Perhaps feeling heat of public puzzlement over his abject mishandling of CF Juan Lagares (above), Mets manager Terry Collins, ie. The Caretaker With Tenure, addressed scribes before Sunday’s 6-3 loss to Washington and essentially claimed the controversy was little more than a media creation. From the NY Post’s Mike “Thank Fucking God For Terry Collins Or I’d Be Washing Windshields” Puma :
“It’s not like I sat him for seven days,” Collins said. “We get a little carried away here. Somebody gets a day off here and it’s like the sky is falling. It’s not. He’s the center fielder.”
“This is what the market is here. If I give [Curtis Granderson] a day off, he’s benched. If I give [Chris Young] a day off, he’s benched. If I give Juan a day off, he’s benched. That’s not really the case, but I know you’ve got to sell newspapers so do what you’ve got to.”
Chris Young was on the bench Sunday, with Eric Young Jr. and Granderson joining Lagares in the starting outfield. Collins said it’s a challenge juggling four outfielders for three spots.
“[But] I don’t get too bent out of shape about it because I know in the long run, over the next 120 games, they are all going to play,” he said.
Terry does make an excellent point about selling papers. What with boring, inconsequential stories like the Rangers’ Stanley Cup run, the NBA Playoffs, Michael Sam’s draft smooch, Donald Sterling’s continued embarrassments and I dunno, another baseball time in the Bronx that occasionally generates some attention, is it any wonder that sports editors have leapt all of this Juan Lagares mess with such zeal? Who could’ve been surprised when failure to prioritize the Largares story cost Jill Abramson her job?