The New York Mets held a team meeting on Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field to address the elephant barging inside the tight quarters of the visitor’s clubhouse: The comments of team owner Fred Wilpon, who ripped the team and three of his best players in the latest edition of The New Yorker.
Wilpon reached out Tuesday to apologize to outfielder Carlos Beltran, shortstop Jose Reyes and third baseman David Wright.
Manager Terry Collins, meanwhile, wanted to ensure that his players would not be distracted by Wilpon’s loose lips (which continued in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated, wherein Wilpon said his team is “bleeding cash,” could lose $70 million this year and that he expects the payroll to drop below $100 million for 2012).
“We just addressed that we’ve got to focus on things we can control,” Collins said. “And that’s how we can play on the field.”
Still, Wilpon wounded some of his players. The group was caught off-guard by his candor. Most learned via text messages and phone calls from friends on Monday.
“It surprised me a little bit, like everybody else,” Reyes said. “But at the same time, I just need to continue to keep playing the game, don’t let anything happen. The only thing I can control right now is to continue to play. So he’s the boss. He can say whatever he wants to.”
The closest thing to a comeback came from Beltran, who disagreed with Wilpon’s assessment of his current level of play: “I don’t feel 70 or 65,” he said. “I feel 100 percent.”
“Unfortunately, the years that you’re hurt, you can’t produce the way that I know that I can produce when I’m healthy. But at the same time, I’m just looking forward to moving on. I’m so happy this year that I’m healthy, that I’m playing the game, and I’m out there every day. So I’m not going to let this affect me or affect the way I approach the game.” – Carlos Beltran
This is the third time in less than two years that the organization has publicly slagged Beltran: First for his knee surgery in January 2010, then for skipping the voluntary visit to Walter Reed Medical Center last September.
“This is not my first rodeo,” he said.
