At the very end of the evening on Saturday evening, the name of Justin Verlander began to be talked about in New York. On the other hand, it was not because of his performances on the field in Houston, but rather for the way he would have behaved during his stay with the Mets.
A member of the organization (anonymous, of course) would have called him outright a “diva” and he would also have added that the relationship between Verlander and Max Scherzer was not exactly good.
You never get bored in New York, anyway.
Of course, it took on big proportions. We’re talking about a guy who generally has a good reputation in the league, which was a rare stain on his record.
And today, Verlander decided to come out publicly to try to defend himself. He issued a statement saying he has tremendous respect for the Mets and wishes them well.
In the same press release, he also notes that he is sorry to learn that a member of the organization did not appreciate his “constructive comments”, which were intended to help the club improve.
And in fact, Verlander’s comments lead me to believe that the Mets employee was probably not saying anything. Presumably, Verlander’s “constructive comments” were tied to his desire to return to a system similar to the Astros, as claimed by the anonymous Mets employee.
Were the “constructive comments” misspoken by Verlander to the point where the guys grew tired of hearing him talk about his experience in Houston? That would explain a lot of things.
In his statement, Verlander also mentions that he enjoyed hanging out with his teammates there, whether they were new teammates or guys he reconnected with.
Next time, Justin, you can just write “Max Scherzer”: it’s barely subtle as a reference.
In short, we will see if the story will die a beautiful death, but Verlander obviously wanted to give his version of the facts.
Who is telling the truth? It’s up to you to form your own opinion, but we will probably never know the whole truth.
