Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor conceded Tuesday that they were wrong to give booing New York Mets fans the thumbs down gesture on Sunday at Citi Field.
Both infielders addressed the media after a team meeting in advance of their afternoon game against the Miami Marlins.
“It does not look good on our part,” Lindor said.
“The media here is honest. The fans here are honest. In other places, they are very honest but they keep to themselves a little bit more. Here, I have a lot of respect for fans. They let you know. As soon as I come down, if I sucked, I made an error, they’ll let me know.
“I don’t think we have a bunch of guys complaining all the time about the media, the fans, the city,” the shortstop continued. “No no no. We’re playing the game. We’re trying to win. We’re trying to do whatever it takes to win and represent the organization the right way.”
Baez added his apology.
“I didn’t mean to offend anybody,” Baez said Tuesday. “I didn’t say the fans are bad. I love the fans. But I just felt like we were alone. The fans obviously want us to win, and they pay our salary, like everybody says. But we want to win, too. The frustration got to us, and I didn’t mean to offend anybody, and if I did offend anybody, we apologize.”
Mets manager Luis Rojas said the team used the meeting to discuss what happened — and said it won’t happen again.
Team brass, including president Sandy Alderson and owner Steve Cohen, were quick to condemn the players’ action, but Rojas said both Baez and Lindor understood their action was wrong.
“Guys were accountable today,” Rojas said. “Javier and Francisco showed up and they were accountable.”
He declined to divulge further details of the meeting.
“As far as who spoke and what was the message and how long it was, we’d rather keep that in house. We did have a message to address what happened a couple days ago, make things right, and move forward,” Rojas said.
The Mets will be ready to put August behind them. They entered play Tuesday seven games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. On Aug. 1, the Mets had a 3 1/2-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies.
–Field Level Media