NY Mets News: Javier Baez showed us he doesn’t get it

There’s being out of touch and then there’s this. Following the New York Mets victory on Sunday over the Washington Nationals, Javier Baez had some interesting things to say about the fans. Let’s go to Twitter for more:

Goodness. Gracious. Who do you think you are?

It took 17 games for Baez to show the fans he just doesn’t get it.

Javier Baez is not making any friends with Mets fans

A day less than a full month as a member of the Mets, Baez sat in front of a microphone and explained the new “celebration” the team has which includes a thumb down. It’s a response to the fans booing the team—the one they have supported for years that has let them down more often than not.

Baez’s comments are bigger than the reaction of Mets fans. Boos will come from any fan base. As silly as it is to engage in, fans have every right to express themselves with boos and occasional boo-urns.

It’s funny to hear Baez as the first Mets player to express such disdain for the Mets fans’ treatment. Francisco Lindor has commented on it in the past, but he didn’t start a war with the fans.

Since Baez joined the club, they have been in an absolute freefall from first place down to a distant third. It’s not all on his shoulders. However, to have such an out-of-touch opinion and express it so openly and casually comes as such a huge shock to my system.

Getting booed is never fun. I’ve had it done to me. I got over it, though. As a professional athlete, it comes with the job. Not every at-bat is going to be a great one and even the greatest fielders boot the occasional groundball. Boos are inevitable for almost everyone. Comments like these only dump gasoline on an already raging fire.

Javier Baez is just asking to get booed more

How do you get an angry fan base even angrier? You tell them not to show how angry they are. This is precisely what Baez has done and I suspect his next at-bat at Citi Field includes more boos than he has ever heard before.

While Baez has no loyalty to the Mets fan, the fan has even less loyalty to him. He hits home runs and catches balls for us. We show up and help pay his salary.

Attendance numbers for the Mets have been miserable all year long. Many factors play into it. In these final few weeks of the season, comments like these will make fans want to show up even less.

You don’t pick a fight with someone smaller than you and you should never criticize a fanbase for expressing their opinion. Fans should always come first in games like this. Outrageous comments like these are driving people away. I have a hard time believing he was never booed in Chicago. Are they as carefree still as Lee Elia insisted back in the early 1980s?

Earlier in the day on Sunday, I saw Justin Toscano tweet this about J.D. Davis:

I grew up in a different era of the game where you could actually get up close to players, interact, and share a moment. This was only about 25 years ago and I saw as things gradually changed over time. Salaries are bigger, distance between the fans and players are greater, and it feels less like players represent the paying customer.

There is only one way to respond to boos; you go out there and you do your job. A boo is just a dumb noise people make because sometimes there are no words to put to it. Understand this and maybe the last month with the Mets won’t be so bad.

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On top of everything else, Francisco Lindor is involved in the thumbs down-ing too. This might be a long decade.