ESPN personality and New York Mets special assistant Jessica Mendoza made waves on Thursday when she called out Mike Fiers for being the whistleblower that brought the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal to the forefront.
Mendoza’s comments were interesting in that they came shortly before Mets manager Carlos Beltran stepped down from his position. Beltran was implicated in the entire MLB investigation stemming from the Astros cheating during their title season of 2017.
In seemingly responding to Mendoza’s take, MLB threw nothing but support behind Fiers. “Mike Fiers did the right thing and should be commended,” a spokesperson told The NY Times on Thursday.
It’s not a surprise that the league would go to bat for the current Oakland Athletics starter. We’re also seeing more push back from other players directed at those suiting up for the Astros.
The common theme here has not been one that drags Fiers down for playing a big role in what we’ve seen transpire this week.
For his part, Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen distanced himself from his special assistant.
“Jessica was speaking as an ESPN analyst, not as a spokesman for the Mets, when she made the comments,” the GM said.
Mendoza has also attempted to clarify her stance from earlier in the day on ESPN.
This is all just a major cluster mess right now.
In addition to Beltran being shown the door in New York, the Astros fired manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow. The Boston Red Sox also moved on from manager Alex Cora.