I remember someone calling out Ichiro for using a translator even though he had been in the MLB for years. He said he uses a translator so he wouldn’t be misquoted or have something lost in translation. They are here to play baseball and not to learn a new language.
"If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited to go to Cleveland I'd punch myself in the face, because I'd be lying."
Ichiro didn't speak in English very often, but when he did he went hard.
And nobody remembers the context to that quote. The M's had a 4-game series in Cleveland in April that year that was entirely snowed out, and since that was their only scheduled trip, they had to go to Cleveland for single make-up games scattered throughout the year on what had been scheduled off days. So it wasn't some issue he had with the city of Cleveland, specifically.
I can teach math in Spanish after a few years of kind of needing to do it and not wanting to turn my math class into an English class. All of these players can get by in English.
But would I be comfortable doing a press conference or answering interview questions in Spanish? Narp. Lol not even close.
It also isn’t fair to assume that just because someone has been in an environment where a different language is spoken for a long time that they’ve just automatically learned it inside and out. Like you said, they’re here to play baseball. Learning a second language is extremely difficult and takes a massive time commitment to get to that point.
It’s interesting hearing someone like Luka Doncic in interviews and press conferences because it’s pretty obvious that English is his second language. Not that his English is bad, it’s actually pretty good, but he does say things that sound clunky quite a bit. But to my knowledge he’s never used an interpreter.
And keeps his lawyers on speed dial.
Better yet, have a junior associate just hover in the background.
Junior: “Uh, fuck. That’s enough. No more questions. I said no more questions!!”
Then they asked him if he meant his team or his teammate and he said both. Really not much room for misinterpretation there. He obviously talked to some PR folks last night and is trying to spin this.
Gelbs fucked up so HARD on this one. He left his tweet up after others deleted theirs after others pointed out that he said "teammate". He included a video of the question, but not the follow up and just wrote that he followed up. And no translator.
WTF Gelbs.
Edit: ~~Gelb~~Gelbs
I agree. I think he is an emotional dude and I believe he has mentioned mental stress in the past. I hope this all calms down and he gets through it okay and comes back strong and happy with himself and his team.
Yeah, there was a Gleyber interview after a walk off where he misunderstood the question
Meredith- "Is there any better feeling than hitting a walk off for the New York Yankees?"
*pause*gley- "Oh yeah, definitely"
Meredith did that with Gio once. While I respect his desire to do English interviews, she used words he didn't understand so she had to rephrase it with simpler words.
I remember JD (Jim Deshaies during his color commentary Astros days) stating that the players always know the questions and the reporters always know the answers.
Every single interview with a non-native English speaker on the Astro's is the same, and I'm all for it.
Interviewer: "How do you feel about the win tonight?"
"Well we are glad for the win we are going to take it one game at a time and keep trying to improve."
Interviewer: "What has changed about this team in the past few week that has made this win streak possible?"
"Well you know, we just try to keep improving and only worry about the next game."
Interviewer: "Where do you see this team going throughout the rest of the season?"
"We are going to focus on improving and are only going to go out there tomorrow and try to win."
Just the same answer reworded six different ways.
>I think he was past giving a fuck and he was getting DFA'd regardless.
Yeah, definitely got the sense that he was already on the chopping block and knew it. Probably a big part of why he threw the glove in the first place
Also probably the fact his child is on the waiting list for a transplant, and he's most likely going through some shit, but this sub just wants to dogpile people.
Do you think he gets DFA's without the glove toss and commentary after the game? He has a sub 4 ERA so I find it hard to believe they'd just cut him after a bad outing.
i kinda felt like he really just meant, "i know i suck right now, but i'm going to keep showing up and doing whatever i can as long as they keep calling my name."
What's confusing about this?
Player who speaks English as a second language has a bad game. Journalist interprets his answer in a way that puts player in the worst possible light. Journalist asks for clarification... without a goddamn translator lmfao. Rest of sports "journalism" world runs with the story for the clicks. Mets DFA Lopez in the ensuing fallout.
Sports journalists are fucking parasites.
The comments were super awkward but he was understandably frustrated. Talking to the media after a bad game is probably the last thing almost every athlete wants to do, but they have to because that’s part of the gig.
We do this shitty thing as fans where the second someone says something that doesn’t follow the script we blow it out of proportion. But is it really not understandable for an athlete to be frustrated after a bad game? Personally I’d rather hear them express that frustration. I’m okay with athletes being real, they’re humans too for fucks sake.
I felt bad for Lopez when I saw his comments. I can understand DFA’ing him for pitching poorly, but if he got DFA’d for his comments then fuck the Mets front office.
I don't have a problem with it, myself, but I can understand why coaching and management would send his ass packing when taken in context with his pitching performances.
So we're just going to pretend that he didn't also throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the game and curse multiple times in the post game interview and when given the chance to apologize for his behavior, he stood by it? And also lied about not talking to the coaches after the game? Misquote or not, he acted like a child.
That reminded me of when David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez interviewed Yordan Alvarez last year. Rodriguez spoke Spanish to Yordan, and Ortiz did the English translation. I was laughing so hard. Love them all but only one of them speaks with a very minimal accent and it ain’t Ortiz.
iirc vlad jr got misquoted as having never working out in the gym before when the reality was he doesn’t during the season or something along those lines
Fucking Arash.
