New York Mets outfielder Jordany Valdespin was demoted to Triple-A Las Vegas Saturday, much to his dismay. In fact, he was so displeased about the decision he let everyone in the clubhouse know it, according the New Jersey Star Ledger citing two sources. The sources asked to remain anonymous.
After manager Terry Collins gave Valdespin the news following the Mets 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, he began to yell and throw a tantrum in the clubhouse. One source said Bullpen coach Ricky Bones was forced to calm him down.
"He’s not helping himself," said a source. "Everyone gets upset when that happens, but you just need to shut up and pack your bags.”
Valdespin also had a similar episode as a rookie in 2012 after some of his teammates made him the target of a prank in San Francisco.
The 25-year old MLB sophomore has caused some issues with the Mets since his career began.
For example, the Mets were playing the Pirates in May and Valdepsin hit a homerun. He proceeded to flip his bat and admire his work even though the Pirates were up by a bunch of runs on the Metropolitans.
Valdespin was later pegged during the series in what was deemed to be retaliation for his theatrics. The incident sparked controversy when the Mets did not respond by hitting one of the Pirates players.
"He still doesn’t get it," said a witness to Saturday night’s events.
Valdespin had not been performing well in the Majors prior to his demotion. He had only two hits in his last 36 at bats and his batting average was .188. His demotion made room for reliever Scott Atchison who was on the disabled list.
Coach Terry Collins hopes Valdespin’s everyday playing time in the minors will help him grow.
"We've talked about this many times: It's hard for a young player who has pretty much spent his whole career as an everyday player to come up and play, maybe, once a week and then come off the bench and hit," said Collins. "It's very difficult. So he's got to go get some playing time. He's got to go get his swing back -- certainly get back in the lineup. If he's going to come back, at least he's got to get some at-bats."
Valdespin commented on his demotion and the incident through his Twitter account Monday morning.
“Though I try not to get upset about things that are written about me,its tough for me not to react to the article about me disrespecting my manager. I was very upset with myself for not helping the team when I was given the opportunity to play. I respect my manager organization's decision to send me to triple A and am working very hard to become a better player and teammate and will hopefully be back to NY soon to do whatever is needed of me.
The Mets returned home Sunday to begin All-Star festivities in their home ballpark, Citi Field. The Homerun Derby will be held tonight at 8 p.m. and the All-Star game will take place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Mets third baseman David Wright and starting pitcher Matt Harvey are on the National League All-Star team. Harvey is expected to start the game. Wright is the captain for the National League’s HR Derby team.
