lopez did not want to talk about what had just transpired on the field. Sometimes athletes, rightfully so need time to cool down from a bad event during a game, and when a player is that frustrated it shows they care.
When players are losing and are frustrated with the current state of their team they are going to show emotion. The Mets currently have no emotion, or life in the clubhouse. The team coaches and players seem to just be going through the motions. Even though Lopez is no longer with the team anymore it is possible that his remarks can spark the Mets to show some life and have fun playing the game of baseball.