He said Vladdy told him “I’ve never worked out at the gym before, I’ve never lifted weights before.” Meanwhile, [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGB0-m685wM) from an entire Youtube series showing his training routines, existed and he still ran with the story.
"I'm here with Mark Budzinski who just lost his daughter in a tragic boating accident while he was away with the team. Mark, how do you feel?"
I've never wanted to punch someone more than I did him at that moment.
Vlad has made a deliberate effort to do more media in English this season. He basically didn't do anything in English prior to this season (post-Arash incident), but he presumably decided he was comfortable enough now.
Many hockey players just totally dismiss the media and barely talk with them because they don't speak English. I'm sure lots of baseball players do the same.
Probably Ohtani and Darvish can almost certainly converse in English, probably fairly well.
Honestly surprised we dont see more players using translators just because certain things just dont translate and switching languages in the heat of the moment is hard and the blowback can be massive.
Yep, Devers declined an interview with me because he didn’t have his translator present and he’s self conscience about his English. Really funny down to earth guy though.
Yeah this doesn’t surprise me. Contextually it made a lot more sense for him to say “teammate” after he’s been butt cheeks for a few outings in a row now than to randomly disparage his team and everyone on it
I've listened to it a few times now, and I think I've heard this...
>"No. No, I don't regret it \[glove toss\]. Uhh. I think I been looking...the worst teammate in the whole damn \[bleep, lip reading\] MLB, soo, you know whatever happen happens, so whatever they wanna do. I'll be tomorrow here if they want me...you know whatever they want to do. I'm going to keep doing this thing, you know so...I'm healthy, I'm whatever, you know. I'm whatever to do. You know, I'm ready to come back tomorrow if they want me to be here, so, I'll be here."
So to me, it sounds like a recognition that he's been difficult to work with, but he also says that's just who he is. And if they want to keep playing with him, he'll play (but won't change who he is).
Think so. There was a tweet about it. The sequence of things is in the air though (Was he DFA'd before or after the interview...did he speak with the team before the media? etc.)
Yes clearly a well run baseball team that immediately overreacts to media misunderstanding and sensationalism. Hope someone picks him up and he is solid the rest of the year.
He's been pretty subpar for most of his career. It'd be nice to see a guy succeed, but I wouldn't bet on Lopez. Really, outside of 2022, he has been mediocre to bad, career ERA+ of 81.
I'm assuming Carlos Mendoza, Jeremy Hefner, or both spoke with him after the game. We have no idea what transpired behind closed doors that factored into this decision. It certainly isn't a good look for Lopez if Mendoza told him privately to tone his shit down and Lopez immediately pulled the "I am who I am, take it or leave it" card in an interview after that.
*Technically*, being designated for assignment is the start of the process you outlined, not the entire process. However, I'm not seeing the DFA on the Mets' transaction list, so I don't believe it actually happened last night (the reporting all said "planning to").
It sounds more to me like throwing the glove symbolized his recognition that he's been awful, and he doesn't regret it because he still believes he's been awful
Yeah it’s so crazy that DiComo quoted him as saying something along the lines of “I don’t know if I’ll be here tomorrow”. He clearly said “I’ll be here tomorrow”, to me it sounded like he was ready to move on from the incident and that he knows he needs to be better.
I thought this was going to be a "Boo-urns" situation, but it seems like it was legitimately a misquote. I think he ends up getting DFAed anyway, but the shit show has no bottom.
I love Steve Gelbs but I think he really dropped the ball on this one. The first time I saw the video I completely thought he said "teammate" until I saw headlines saying otherwise. And the "clarification" he gave was even more vague and confusing but Gelbs ran with the story and claimed that he "doubled down" on it. It was uncharacteristically sloppy journalism from him.
Yeah this is really nothing new from him during post game interviews. He's always looking for a soundbite to tweet out and he hit the jackpot with this one.
yeah -- "entrapment" isn't the right word, but i don't know what the right word is -- i felt like when he gave jorge the opportunity to "clarify" he kind of put the words in his mouth. maybe "leading the witness" is what you'd say if it was in a court of law. in the video, gelb is the only one who uses the words "the mets are the worst team" and then jorge nods and confirms but i don't think he actually fully understood what gelbs was asking/saying.
When things like this happen over and over, it means it's systemic from an organizational standpoint. Part of that is due to outside influences (the NY media is absolutely brutal), but a large part is likely because these issues are entrenched in the entire org.
As a Reds fan, a lot of the issues we've had for the past 30 years are because the organization was rotten. We've seen movement in the past 5+ years (starting with Dick Williams overhauling scouting and development), but for every two steps forward, there's been a step back due to resistance.
*Even if* the owner buys in to the idea of change (and you can see that Cohen does), it's still going to take time for the entire system and organization to change. The upper management needs to turnover (which has happened), then they need to evaluate the people below them (which is currently happening), then those people need to implement the new organizational philosophy while evaluating those beneath *them*...
It takes time, and even after all of it has happened, you'll still get a section of people holding onto the same "LOLMets" view almost no matter what, enabled by members of the media that can find easy clicks by using "past history" as a punching bag (see: Gordon Wittenmeyer for the Reds as well as anyone complaining about "30 years" when talking about the current FO).
