Tag: Francisco Lindor

The Marlins’ Jesus Aguilar gestured ‘thumbs down’ in a lively exchange with Francisco Lindor

Expect more of that, Mets.

It hasn’t been an easy few days for the New York Mets, and now, the opposing players are even getting in on the act.

The Mets caused somewhat of an uproar amongst their fanbase after Javy Baez, Francisco Lindor and Kevin Pillar were seen gesturing “thumbs down” in Sunday’s win against the Nationals. Baez said after the game that the gesture was a message to the fans who had booed the Mets throughout the August collapse.

The organization then spent the next two days playing damage control, which included pregame apologies from Baez and Lindor (Mets fans booed those apologies).

Well, it also didn’t take long to see the thumbs down make an appearance in Tuesday’s game.

During the second inning, the Marlins’ Jesus Aguilar retired Jonathan Villar on a groundout to first. Aguilar then turned to the Mets dugout and had some words — likely in a joking manner — with Lindor. At one point, Aguilar made a “thumbs down” gesture in the exchange with Lindor — an obvious reference to the controversy of the past few days.

It did appear that Aguilar was mostly messing with Lindor given the smile at the end of the video. But it’s pretty clear that the Mets are going to hear about the thumbs-down saga for some time from their opponents this season.

And you know what — there’s nothing wrong with that. Baseball needs more taunting.

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Mets fans gestured ‘thumbs down’ and booed throughout Francisco Lindor’s pregame apology

Of course they did.

In a matter of weeks the New York Mets have dropped out of first place and virtually fallen out of playoff contention. It’s been a brutal stretch for the team, and they’ve managed to make matters worse even after a win.

Mets players Javy Baez, Francisco Lindor and Kevin Pillar were seen gesturing “thumbs down” after big hits in Sunday’s win. When asked about the gesture, Baez said it was a message to the fans who have booed the Mets throughout August.

Now, Mets fans didn’t particularly appreciate that gesture. Team president Sandy Alderson even condemned it in a statement. And on Tuesday, the Mets spoke to the media to offer explanations and apologies for the gesture.

But a young Mets fan managed to steal the show in the process.

Francisco Lindor gives a thumbs up at the U.S. Open amid Mets controversy

Could this be a preview of what’s to come at Citi Field?

Did Francisco Lindor give a preview of what New York Mets players will do when they return to Citi Field on Tuesday night?

We’ll see. But on Monday, the shortstop who was part of the group of players giving thumbs down signals in response to booing fans was at the U.S. Open, where a fan shouted out to him, “Hey Frankie! Thumbs up from now on, baby. Thumbs up! No more thumbs down. Thumbs up, let’s go. Hit .320, no one will boo.”

Telling him to hit better might be oversimplifying things, but hey: Lindor responded with a thumbs up! Here’s the video:

We’ll see if that’s what we see on Tuesday night.

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The best photos of Javier Baez, Francisco Lindor giving ‘thumbs down’ to Mets fans at Citi Field

This particular scenario has been brewing for a long time at Citi Field.

New York Mets middle infielders Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez upset fans at Citi Field by flashing thumbs down in their direction.

While beef between players and fans usually occurs between the home fans and the road team, the Mets have always had their own way of doing things. This particular scenario has been brewing for a long time, as Lindor has been on the receiving end of boos all season long.

Lindor has used the negative energy as fuel for his fire in the past but the two players have heard it go on for long enough and now, they’re fed up.

Deesha Thosar, a beat reporter who covers the team, relayed the message from Baez (via NY Daily News):

“We’re not machines, we’re going to struggle. … It just feels bad when I strikeout and I get booed. … We’re going to do the same thing to let them know how it feels.”

Baez, who made his debut with the team less than a month ago in late July and hasn’t had the warmest welcome, wanted fans to have a taste of their own medicine. As he put it, simply put, they are going to get booed when the team has success.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, Baez has a point. You expect to get jeered when you’re on the road but when you’re at home, a more welcome environment would certainly help.

Lifelong Mets fan and NBA star Donovan Mitchell didn’t seem to mind, anyway. Mets president Sandy Alderson, however, doesn’t agree.

As he noted, fans are “understandably frustrated” by the recent performance of the team. The executive said that he loves New York fans for how “loyal, passionate, knowledgeable and more than willing to express themselves” they are for their team. He added that they have “every right” to express their disappointment with the on-field product.

The players and the organization are “equally” frustrated, per Alderson, but he will hold a team meeting to tell them players cannot be negative towards fans (via Mets):

“In a post-game press conference today, Javy Baez stated that his “thumbs down” gesture during the game was a message to fans who recently have booed him and other players for poor performance. These comments, and any gestures by him or other players with a similar intent, are totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

Frankly, there are far worse things that have happened within the Mets organization and in comparison, this feels like small potatoes.

