Seattle sends Kelenic down before reunion
Sixers left with difficult decision as lack pf 'dedication' catching up to Beard
Instead of a “homecoming,” Jarred Kelenic got a demotion.
Hours before what would have been his first game against the Mets, three and a half years after they traded the outfield prospect to the Mariners in a blockbuster deal for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz, the struggling Kelenic was optioned to Triple-A.
Mariners manager Scott Servais delivered the news to Kelenic on Friday morning in New York, wiping out a Citi Field showdown between the 22-year-old and the organization that drafted him sixth-overall in 2018.
“To sum it up, not happy,” Servais said Kelenic’s reaction before the Mariners’ 2-1 win. “I don’t expect players to be happy when things like that don’t go their way, and he was off to a rough start. But I would say very mature. He understands where he’s at. He knows that it’s critical for him to be a big part of our offense for us to do well and how we’re built out.
“He wants to get it going right as quick as he can and knows maybe he does need to step back and get in an environment that’s going to allow him to do that. It’s probably not going to happen here right now, so let’s do the right thing for the player, which we’ve always tried to do. I think stepping back right now is the right thing.”
Kelenic, who debuted in the big leagues last year, made the Mariners’ roster this year out of spring training. But through 30 games, he was hitting just .140 with a .509 OPS and 36 strikeouts.
Servais pointed out multiple times that Kelenic is still only 22, which made him the ninth-youngest player in the majors on Opening Day.
George Kirby’s family and friends trekked across the country last weekend to see his MLB debut.
For his second big league start, they will only have to make the short drive from Rye.
Kirby will take the mound on Saturday night at Citi Field for the Mariners, pitching against the Mets about 30 minutes from where he grew up in Westchester County.
“It’s awesome,” Kirby said before the Mets’ 2-1 loss to the Mariners. “Couldn’t ask for a better lineup, throwing in Seattle and then coming back home for my second start. It’s pretty surreal.”
The 24-year-old righthander was impressive in his first start on Sunday against the Rays, tossing six shutout innings with seven strikeouts. About 15-20 family members and friends trekked to Seattle for his debut, but he expects at least 50 of them to be at Citi Field on Saturday.
“Last week, my friends made that promise to come and they did,” Kirby said. “It’s just awesome that they’re keeping up with me. A lot of my buddies, I went through it with them in high school baseball and even before that, so it’s just cool to see them around.”
Kirby, who grew up a Yankees fan, graduated from Rye High School in 2016. He was an MLB draft prospect that June, but he “pretty much told everyone I was going to school” at Elon University. The Mets eventually picked him in the 32nd round that year, though he never really considered signing.
➤ Kumar Rocker, the Vanderbilt right-hander whom the Mets drafted 10th overall last year, but did not sign because of concerns with his elbow, signed Friday with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the independent Frontier League.
Rocker is expected to begin pitching for the ValleyCats in about a month, The Post’s Joel Sherman reported, and will do so until the draft in July.
➤ Jeff McNeil worked a 14-pitch at-bat in the second inning before hitting an infield single . ... Brandon Nimmo (2-for-3) extended his hitting streak to a career-high nine games.
IN FEBRUARY, the question was: Which team won the James Harden-Ben Simmons trade? Now, it’s a question of which team took a bigger loss.
And right now, the 76ers have a Harden problem.
The former MVP was passiveaggressive in forcing his way from the Nets to the 76ers three months ago. But Harden’s season-ending performance on Thursday, when Philadelphia was eliminated by the Heat, was so putrid that people around the NBA are saying his time as a worthy supermax player won’t end during a potential extension. It’s already over.
What’s starting now is his time as a problem. The Sixers face the choice of paying him a potentially crippling max deal or letting him walk.
Oh, they have choices. And they’re all bad.
“I cannot commit to that if I’m the owner of the Sixers,” former Nets development coach Amar’e Stoudemire, who watched Harden for 1 ¹/2 seasons, said ahead of Game 6 between the 76ers and Heat. “I just don’t see the dedication that I need to see from one of the top 75 players. You have to have a certain level of dedication and focus to be the best player you can possibly be, and also be there for your teammates when they need you the most.
“In Game 6 you’re going to need him to play at a high level, and if he’s not capable of that — and as a max player — I’m not now willing to now give you a max contract if you’re not showing me you can handle this situation.”
As so often happens in elimination games, the situation handled Harden.
Sixers president Daryl Morey — who was Rockets general manager when Harden was in Houston — tipped his hand in trying to reunite with his former star. So Nets GM Sean Marks not only swapped his malcontent for Philadelphia’s problem, but extracted a sweetener of Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, two first-round picks and a couple of trade exceptions.
The Nets essentially gave up on winning the title this season to extend their window of contention, giving themselves a longer runway to climb out of their mess. Down the Turnpike, the 76ers pushed all their chips in to win now, with Joel Embiid having an MVP-caliber season. But that ended with their 99-90 loss to Miami in Game 6, which may have been the requiem on Harden’s run as a superstar.