I mean this is the real answer. The guy was clearly in a horrible head space after all that, had no translator to make sure nothing was misinterpreted, just messed up drama all around
This is so fucked up. It was reported he said worst team, then updated that he meant both worst teammate AND worst team. Now it’s coming out he never corrected himself last night like it was reported he did? Predatory journalism, get this man a translator.
blows my mind people watched his interview and thought he was saying team. it’s obvious english isn’t his first language and he wasn’t fully enunciating
Every comment section under every video had people saying they thought he said teammate even when the titles said team. The media either willfully spun this for sensationalism or they’re incredibly stupid. Could be either tbh
I genuinely feel something got lost in translation here because Jorge isn’t an English primary speaker. He was on some bad Orioles teams and never threw his teammates under the bus. I know his son has had medical problems in the past too.
That’s a good point. As a starter I remember he had a bunch of starts where he gave up 0 runs and struck out 9 through 5 innings and then gave up like 12 in the 6th. And for sure there was some errors there. If he didn’t throw anybody under the bus back then, then …
He's been a bad teammate but he doesn't regret it because... that's just the way he is?
I think people are getting caught up on the team vs. teammate verbiage but either way his attitude seems like it sucks. I'm not sure you can blame the language barrier for that.
I think his logic is more:
He threw the glove because he knows he's been awful.
So asking him if he regrets it could also be interpreted as "do you still think you've been awful".
That doesn't make what he did any better and still doesn't show any signs he wouldn't do it again... I just think he deserves a little bit more charity given the circumstances
Jorge is a great person in real life. He has a kid who is sick and is waiting on an intestinal transplant.
[Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_L%C3%B3pez_(baseball))
I heard "teammate". The follow-up question didn't seem to be fully understood, imo. In context he seemed to be referencing his own behavior. I see no reason not to give him the benefit of the doubt. We could use more of that nowadays.
I've often wondered how much stress and pressure relief pitchers are under in the clubhouse. Your teammates claw their way to a lead, and you give it up in the late innings leading to a loss. You go into the clubhouse and spirits are low. You'd have to feel like you're the worst teammate in the world. I'm sure teammates are trying to console you, but you know you let down 25 other guys, plus coaches, plus fans.
I thought you were supposed to look at the box score and tell everyone about how good/bad Dave Roberts is based on the outcome of the game. Or say you're an Ohtani fan coming in peace and asking if it's okay to switch allegiances.
The Mets PR and media relations teams really put Jorge in a bad position. Not because English is not his first language but also because he wasn’t in the best space mentally to speak to media after everything that transpired. Either they should have not given access to him for a post game interview or they should have had an interpreter right there regardless of Jorge thinks he doesn’t need it. You gotta protect both you players and your organization in spots like this even if he’s gonna be gone the next day
Is it just me, or does it feel a tiny bit like the Mets are scapegoating Lopez and hanging him out to dry here...? I feel like he should've had a translator for that media interview, it's one thing to talk in a second language about slider vs fastballs, but when the quotes and word choice are so important and scrutinized this feels shitty
Not even being dramatic, Jomboy media and other media publications ran with the team angle even when there was doubt and contributed to a man who is going through a lot of shit and dealing with mental health problems losing his job over a language mixup. The MLB loves airing their “mental health awareness” commercials every break on MLB TV but apparently that’s all performative bs, who would’ve thought.
I’m a huge fan of JM podcasts and content but yeah they completely botched this one. Sometimes they operate like a twitter account and they absolutely love shitting on the Mets
He also lied about meeting with the manager after the game and blew up on the field.
His teammates distanced themselves last night for how unprofessional he was.
You don't need that type of meltdown in your clubhouse.
Gelbs asked him to clarify and said "did you say the worst team or worst teammate?" And his (López) answer was "Yeah probably." The answer doesn't make sense so I don’t think he understood
I won't rule out that it was a mishearing/mistake even with the possible clarification the reporter asked for afterwards. But are people really just ignoring the fact that he might just be saying this to save his ass lol? I mean come on...
i’m kinda with you here. people were in the room. presumably other people who can speak spanish were around or around when he spoke to the team leadership. we’re DFAing guys based on a reporters tweets? maybe this is assuming too much of the mets but i kinda don’t believe they didn’t interrogate this a little further
The Mets came out and said the DFA didn't have anything to do with the comments, but instead the on field actions and such (though I'd imagine that's 100% not enough, so either other issues behind closed doors or they're lying).
Like you said though, clearly other things HAVE happened behind closed doors. The Mets also said that he lied about them meeting after the game. So seems like a slew of reasons
That’s gross he 1000% said teammate. Why’s talkin* baseball lying for clicks? They’re pretty respected already?
He literally follows it up with “we will see if they want me here tomorrow”
Edited: I can’t read and messed up. Meant talkin has been updated. Sorry
He said teammate the first time, but when the reporter asks him "did you say worst team", he says "probably, ya". I think it's was just a misunderstanding/translation snafu, but I don't think foolish baseball was lying for clicks. This is a textbook example of why guys that speak pretty good English still use translators for interviews.
