Joel Sherman confirms an added layer to the NY Mets locker room issues

We might need to start taking everything Adam Ottavino said about the New York Mets back in November as gospel. Along with his critique of the way Carlos Mendoza handled pitchers, he discussed some of the bits and pieces about the idea of trading Brandon Nimmo. He didn’t see it coming.

Hidden in there was a little bit about how the dynamics within the locker room were. It has been becoming more clear there was more to the strife behind the scene than we realized. When Nimmo was traded, Buster Olney had a strange tweet about how it would lead the way toward Francisco Lindor getting named captain.

It turns out there may have been something to that thought after all. As Joel Sherman wrote, one of the reasons why Lindor didn’t get a C on his shirt was because of how it would make Nimmo feel.

David Stearns is the Yoko Ono of a Mets locker room that needed to be broken up

The idea of a captain on a baseball team is overblown and Mets fans talk about it way too often. The franchise has a strong history of putting C’s on chests. More than likely, a big part of your fandom took place with David Wright representing the organization to perfection.

If Nimmo was as hot and bothered by the idea of Lindor becoming a captain, it’s a terrible dynamic to work with. It’s a bit petty yet also unfair at the same time. Nimmo has been regarded as a captain with the locker room for a couple of years, too. As the longest tenured Mets player, stepping aside for anyone else can be understood as disrespect.

A star, or at least important, Mets position player hasn’t come through this team in the last couple of seasons without fans wondering if he deserved to be the captain. The chatter in 2019 was for Pete Alonso to become one. Back in April 2021, fans were even talking about the idea of Michael Conforto, Jacob deGrom, and Dominic Smith (!!!) being named captain.

The Nimmo trade certainly cleared up any misconception as to who the leader of this Mets team is. Lindor is quickly about to become the longest tenured player on the roster. They’re a Jeff McNeil and David Peterson trade away from it.

The larger question is whether the Mets should award Lindor with the captaincy. They’ve added Marcus Semien, a leader from the Texas Rangers. Juan Soto isn’t someone who appears ready to be a leader or follower of Lindor’s. Given the fallout of this locker room breakup, it’s probably best to stay away from it. Real leaders don’t need a patch on their jersey to dignify what it is they’re doing.