However, this somehow isn’t the first time (!) the team has issued a statement about a gesture someone within the organization gave towards the crowd. It’s also not the first time that someone putting their thumbs down at Citi Field has made headlines.

But this time around, we have more photographic evidence. Scroll down for the best photos we could find of the new incidents in question:

A mic’d-up Francisco Lindor forgot what day it was in an extremely relatable exchange with umps

Been there.

For the past year — especially in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic — time had seemingly made no sense. Days felt long while some months flew by. It was weird to follow.

And, of course, it was so easy to lose track of what day it was in the week.

With that in mind, we can thank Francisco Lindor for this delightfully relatable exchange he had with umpires during last Wednesday’s 7-6 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Lindor greeted the umpires and said, “Happy Sunday.” The problem: It wasn’t Sunday at all. It just happened to be a Wednesday that felt like a Sunday. We all know how that feels.

You know it’s really going to be a long week when a Wednesday feels like a Sunday. It definitely sounded familiar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLAeJIr5leM

But this brings up a bigger point: MLB really needs to mic-up more players. It’s always great to give fans insight into the game’s best personalities. There needs to be more of that.

https://youtu.be/pzN93qXVXBc

 

Mets fully lean into raccoon bit with ‘Rat or Raccoon’ scoreboard quiz after tunnel debacle

“Rat or Raccoon” is our new favorite scoreboard game.

We’ll likely never know the truth of whether or not a raccoon (or rat!) was making a disturbance during the New York Mets game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday. Even still, the Mets are fully embracing the meme with a new scoreboard quiz asking fans to identify rats and raccoons based on specific facts.

In case you missed it, on Friday night Mets infielders Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil were involved in some sort of disturbance in the New York tunnel. Though there was no video of the actual incident, it was big enough to draw the cameras towards that area after Mets players were seen running in that direction.

After the game, people were not convinced with Lindor’s explanation that it was in fact, either a rat or raccoon (or possum) that drew the pair’s attention and not an altercation of some kind. And yet, Lindor and McNeil stuck to their stories and thus, a meme has been born.

There is, of course, video to go along with the Mets new in-game scoreboard shenanigans.

You know what, I’m here for this type of fan engagement. Whether or not Lindor and McNeil were telling the truth, whatever the debacle ended up being was clearly not that serious.

Good on the Mets for capitalizing on the big story of the day in such a funny and clever way!

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Rat, raccoon or cover-up? What actually happened in the Mets’ tunnel?

I guess we’ll never know for sure what happened in that tunnel.

The New York Mets were the talk of the baseball world on Friday night, and it had nothing to do with their 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in extra innings and everything to do with a common New York debate between rat and raccoon — and possibly a possum.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, something happened in the Mets’ tunnel between infielders Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil, which was enough to draw the attention from several Mets running toward it and out of sight of the cameras. Then, as if nothing had happened at all, everyone came back out on the field and the game resumed.

But, for the sake of context, it’s worth noting that a notable seventh-inning miscommunication between Lindor and McNeil — which allowed Arizona’s Nick Ahmed to reach on an infield single — happened just moments before the tunnel incident.

After video surfaced, people speculated that Lindor and McNeil had gotten into some kind of altercation, which was impossible to know for sure given there was no video of what actually went down in the tunnel.

Naturally, there were questions after the game — and it wasn’t about the Mets’ 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks in extra innings. Lindor fielded questions about the tunnel incident, for which he had an interesting explanation involving a rat, a raccoon or a potential cover-up.

“It was funny,” Lindor said. “I told [McNeil] that I’d never seen a New York rat. So went down sprinting. I wanted to go see a New York rat. And he’s like, ‘No, it’s not a rat. It’s a raccoon.’ I was like, ‘Hell no! It’s a damn rat. It’s a New York rat.'”

It seemed like a ridiculous explanation, and Mets beat writers had their doubts. But Lindor stuck to his story — no matter the skepticism — and even McNeil backed up Lindor’s story about the rat-raccoon debate.

“Like [Lindor] said,” McNeil said, “a nice debate about a rat or a raccoon. To be honest, I thought it was actually a possum. So not a raccoon, but a possum.”

But people aren’t buying it, believing that it was something else that caused half the dugout to rush down into the tunnel.

Whatever happened in that tunnel, we’ll never know. That’s between Lindor, McNeil, the Mets and the rat/raccoon/possum.

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Phillies fans were absolutely furious after umpires botch base path call on Andrew McCutchen

What a brutal, unreviewable call.

There have been some terrible calls (and I mean terrible) in the MLB just one month into the 2021 season, but this one against Andrew McCutchen might take the cake. During the Philadelphia Phillies Saturday night matchup against the New York Mets, the umpires made a disastrous, unreviewable call on McCutchen in the bottom of the seventh.