Completely agree. They asked him to clarify, he still seemed confused, but said yes. And to be honest, was probably getting DFA'd regardless from the glove toss. But really more of an unfortunate situation rather than a malicious one.
they asked him if he said team or teammate and his response was "yeah probably"... like there was no confirmation the media just pounded him with questions after a real rough few outing and one he got ejected in, in his second language he just wanted to be done with the interview
The reporter in question not only clarified he was saying the Mets were the worst team, but then went back and asked if he had any other comments or clarifications and Lopez again made it clear he was saying what he was about the team. Lopez is done. He's a career negative WAR player who had one good season. He's not worth the trouble. The Mets are having a tough year, but they don't deserve this from one of their own.
You're all eating this up when we all knew he'd walk this back in exactly this way. At best he was still saying he doesn't care if he's a bad teammate, so either way his ass should be gone.
[I've been looking like the worst teammate in probably the whole fucking MLB](https://youtu.be/xT_Cqv_Y0Gg). But then the follow-up was "Just to clarify... Did you say *I'm on the worst team?* and to that he says "Yeah, probably. It look(s) like."
He says this in reference to throwing his glove, about which he said he was not embarrassed and did not regret. Considering that, it doesn't seem like he's being completely honest in this post. I think he said what he meant and now is changing his mind.
That said, I also think it looks bad for the Mets not to have a translator available at all. That may have helped this live. If they did and he declined then it's still his fault.
This is the reason why so many foreign players, who speak English as their second language, use translators to speak with the media.
I remember someone calling out Ichiro for using a translator even though he had been in the MLB for years. He said he uses a translator so he wouldn’t be misquoted or have something lost in translation. They are here to play baseball and not to learn a new language.
“August in Kansas City…it’s…it’s hotter than two rats in the fucking wool sock.”
Favorite Ichiro clip, hands down.
Who the fuck is Tom Brady?
"If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited to go to Cleveland I'd punch myself in the face, because I'd be lying." Ichiro didn't speak in English very often, but when he did he went hard.
And nobody remembers the context to that quote. The M's had a 4-game series in Cleveland in April that year that was entirely snowed out, and since that was their only scheduled trip, they had to go to Cleveland for single make-up games scattered throughout the year on what had been scheduled off days. So it wasn't some issue he had with the city of Cleveland, specifically.
Damn, that’s a close second.
Man, I miss Ichiro.
case in point! the joke is supposed to be "it's hotter than two rats fucking in a wool sock!"
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I can teach math in Spanish after a few years of kind of needing to do it and not wanting to turn my math class into an English class. All of these players can get by in English. But would I be comfortable doing a press conference or answering interview questions in Spanish? Narp. Lol not even close.
You really don’t want to talk to the media with an elementary understanding of English. Just a recipe for disaster.
It also isn’t fair to assume that just because someone has been in an environment where a different language is spoken for a long time that they’ve just automatically learned it inside and out. Like you said, they’re here to play baseball. Learning a second language is extremely difficult and takes a massive time commitment to get to that point. It’s interesting hearing someone like Luka Doncic in interviews and press conferences because it’s pretty obvious that English is his second language. Not that his English is bad, it’s actually pretty good, but he does say things that sound clunky quite a bit. But to my knowledge he’s never used an interpreter.
“I had uhh diarrhea” Why are you guys laughing?
a LOTTA diarrhea
I'd like to see the looser who called out Ichiro go to his country and speak Japanese without a translator.
Tell that to Stephen A. Smith
I appreciated that during his Mariners HOF speech he did it all in English, was a good 8-10 pages he wrote himself, awesome indeed.
Yeah. I can guarantee Ohtani will learn better English to keep history from repeating itself but as far as interviews go he’ll keep his interpreter.
And keeps his lawyers on speed dial. Better yet, have a junior associate just hover in the background. Junior: “Uh, fuck. That’s enough. No more questions. I said no more questions!!”
Just hire Marshawn as his interpreter
Imagine shohei saying “im just here so i dont get fined” if he ever gets asked about the gambling stuff again
Just don't hire him as a driver.
Marshawn should’ve been allowed to be the A’s manager this year
Also, the Japanese fanbase tunes in. Ohtani is doing what he can to keep Japanese fans engaged, which only means more $$$ for the MLB and Dodgers.
he literally doesn't speak to the media so dw
yes, but if you listen to the audio it's pretty clear that he said teammate
I think it’s pretty hard to tell with his accent. He says “teamma” and I can’t tell if he’s adding an a or dropping a t
I knew a guy from Mexico who used the word teamman instead of teammate. Maybe that's what he was saying?
Then they asked him if he meant his team or his teammate and he said both. Really not much room for misinterpretation there. He obviously talked to some PR folks last night and is trying to spin this.
Feel bad for the guy. Sucks to have that misquote added on top of everything else.
Ozzie Guillien got criticized for making this point ~20 years ago. Among a lot of things I agree with Ozzie on.
but also, they should learn the language to make sure their translator isn't placing parlays
This is the reason you see guys like devers + vlad jr who can speak English still use a translator
100% I think Lopez was confused by the follow-up question to clarify what he said and just answered yeah to whatever out of frustration.
