Yesterday, Chase Utley had a press conference to announce he was going to retire from baseball at the end of the season.  As a Mets fan, this probably should make you elated.

After all, back from his days in Philadelphia, he has been nothing but a dirty player, and he has been a villain.  For proof of that look no further than that tackle which not only broke Ruben Tejada‘s leg, but it really ruined his career.  Just remember that as people write and talk about Utley being a hard-nosed player who “played the game the right way.”

Utley is also the guy who completely embarrassed Noah Syndergaard and the Mets.  Really, Shawn Estes‘ message to Roger Clemens was more heartful, and really much closer, than the message Syndergaard tried to send that night.  As a bonus, we did get that great Terry Collins‘ ejection video.

If you’ve been a Mets fan long enough, there are many, many, many more Utley moments which will instantly spring to mind.

So yeah, in a sense it’s good for the Mets that Utley is gone much in the same way it was good to see players like Chipper Jones retire.

However, the Mets and their fans are nowhere near a position to celebrate the retirement like Utley, even if he was a coward ducking the Mets and and their fans during the NLDS.

Ulitmately, it’s really hard to care when the Mets not only chose to employ the 35 year old Jose Reyes, but they also play him over Amed Rosario, Dominic Smith, Jeff McNeil, and really any player who could hit better than .164/.246/.227.

So, people can go ahead and celebrate Utley’s retirement and pretend like the bad guy is gone.  It’s not true.

The real bad guy, the one who is a Met right now because he threw his wife through a glass door, is still with the Mets, and he’s become a major impediment to the Mets organization moving forward and improving for the future.

So congrats on a great career to Utley.  He may have been dirty and ruined careers, but at least he didn’t beat his wife and complain to the press to help take playing time away from players he was supposed to mentor.