With one out and McCutchen on base, Matt Joyce put a ball in play in the infield for Francisco Lindor. Lindor thought about tagging McCutchen on his way to second, but instead went to first to get Joyce, who was called safe on the play.

The umpires then called McCutchen out at second base for deviating from the base path, an incredulous call as it seemed the base runner did nothing wrong on the play.

Taking a closer look at the play, McCutchen barely moved at all off the base path, basically moving in a straight line towards second base and not nearly running afoul of the MLB’s rule wherein a runner will be automatically out if moving more than three feet away from the base path to avoid a tag.

And yet, the call was made on the field stood as it was an unreviewable play. The officials on the field took a look at Joyce being called safe at first and reversed that call, meaning the inning came to a close for the Phillies on a double play.

Of course, baseball fans were not happy with the call and took to social media to express their displeasure.

The Phillies official Twitter account had something to say about the matter as well.

Even Bryce Harper, who was not playing in Saturday’s game, was ejected for being irate with the umpires.

After the game, Phillies manager Joe Girardi called the missed call “terrible” and expressed disappointment that it wasn’t reviewable.

The universe is probably calling back its due on the Phillies after a controversial call went the team’s way back in mid-April. But still, not a good look here for the MLB officiating crew.

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The Mets did exactly what they needed to do in paying Francisco Lindor so much money

It’s the best move.

Is Francisco Lindor worth the 10 years and $341 million he was just handed by the New York Mets on Wednesday night after a contract standoff?

That’s not the question you should be asking.

Here it is: what would have happened if the Mets didn’t lock him up long term?

The answer to that last one is all the LOLMETS tweets and “shame on the franchise that continues to do all the wrong things,” and endless jokes about how owner Steve Cohen is richer than like 20 MLB owners combined (not true, but he has A LOT more money than the next name on the list).

This is what good franchises do. They make trades like the one the Mets made for the free-agent-to-be star and then hand them whatever they want. Because you don’t get to trade for a young superstar still in his prime at an important position and then do something that might make said superstar think about being appreciated more elsewhere if he doesn’t get what he wants.

It doesn’t matter whether it was an overpay or not relative to what Fernando Tatis Jr. got from the San Diego Padres (per Spotrac, it was 14 years and $340 million). What matters is the Mets needed to prove to fans that what Cohen said at his opening press conference wasn’t just empty words. The fans need to know this franchise isn’t going to do the same thing over and over again.

And they got that with the Lindor signing.

Yes, there’s more to focus on beyond the deal. Home-grown talent Michael Conforto also needs an extension and deserves one. Two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom will need a big deal if he opts out after 2022.

But the present makes all parties happy — Lindor, the fans and even Lindor’s teammates:

It’s a sign that the Mets are well on their way to no longer being a laughingstock. And that’s worth whatever they paid Lindor and more.

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The Mets’ trade for Francisco Lindor is a message to fans

A big day for the franchise.

It was just over a week ago that New York Mets new owner Steve Cohen, known for his frequent entertaining and informative tweets, declared, “Newsflash, the Mets farm system needs to be replenished.”

It was true and still is.

But apparently acquiring a superstar like shortstop Francisco Lindor and a reliable veteran starting pitcher in Carlos Carrasco was too much of a draw to follow that logic.

On Thursday, the Mets finalized a trade that sent two of their stud prospects — infielder Andres Gimenez and pitcher Josh Wolf — along with outfielder Isaiah Greene and young, talented shortstop Ahmed Rosario to the Cleveland Indians for Lindor.

The message coming from the front office is clear: no longer will the Mets operate like a smaller-market team in a big-market city. They’re shoving all-in for one of the game’s best young talents with power, speed and fielding prowess, who will command a humongous salary next offseason. They’re bolstering the rotation with Carrasco. The LOL METS jokes — for a day — are in the rear-view mirror.

The Mets have made some notable trades in the last couple of decades — the acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes in 2015 comes to mind, and the trade for Johan Santana in 2008 as well. But this is bigger than either of those two. Not since the deal for Mike Piazza  in 1998 have the Mets made a splash like this, getting a young star still in his prime, a centerpiece type.

There could still be more coming — another starting pitcher, perhaps? But these two players, plus new catcher James McCann and reliever Trevor May, are ushering in a new era in Queens, exactly what Mets fans have been waiting for in the past few decades. And the players are excited, at least according to pitcher Marcus Stroman:

So, yes. Big day for the franchise and its fans. Cohen put his money where his mouth is and he’s delivering on the many promises he made from the moment he gained control of the team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIYjZ_s0LSw&ab_channel=USATODAYSports