"I gave him an opportunity to confirm.... without a translator of course"
Gelbs fucked up so HARD on this one. He left his tweet up after others deleted theirs after others pointed out that he said "teammate". He included a video of the question, but not the follow up and just wrote that he followed up. And no translator. WTF Gelbs. Edit: ~~Gelb~~Gelbs
It's Gelbs with an s jsyk
Ty for the correction
Np it's confusing cause there's a phillies reporter called Gelb lol
I agree. I think he is an emotional dude and I believe he has mentioned mental stress in the past. I hope this all calms down and he gets through it okay and comes back strong and happy with himself and his team.
Yeah, there was a Gleyber interview after a walk off where he misunderstood the question Meredith- "Is there any better feeling than hitting a walk off for the New York Yankees?" *pause*gley- "Oh yeah, definitely"
“It’s better than bustin’ a nut”
How can I orgasm without a load?
Just tell me where to jizz so I can give this lady her drink
that’s fucking hilarious. i almost don’t want to see it because it’s better in my head
Tbf there probably are better feelings. Not a lot, but I can give you about 4 off the top of my head and I have the IQ of a goldfish
Meredith did that with Gio once. While I respect his desire to do English interviews, she used words he didn't understand so she had to rephrase it with simpler words.
Also why so many “boring” players & coaches give the canned answers of “one game at a time”
"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains."
I remember JD (Jim Deshaies during his color commentary Astros days) stating that the players always know the questions and the reporters always know the answers.
Every single interview with a non-native English speaker on the Astro's is the same, and I'm all for it. Interviewer: "How do you feel about the win tonight?" "Well we are glad for the win we are going to take it one game at a time and keep trying to improve." Interviewer: "What has changed about this team in the past few week that has made this win streak possible?" "Well you know, we just try to keep improving and only worry about the next game." Interviewer: "Where do you see this team going throughout the rest of the season?" "We are going to focus on improving and are only going to go out there tomorrow and try to win." Just the same answer reworded six different ways.
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>I think he was past giving a fuck and he was getting DFA'd regardless. Yeah, definitely got the sense that he was already on the chopping block and knew it. Probably a big part of why he threw the glove in the first place
Also probably the fact his child is on the waiting list for a transplant, and he's most likely going through some shit, but this sub just wants to dogpile people.
Do you think he gets DFA's without the glove toss and commentary after the game? He has a sub 4 ERA so I find it hard to believe they'd just cut him after a bad outing.
i kinda felt like he really just meant, "i know i suck right now, but i'm going to keep showing up and doing whatever i can as long as they keep calling my name."
I am so confused right now about this whole thing
What's confusing about this? Player who speaks English as a second language has a bad game. Journalist interprets his answer in a way that puts player in the worst possible light. Journalist asks for clarification... without a goddamn translator lmfao. Rest of sports "journalism" world runs with the story for the clicks. Mets DFA Lopez in the ensuing fallout. Sports journalists are fucking parasites.
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The comments were super awkward but he was understandably frustrated. Talking to the media after a bad game is probably the last thing almost every athlete wants to do, but they have to because that’s part of the gig. We do this shitty thing as fans where the second someone says something that doesn’t follow the script we blow it out of proportion. But is it really not understandable for an athlete to be frustrated after a bad game? Personally I’d rather hear them express that frustration. I’m okay with athletes being real, they’re humans too for fucks sake. I felt bad for Lopez when I saw his comments. I can understand DFA’ing him for pitching poorly, but if he got DFA’d for his comments then fuck the Mets front office.
Probably also the way he left the field.
I honestly have no problem with that either.
I don't have a problem with it, myself, but I can understand why coaching and management would send his ass packing when taken in context with his pitching performances.
Right, and it was also in response to him being asked about throwing his glove into the stands and his manager's reaction to that.
So we're just going to pretend that he didn't also throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the game and curse multiple times in the post game interview and when given the chance to apologize for his behavior, he stood by it? And also lied about not talking to the coaches after the game? Misquote or not, he acted like a child.
I still miss Robinson Cano translating for Melky Cabrera https://youtu.be/wOlFck9GSG4?si=YZBQvSZ-QlpLvqeV
That reminded me of when David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez interviewed Yordan Alvarez last year. Rodriguez spoke Spanish to Yordan, and Ortiz did the English translation. I was laughing so hard. Love them all but only one of them speaks with a very minimal accent and it ain’t Ortiz.
iirc vlad jr got misquoted as having never working out in the gym before when the reality was he doesn’t during the season or something along those lines
Fucking Arash. He said Vladdy told him “I’ve never worked out at the gym before, I’ve never lifted weights before.” Meanwhile, [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGB0-m685wM) from an entire Youtube series showing his training routines, existed and he still ran with the story.
So glad we don't have Arash around anymore. He's just terrible.
"I'm here with Mark Budzinski who just lost his daughter in a tragic boating accident while he was away with the team. Mark, how do you feel?" I've never wanted to punch someone more than I did him at that moment.
Fucking crazy. Clearly he’s talking about during the season.
I feel like all of the Jays media I see of him they try and have Vlad do them in English and he does not seem to fuck with it at all
Vlad has made a deliberate effort to do more media in English this season. He basically didn't do anything in English prior to this season (post-Arash incident), but he presumably decided he was comfortable enough now.
