First bat, now there’s
Iguess you can’t blame Carlos Beltran for being bitter. Unfairly or not, for all of the good he did as a Met, his time in Queens came to be defined by that infamous strike three to end the 2006 NLCS, to the point where Fred Wilpon pantomimed that at-bat against Adam Wainwright when asked by The New Yorker magazine in 2011 if the Mets were cursed.
Still, it was a bit stunning to find out on Friday, years later, just how strongly he felt about the way things ended between him and his old ballclub. Indeed, on the same day he was thrilled to be introduced as a Yankee, Beltran spoke of what he seemed to perceive as a smear campaign by Mets management — the result of a couple of “controversies,” as he called them.
“The organization tried to paint me as a bad apple,” Beltran said.
He referred specifically to the team’s visit — that Beltran missed — to pay tribute to wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center during a 2010 series in Washington, and his 2011 knee surgery that the Mets objected to at least initially.
“I can deal with the 0-for-4s, with three strikeouts, and talking to you guys,” Beltran said, speaking to the print media after his introductory press conference. “But when somebody’s trying to hurt you in a personal way, trying to put things out there that are not me, then we have trouble. Now it’s personal.
“When they say all of that, of course I was hurt because you can’t believe the organization that signed you for seven years is trying to put you down.”
Beltran didn’t refer to anyone by name, but when he was asked specifically about Wilpon’s comments in that New Yorker article, in which the Mets’ owner also implied it was a mistake to sign Beltran for $119 million off one great postseason, the player shrugged. “It wasn’t right,” he said. “Put it that way.” The Mets, through spokesman Jay Horwitz, declined to respond to Beltran’s comments, issuing a statement that said, “The statistics speak for themselves. Carlos Beltran was one of the best outfielders in Mets history. We wish him well.”
That’s the sad part here. Beltran had some great seasons for the Mets and, for a team with a history of free-agent busts, mostly lived up to that big contract. On the other hand, it’s not like Beltran is making this stuff up; the Mets did their share of whispering about him over the controversies he referenced.
But why, you may wonder, did Beltran decide to unload on the Mets on this day, more than two years since he was traded for Zack Wheeler — a day when he was thrilled to be signing with the Yankees?
Knowing Beltran over the years, I think he’ll usually tell you what he’s thinking. In this case his rant didn’t seem premeditated, if you will.
It actually started when Beltran, in a