The three-time scoring champion had just 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting with nine assists, four boards and four turnovers. After Sixers fans pilloried Simmons for scoring a combined three points in the final two fourth quarters of the Philadelphia’s second-round loss to the Hawks in 2021, Harden was held scoreless in the fourth quarter of both Game 5 and Game 6 against the Heat this year.
“The ball moved and just didn’t get back to me,” Harden said afterward. When asked if Rivers had called plays to get it to him, Harden huffed and said, “Next question.”
Here’s the rub: Harden never needed them. He was King of the Iso.
But that was before the hamstring injury he suffered with the Nets last season. Before years of partying and not taking care of himself conspired with injuries to sap his explosion. That’s why Thursday wasn’t a choke job. It was far worse for Philadelphia. It was Harden no longer being capable of carrying a team.
“I don’t think he is this season,” Stoudemire said. “Because [of] not being in top shape. Not taking your body serious.”
As recently as 2019-20, Harden blew by his defender on 44.1 percent of his drives. That fell to 30.3 percent last season and to 29.1 percent this season, according to Second Spectrum.
“Since we got him, everybody expected the Houston James Harden,” Embiid said. “But that’s not who he is anymore.”
So he can’t get paid like he is. The Nets knew it. The 76ers are finding it out.
Harden has a $47 million player option for next season. He could ink a four-year, $223 million extension, or opt-out and re-sign a five-year pact for $269.9 million — one that would pay an onerous $61 million in the last year, when he will be 37.
The 76ers committed to Doc Rivers as their coach on Friday morning. Will Harden be with him? When asked Thursday night if he’d opt-in, Harden said, “I’ll be here.”
But the question is: Should the 76ers even want that? The smart money says no.
PHIL Mickelson’s exile, not only from professional golf, but also from public life, will continue through the PGA Championship next week. That’s not only a shame for the sport, but a stain on the second major championship of the year.
The 51-year-old Mickelson won’t defend his historic 2021 PGA Championship title next week at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla. A year ago, Mickelson became the oldest major champion in the history of the sport when he captured the PGA at age 50 with a virtuoso performance on Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course in South Carolina.
Next week, he’ll be conspicuous by his absence.
“We have just been informed that Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from the PGA Championship,” read a statement released by the PGA of American on Friday afternoon. “Phil is the defending champion and currently eligible to be a PGA Life Member and we would have welcomed him to participate. We wish Phil and [wife] Amy the very best and look forward to his return to golf.”
Mickelson hasn’t played competitively in more than three months. He has withdrawn from public life since explosive and controversial comments he made about the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed league fronted by Greg Norman were published — and which Mickelson claimed were part of a private conversation with a golf writer.
Nevertheless, the backlash has been whiplash-like, leaving Mickelson reeling away from public view. Mickelson skipped the Masters last month at Augusta National, the first time he hadn’t played there since 1994. He has won that tournament, which he calls his favorite, three times, and he still believes he can win there.
Now, he’ll miss defending his 2021 PGA Championship, which might have been the most remarkable of his six major victories, considering his age.
To be clear: Mickelson made some serious mistakes. Even by his own admission, calling out the PGA Tour for “obnoxious greed’’ in an interview with Golf Digest’s John Huggan was not a good look.
What followed, calling out the Saudis as “scary motherf--kers’’ for the human rights atrocities that take place there and admitting he was using the LIV Golf Invitational Series that nation backs as leverage against the PGA Tour, was a mistake considering he made an assumption he was speaking off the record with the reporter without stating the conversation as off the record before speaking.
But when is enough, enough? Mickelson broke no laws. Other players have made more egregious errors in the court of public opinion. Think Tiger Woods on more than one occasion (wrecking his family with rampant infidelity and multiple dangerous motor vehicle incidents). And yet Woods remains a deified figure in the sport.
“[Mickelson] will be back,’’ Jim Nantz, CBS’s lead golf broadcaster, said this week. “Sometimes, we get caught up in the cyclone of the story, and we think it’s forever. It won’t be forever. He’ll be back, he’ll play, he’s got a ton of fans out there. This is a forgiving nation, and there’s a million examples of people finding their way back to being on top again, and I fully expect he will one day.’’
PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh, in a recent interview with the 5 Clubs podcast, made a comment that suggested Mickelson has been serving a PGA Tour suspension. Waugh spoke about Mickelson getting a press conference out of the way before teeing it up again.
“The idea is if he does play, and if he’s able to and allowed to … he would certainly have to face the media,’’ Waugh said of the prospect of Mickelson playing next week.
That “if he’s allowed to’’ comment raised questions of whether Waugh knows something the rest of us don’t. The PGA of America and the PGA Tour are separate governing bodies, but Waugh and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan are close and very much align with each other on policies.
Waugh also revealed that he has had “a number of ’’ conversations with Mickelson.
“I think he’s trying to figure out when the right time is for him,” Waugh said. “I think the game is trying to figure out the right time for him, too. How long is enough?’’ Now is “enough.’’
News of Mickelson’s withdrawal was bad for the 104th PGA Championship and, more importantly, bad for golf.