The Mets don’t have a Javy Baez issue. They have a Francisco Lindor issue.
Baez is an accidental tourist. He will be a Mets footnote. A guy who will really learn what boos sound like at Citi Field when he shows up in his next team’s uniform.
Lindor is furniture. He has a 10-year contract that does not even begin until next season. And that 10-year contract is central to why Lindor is the focus. When he was traded to the Mets, Lindor had no control. He lacked a no-trade clause.
But he did have control beyond this season. And it would not have taken Ph.D dissertation-level research to know that if you accept the mega-contract to be The Man here, what the downside is: A passionate fan base holding you accountable if things go wrong. The boos are going to rain — and so are calls to sports talk radio, critical columns and voluminous nasty social media posts.
Dave Winfield signed a 10-year contract here and was booed despite being a great player most of his stay. Alex Rodriguez came with 10 years left on his deal and won MVPs here and was booed. Giancarlo Stanton also came with 10 years left on his deal and has been the main Yankee target in bad times. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera helped bring championships and got booed. Patrick Ewing. Phil Simms. Brian Cashman, midway through this season, was enduring endless calls for his firing; the front office equivalent of being booed.
I actually think booing is stupid. Imagine being at your job and having someone boo a misstep. I know, the players make so much money. But no matter how much you earn, you wouldn’t want someone booing you at work. This, though, is a fight I will not win. Fans feel if they pay for entry that booing is the acceptable way to voice displeasure. It is part of the deal, here more than in other places. And taking on a fan base is like fighting ocean waves, you will not win.
So if you are going to sign here like Winfield or force your way here like A-Rod and Stanton, you have to know what awaits in bad times. Lindor certainly had to know because Winfield, A-Rod, Stanton and many others came before him. And he still took the 10-year, $341 million extension. Maybe it was just too much to spurn despite doubts. But once you take it, there is that devilish deal. Rightly or wrongly, it comes with the paycheck size.
Thus, participating in juvenile thumbs-down hand gestures to symbolize booing back at the crowd says so many bad things about Lindor and his surroundings. Where was someone who has been a Met a while — a Michael Conforto or a Jacob deGrom — to be the adult in the room and explain how wrong this would spin if it got out.
And this probably did start as a bit of an inside rallying cry. But there was no way such a public display was not going to be questioned. Give Baez this, he didn’t suggest it was rats or raccoons. He told the truth about what the thumbs-down represented. And I will give Baez this, also: I think he saw how adversely the booing was impacting his pal, Lindor, and others such as Conforto and felt like this would be a way to perhaps protect and unify.
But it was the wrong message and messenger. Baez just became a Met. He came from Wrigley, where he was never booed despite annually worsening results from him and his teammates. After all, he was part of the group put on scholarship for winning the curse-busting World Series in 2016. In New York, though, Baez does not have that collateral.
Neither does Lindor. Past performance, especially outside of New York, was not going to help. And Lindor has not been a good player this season — ranking 147th in OPS-plus out of 174 players with at least 350 plate appearances. What made Sunday’s thumbs-down revelations so mistimed is that Lindor was probably the best player on the field, excelling in every phase to fuel a Mets victory.
And, really, that is the only way to win the fans. What Baez and Lindor and Kevin Pillar, who also participated in the silliness, should understand is that the booing is the sign of fan passion; they care so much. Trust me, if Baez or Lindor homers to win the game Tuesday, the fans will cheer madly. Lindor has to figure out a way to embrace all this, understand that he is not in Cleveland anymore, but in a baseball-crazed town. It’s harder to be Mr. Smiles here, which is why Lindor, vitally, must see the silver lining: The booing equals passion (and baseball commerce) at such an outsized level that his new team willingly did what his old would never consider — pay him $341 million; in the Mets’ case without ever seeing him play in their uniform.
Lindor needs more of Sunday’s game — wins in which he was special. Hands down, that is the only way to truly win this fan base.
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