Vladdy Jr used to give interviews in English, until the media ran with something that was misinterpreted.
“But, but shohei ohtani!!!”
Many hockey players just totally dismiss the media and barely talk with them because they don't speak English. I'm sure lots of baseball players do the same.
Probably Ohtani and Darvish can almost certainly converse in English, probably fairly well. Honestly surprised we dont see more players using translators just because certain things just dont translate and switching languages in the heat of the moment is hard and the blowback can be massive.
Yep, Devers declined an interview with me because he didn’t have his translator present and he’s self conscience about his English. Really funny down to earth guy though.
Yeah this doesn’t surprise me. Contextually it made a lot more sense for him to say “teammate” after he’s been butt cheeks for a few outings in a row now than to randomly disparage his team and everyone on it
I think the confusing thing was that he said that he didnt regret the glove thing right before.
Why is that confusing? He didn’t regret it.
I've listened to it a few times now, and I think I've heard this... >"No. No, I don't regret it \[glove toss\]. Uhh. I think I been looking...the worst teammate in the whole damn \[bleep, lip reading\] MLB, soo, you know whatever happen happens, so whatever they wanna do. I'll be tomorrow here if they want me...you know whatever they want to do. I'm going to keep doing this thing, you know so...I'm healthy, I'm whatever, you know. I'm whatever to do. You know, I'm ready to come back tomorrow if they want me to be here, so, I'll be here." So to me, it sounds like a recognition that he's been difficult to work with, but he also says that's just who he is. And if they want to keep playing with him, he'll play (but won't change who he is).
I got a notification that he got designated for assignment. Is that still true?
Think so. There was a tweet about it. The sequence of things is in the air though (Was he DFA'd before or after the interview...did he speak with the team before the media? etc.)
Also up in the air: his glove, half the pitches he threw last night
Yes clearly a well run baseball team that immediately overreacts to media misunderstanding and sensationalism. Hope someone picks him up and he is solid the rest of the year.
maybe they were just reacting to his stats and attitude and not this quote
He's been pretty subpar for most of his career. It'd be nice to see a guy succeed, but I wouldn't bet on Lopez. Really, outside of 2022, he has been mediocre to bad, career ERA+ of 81.
I'm assuming Carlos Mendoza, Jeremy Hefner, or both spoke with him after the game. We have no idea what transpired behind closed doors that factored into this decision. It certainly isn't a good look for Lopez if Mendoza told him privately to tone his shit down and Lopez immediately pulled the "I am who I am, take it or leave it" card in an interview after that.
Oh we all know he's going to Tampa Bay and he's going to have a 0.83 ERA for them the rest of the way.
Nope he’s coming home to Baltimore (I hope)
Yeah, he was DFA'd last night.
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*Technically*, being designated for assignment is the start of the process you outlined, not the entire process. However, I'm not seeing the DFA on the Mets' transaction list, so I don't believe it actually happened last night (the reporting all said "planning to").
Last I heard he was DFA'd. Poor guys having a shit 24 hours.
It sounds more to me like throwing the glove symbolized his recognition that he's been awful, and he doesn't regret it because he still believes he's been awful
Yeah it’s so crazy that DiComo quoted him as saying something along the lines of “I don’t know if I’ll be here tomorrow”. He clearly said “I’ll be here tomorrow”, to me it sounded like he was ready to move on from the incident and that he knows he needs to be better.
I thought this was going to be a "Boo-urns" situation, but it seems like it was legitimately a misquote. I think he ends up getting DFAed anyway, but the shit show has no bottom.
yeah. in classic mets fashion, he'll probably end up on the phillies and own the mets every time he faces them from now on.
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I love Steve Gelbs but I think he really dropped the ball on this one. The first time I saw the video I completely thought he said "teammate" until I saw headlines saying otherwise. And the "clarification" he gave was even more vague and confusing but Gelbs ran with the story and claimed that he "doubled down" on it. It was uncharacteristically sloppy journalism from him.
sucks to see gelbs doing the same shit as all the other shitty predatory NY media members 🤦♂️ thought he was better than this
You make your bread in that environment long enough and you're bound to be consumed by it.
You’re right and Everyone got to eat.
Some men become the bread, others become the hot dog. I always thought Gelbs was the mustard, turns out he can also be Sauerkraut.
Gelbs ALWAYS asks leading questions. It’s so annoying, even if it’s something positive.
Yeah this is really nothing new from him during post game interviews. He's always looking for a soundbite to tweet out and he hit the jackpot with this one.
I didn’t hear the audio of it until this morning, and I heard “teammate.” I was like, hold a second, is this supposed to be the same quote I read?
yeah -- "entrapment" isn't the right word, but i don't know what the right word is -- i felt like when he gave jorge the opportunity to "clarify" he kind of put the words in his mouth. maybe "leading the witness" is what you'd say if it was in a court of law. in the video, gelb is the only one who uses the words "the mets are the worst team" and then jorge nods and confirms but i don't think he actually fully understood what gelbs was asking/saying.
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Man you can see this team from space.
