Billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen blasts players for giving crowd 'thumbs down' in retaliation for booing slumping team: 'They hit the third rail by messing with fans'
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen said Monday that his protesting players who gave the crowd the thumbs down over the weekend 'hit the third rail by messing with fans.'
Cohen's reprimand came after Javier Baez was the ringleader of a trio of players who pushed back at booing Mets fans with thumbs-down gestures during Sunday's victory over the Washington Nationals.
It was a rare win for the former first-place team, which has gone 8-19 in August to fall 7 ½ games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East.
The team's billionaire owner said that was no excuse for insulting a fan base that has stuck by a club without a World Series crown in 35 years.
'These are young guys and sometimes we forget they are on a public stage and can make mistakes,' Cohen told the New York Post. 'They hit the third rail, though, by messing with fans. And it is unacceptable. Hopefully, this is a teaching moment and they will learn from this.'
Javier Baez gives Mets fans at Citi Field a taste of their own medicine with two thumbs down after hearing from boobirds about the team's lackluster play
Javier Báez says the thumbs down celebration is in response to the fans booing the team
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 29, 2021
"I play for the fans and I love the fans but if they're gonna do that, they're putting more pressure on the team" pic.twitter.com/cjUER4M2Pt
Javier Báez says the thumbs down celebration is in response to the fans booing the team
"I play for the fans and I love the fans but if they're gonna do that, they're putting more pressure on the team" pic.twitter.com/cjUER4M2Pt
High-priced free agent signing Francisco Lindor, who has batted .224 in injury-plagued first season of 10-year contract, flashes thumbs-down sign after a hit Sunday
Cohen's comments dug deeper than his tweet late Sunday night.
'I miss the days when the biggest controversy was the black jerseys.'
Baez first gave the thumbs down after hitting a home run in the win over the Nationals. Francisco Lindor and Kevin Pillar also mimicked the gesture during and after the game.
'We're not machines. We're going to struggle seven times out of 10,' Baez said after the game. 'It just feels bad when I strike out and I get booed. I want to let them know that when we have success, we're going to do the same thing to let them know how it feels.'
Mets president Sandy Alderson rebuked Baez and the players after Sunday's game.
'These comments, and any gestures by him or other players with a similar intent, are totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated,' Alderson said in a statement. 'Booing is every fan's right. ... The Mets will not tolerate any player gesture that is unprofessional in its meaning or is directed in a negative way toward our fans. I will be meeting with our players and staff to convey this message directly.'
Baez, acquired by the Mets at the trade deadline, is an impending free agent and will likely not be in a New York uniform next season.
Baez’s reputation within the league is mixed after his involvement with several major on-field incidents.
He was recently fined for taunting Cincinnati Reds reliever Amir Garrett after homering during a game earlier in this season, when he was still playing for the Cubs.
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) and second baseman Javier Baez (23) celebrate after defeating the Washington Nationals 9-4 at Citi Field
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen said Monday that his protesting players who gave the crowd thumbs down over the weekend 'hit the third rail by messing with fans'
Mets president Sandy Alderson has since rebuked Baez. 'These comments, and any gestures by him or other players with a similar intent, are totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated,' Alderson said in a statement. 'Booing is every fan's right. ... The Mets will not tolerate any player gesture that is unprofessional in its meaning or is directed in a negative way toward our fans. I will be meeting with our players and staff to convey this message directly'
The two have a long history, which included several near-brawls.
Lindor, however, signed a 10-year, $341 million deal before the season. In his first campaign in New York, he is hitting .224 with a career-low .316 on-base percentage.
Largely supportive and team-friendly in his first season as the team's owner, Cohen opened up on the sliding Mets in a Twitter post on August 18, criticizing the offense and its missing professional approach.
The team had entered the month with a 3 1/2-game lead in its division.
'It's hard to understand how professional hitters can be this unproductive. The best teams have a more disciplined approach,' Cohen wrote via Twitter. 'The slugging and OPS numbers don't lie.'
Cohen was referencing a pair of statistics in his tweet: slugging percentage, which measures the number of bases a hitter gets per at-bat, and OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage), which is a composite statistic aimed at grading a batter's overall impact.
Entering Wednesday, Mets hitters ranked 26th out of 30 MLB teams with a .380 slugging percentage and 24th with a .693 OPS