Media Kills Mets Players While Giving The Wilpons A Pass
Noah Syndergaard left last night’s game with an apparent leg injury. Whatever the reason, he was still in the clubhouse after the game instead of getting treatment or an examination in the trainer’s room or somewhere else.
Syndergaard finally left the clubhouse when the media entered, and the media pounced:
Noah Syndergaard (hamstring strain) was in the clubhouse when reporters entered postgame. He took one look at us and bolted for the back room, pursued by members of the Mets' PR staff.
Through a team spokesman, Syndergaard later refused to comment on his injury.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) June 16, 2019
Noah Syndergaard’s strained right hamstring hasn’t totally robbed him of his mobility.
Walking faster than he did off the mound, Syndergaard left the Mets’ clubhouse as reporters entered.
He did not comment on his injury/outing.
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) June 16, 2019
Noah Syndergaard coincidentally had his treatment scheduled just as reporters walked into the #Mets clubhouse. He will not comment on his right hamstring strain.
Mickey Callaway, too, was curt in his description of Noah's injury: "We are going to reevaluate in the morning."
— Deesha (@DeeshaThosar) June 16, 2019
As is typically the case, reporters pounce on when a player ducks them. We saw it happen earlier this year with Clint Frazier, and we’ve seen it with the Mets with Matt Harvey and others.
It’s a player’s responsibility to face the media, and when they failed to meet up to their responsibilities, they should be held accountable. Even if the media attacks tend to go over the top, they’re within their right to do it.
The question is why this only applies to players.
Sandy Anderson used to meet with the press before every homestand. He was there to answer for everything good or bad (mostly bad). It’s a tradition Brodie Van Wagenen has not followed. Instead, his media availability during homestands typically only goes as far as the notes he leaves telling the media he hopes they enjoy the doughnuts he bought them.
There’s also Jeff Wilpon, who never makes himself available to the media. That is, unless, he’s in studio with his friend Mike Francesa whose toughest question to Jeff is whether Jeff McNeil or Yoenis Cespedes could come within 25 strokes of him on the golf course.
Basically, the media will kill players for their self-imposed unavailability, but they’re unwilling to do the same with the General Manager or ownership. That goes at least double for ownership.
Sure, we will hear about how Syndergaard left his team high and dry to answer questions for him. However, we won’t hear the same about how Van Wagenen and the Wilpons do the same exact thing to Mickey Callaway and the Mets players.
No, for some reason only players need to be held accountable by the media. The Wilpons and Van Wagenen can and will continue getting a pass for the same behavior despite their unavailability being all the more egregious than what an injured Syndergaard, a player who’s always there to answer questions, did today.
That is a ridiculous double standard.
Syndergaard shouldn’t be ducking the media. I get it he’s upset about the injury, but he should step up and answer post game questions like an adult and show more respect to a concerned fan base worried he’s going to miss starts, which would be another blow to a team trying to reach .500 and compete for more.
Brodie and Wilpon don’t talk with the media/fan base enough, but bringing that up here sure seems like calculated deflection to attack ownership and the front office, maybe some extra click bait. At least bring it up on a day Brodie didn’t speak with the media on Baty Introduction Day.
This was a very poor reading of what I said and bizarre unfounded attack, especially the click bait part.
But I guess you think the owners and GM should not be available to the media to have to explain themselves. Good for you.
WTF, stop defending ownership.
This ownership does not need any defense from anyone!!
Clickbait….?
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/metsdaddy.com
No, thin skin!
The Wilpons will be loyal to Noah as long as they have to!
Nailed it again.
Of course Wags is ducking the media–otherwise he’d be dealing with questions like, “you picked up a 35 year old as depth for a 36 year old while pushing the team’s best hitter over the last 2/5ths of the 2018 season who’s almost a decade younger than either, into a murky role likely to hurt his value to the team. You’re getting no production from either old player, meanwhile you left a huge hole in the rotation. What’s up with that?”
Or, my favorite, “you foolishly picked up one of the oldest regulars in the majors to play a position you had covered, committing 100 million dollars to him in order to secure the services of a reliever, a notoriously unreliable profession, who has had all of one terrific season to his name. That’s going as badly as you should have expected. What could you have been thinking, at the time, and what alternatives were you considering?”
As for the Wilpons, it would be a hoot to hear them stammer while answering the question, “were you behind the strange, counterproductive Cano deal?” and “how much are you regretting not hiring someone with extensive experience in a front office to GM the 2019 Mets–after all, your hire zeroed in on the bullpen, and it’s now the worst part of the team. What would you do differently, and why?”
They’d rather use Callaway as a human shield. But for some reason, the media pretends Callaway is at fault here and won’t hold the truly culpable parties accountable – not just for their actions but also their media unavailability.
Vargas, media availability?
Great questions?
Are the Mets desperate for relievers and really horrid thus having no lefty now, acquiring Poinder and promoting Flexen to eat innings and surely Callaway makes pitch count decisions with Riggleman, Eiland, GM and COO?
What about accountability to score runs late in games against other bullpens?
What are the stats there…?
Is it true that Fred Wilpon called for a meeting with the Commissioner to protest the Yankees acquiring Encarnacion ?