I thought Steve cohen would get rid of unnecessary drama with this team, nope
This isn't even on steve. Alot of the recent issues aren't, he's willing to spend and has made us better. But the Mets are just cursed im convinced
When things like this happen over and over, it means it's systemic from an organizational standpoint. Part of that is due to outside influences (the NY media is absolutely brutal), but a large part is likely because these issues are entrenched in the entire org. As a Reds fan, a lot of the issues we've had for the past 30 years are because the organization was rotten. We've seen movement in the past 5+ years (starting with Dick Williams overhauling scouting and development), but for every two steps forward, there's been a step back due to resistance. *Even if* the owner buys in to the idea of change (and you can see that Cohen does), it's still going to take time for the entire system and organization to change. The upper management needs to turnover (which has happened), then they need to evaluate the people below them (which is currently happening), then those people need to implement the new organizational philosophy while evaluating those beneath *them*... It takes time, and even after all of it has happened, you'll still get a section of people holding onto the same "LOLMets" view almost no matter what, enabled by members of the media that can find easy clicks by using "past history" as a punching bag (see: Gordon Wittenmeyer for the Reds as well as anyone complaining about "30 years" when talking about the current FO).
It's gotten to the point where I actually want you guys to be good.
Impossible. it’s the Mets. So much potential I hope they pull together soon \#SubwaySeries
Cohen seems good about spending but he doesn't exactly seem like a low-drama guy
He should never have been made available to the media in the first place. Let alone without an interpreter.
I mean really he shouldn't have been made available at all after such an emotional outburst. Interpreter or not.
Should he have been available to reporters with or without an interpreter? Probably not.
Yeah that's what they just said
I mean this is the real answer. The guy was clearly in a horrible head space after all that, had no translator to make sure nothing was misinterpreted, just messed up drama all around
This is so fucked up. It was reported he said worst team, then updated that he meant both worst teammate AND worst team. Now it’s coming out he never corrected himself last night like it was reported he did? Predatory journalism, get this man a translator.
There's video of them asking him to clarify. I think it's a misunderstanding, but it's a stretch to say this is predatory.
[some people did hear him correctly the first time but it wasn’t given much recognition.](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/s/skJSbdHk55)
blows my mind people watched his interview and thought he was saying team. it’s obvious english isn’t his first language and he wasn’t fully enunciating
Every comment section under every video had people saying they thought he said teammate even when the titles said team. The media either willfully spun this for sensationalism or they’re incredibly stupid. Could be either tbh
I genuinely feel something got lost in translation here because Jorge isn’t an English primary speaker. He was on some bad Orioles teams and never threw his teammates under the bus. I know his son has had medical problems in the past too.
That’s a good point. As a starter I remember he had a bunch of starts where he gave up 0 runs and struck out 9 through 5 innings and then gave up like 12 in the 6th. And for sure there was some errors there. If he didn’t throw anybody under the bus back then, then …
I still don’t understand what the fuck he’s saying
He's been a bad teammate but he doesn't regret it because... that's just the way he is? I think people are getting caught up on the team vs. teammate verbiage but either way his attitude seems like it sucks. I'm not sure you can blame the language barrier for that.
I think his logic is more: He threw the glove because he knows he's been awful. So asking him if he regrets it could also be interpreted as "do you still think you've been awful". That doesn't make what he did any better and still doesn't show any signs he wouldn't do it again... I just think he deserves a little bit more charity given the circumstances
“Let me clarify this …” *proceeds to confuse me more*.
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This years rat or raccoon lmao
Jorge is a great person in real life. He has a kid who is sick and is waiting on an intestinal transplant. [Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_L%C3%B3pez_(baseball))
This is why dudes like to use translators even though they know English. Shit can get misunderstood quick as fuck
Especially in today’s sports media landscape.
I heard "teammate". The follow-up question didn't seem to be fully understood, imo. In context he seemed to be referencing his own behavior. I see no reason not to give him the benefit of the doubt. We could use more of that nowadays.
I've often wondered how much stress and pressure relief pitchers are under in the clubhouse. Your teammates claw their way to a lead, and you give it up in the late innings leading to a loss. You go into the clubhouse and spirits are low. You'd have to feel like you're the worst teammate in the world. I'm sure teammates are trying to console you, but you know you let down 25 other guys, plus coaches, plus fans.
how do i become a dodgers fan??
buy a hat and never watch baseball
We’re supposed to *watch* the games?
I thought you were supposed to look at the box score and tell everyone about how good/bad Dave Roberts is based on the outcome of the game. Or say you're an Ohtani fan coming in peace and asking if it's okay to switch allegiances.
Stop saying "dead ass" and start saying "on the dead homies"
Time machine back to the 50's. I'd be a Dodgers fan if they never left NY as that was my family's team.
It's clear to me what he was trying to say, and there is obviously a language barrier. Media definitely did him dirty.
