Wilpon snippy over question at Piazza event
Jeff Wilpon, the Mets chief operating officer, was in attendance Thursday for a ceremony that honored Mike Piazza with an address change in Port St. Lucie. The timing of the ceremony was fascinating, as the event took place less than two hours before the team officially parted ways with manager Carlos Beltran.
The Mets, including Wilpon, had up until that point remained silent on the future of Beltran and his entanglement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
A reporter broached the topic in a media scrum shortly after the ceremony concluded. He asked Wilpon how difficult the last couple of days have been since commissioner Rob Manfred’s nine-page report cited Beltran as a player with knowledge and involvement of the trashcan-banging scheme.
“Does that have to do with Mike Piazza?” Wilpon quipped.
“No, but it’s a relevant question,” the reporter responded.
“No, it’s really not,” Wilpon said. “We’re talking about Mike Piazza Drive today.”
Evidently, Piazza was not the only topic the Mets discussed on Thursday. The team finally broke its silence on Beltran’s precarious job status on the four-day mark. Since MLB’s report was released Monday, dismissals around the league had put pressure on the Mets to make a decision regarding their manager, who was a player on the 2017 Astros championship team.
Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, manager A.J. Hinch and Red Sox manager Alex Cora have all been fired by their respective organizations. Beltran was the final name from the report to depart from holding a position on a major league coaching staff.
The Mets, the City of Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie County honored Hall of Famer Piazza by renaming the street formerly known as NW Stadium Dr. to Piazza Drive and changing the official address of the Mets Spring Training facility to 31 Piazza Drive.