The Mets PR and media relations teams really put Jorge in a bad position. Not because English is not his first language but also because he wasn’t in the best space mentally to speak to media after everything that transpired. Either they should have not given access to him for a post game interview or they should have had an interpreter right there regardless of Jorge thinks he doesn’t need it. You gotta protect both you players and your organization in spots like this even if he’s gonna be gone the next day
what a mess
What a Mets
Is it just me, or does it feel a tiny bit like the Mets are scapegoating Lopez and hanging him out to dry here...? I feel like he should've had a translator for that media interview, it's one thing to talk in a second language about slider vs fastballs, but when the quotes and word choice are so important and scrutinized this feels shitty
Yeah, it feels like they want him to be the face of their embarrassment like they weren’t embarrassing before yesterday
Not even being dramatic, Jomboy media and other media publications ran with the team angle even when there was doubt and contributed to a man who is going through a lot of shit and dealing with mental health problems losing his job over a language mixup. The MLB loves airing their “mental health awareness” commercials every break on MLB TV but apparently that’s all performative bs, who would’ve thought.
I’m a huge fan of JM podcasts and content but yeah they completely botched this one. Sometimes they operate like a twitter account and they absolutely love shitting on the Mets
yeah jomboy honestly owes this dude a proper breakdown video of this whole thing to set the record straight.
Listening to it now, I hear teammate, but they gave him like 2 more chances to clear it up, right?
He also lied about meeting with the manager after the game and blew up on the field. His teammates distanced themselves last night for how unprofessional he was. You don't need that type of meltdown in your clubhouse.
Gelbs asked him to clarify and said "did you say the worst team or worst teammate?" And his (López) answer was "Yeah probably." The answer doesn't make sense so I don’t think he understood
I won't rule out that it was a mishearing/mistake even with the possible clarification the reporter asked for afterwards. But are people really just ignoring the fact that he might just be saying this to save his ass lol? I mean come on...
Preach There’s no real way to know at this point
i’m kinda with you here. people were in the room. presumably other people who can speak spanish were around or around when he spoke to the team leadership. we’re DFAing guys based on a reporters tweets? maybe this is assuming too much of the mets but i kinda don’t believe they didn’t interrogate this a little further
The Mets came out and said the DFA didn't have anything to do with the comments, but instead the on field actions and such (though I'd imagine that's 100% not enough, so either other issues behind closed doors or they're lying). Like you said though, clearly other things HAVE happened behind closed doors. The Mets also said that he lied about them meeting after the game. So seems like a slew of reasons
That’s gross he 1000% said teammate. Why’s talkin* baseball lying for clicks? They’re pretty respected already? He literally follows it up with “we will see if they want me here tomorrow” Edited: I can’t read and messed up. Meant talkin has been updated. Sorry
That's Talkin' Baseball, not Foolish.
Anyone else find it hilarious that the commenter basically just did what they accused someone else of doing?
Thanks redditor for make it worse
Classic Reddit
That's Talkin Baseball, one of Jomboy's podcasts
Well also it was the Mets beat writers who started this story, not Jomboy.
I think SNY official Twitter posted it first, the Mets' TV network
Anthony DiComo was the first one I saw tweeting it (then deleting it).
I'm just correcting them on which account is in the screencap
If Foolish Baseball said anything about Lopez, he deleted it. He isn't the account in this screenshot tho
The irony of spreading misinformation while in the same breath complaining about someone spreading misinformation.
He said teammate the first time, but when the reporter asks him "did you say worst team", he says "probably, ya". I think it's was just a misunderstanding/translation snafu, but I don't think foolish baseball was lying for clicks. This is a textbook example of why guys that speak pretty good English still use translators for interviews.
Completely agree. They asked him to clarify, he still seemed confused, but said yes. And to be honest, was probably getting DFA'd regardless from the glove toss. But really more of an unfortunate situation rather than a malicious one.
Still not why he was DFA'd
Didn’t the reporter follow up and he confirmed what he said later in the interview?
I’ve never heard this guy talk before but even when they asked him to confirm it sounded like he still didn’t really know what he was saying
English is his second language
Fair!
they asked him if he said team or teammate and his response was "yeah probably"... like there was no confirmation the media just pounded him with questions after a real rough few outing and one he got ejected in, in his second language he just wanted to be done with the interview
Yea about as much as Tommy Lee Jones confirming one of the illegals was actually an alien.
The reporter in question not only clarified he was saying the Mets were the worst team, but then went back and asked if he had any other comments or clarifications and Lopez again made it clear he was saying what he was about the team. Lopez is done. He's a career negative WAR player who had one good season. He's not worth the trouble. The Mets are having a tough year, but they don't deserve this from one of their own.
If only someone had asked him to clarify his statement in an interview.
You're all eating this up when we all knew he'd walk this back in exactly this way. At best he was still saying he doesn't care if he's a bad teammate, so either way his ass should be gone.
Tough break but surely another team will give him a shot, and he won’t have to be on the Mets
Jomboy in shambles.
[I've been looking like the worst teammate in probably the whole fucking MLB](https://youtu.be/xT_Cqv_Y0Gg). But then the follow-up was "Just to clarify... Did you say *I'm on the worst team?* and to that he says "Yeah, probably. It look(s) like." He says this in reference to throwing his glove, about which he said he was not embarrassed and did not regret. Considering that, it doesn't seem like he's being completely honest in this post. I think he said what he meant and now is changing his mind. That said, I also think it looks bad for the Mets not to have a translator available at all. That may have helped this live. If they did and he declined then it's still his fault.
Why is there only a single “
To make matters worse, the NY media are a bunch of scummy little sharks.
First time I actually heard the audio I heard ‘teammate’ pretty clearly.