WEDNESDAY, 5:06pm: The MLBPA has officially filed a grievance on K-Rod's behalf, tweets Andy Martino of the New York Daily News.
TUESDAY, 6:58pm: MLBPA leader Michael Weiner told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that the Mets' actions are "without basis" (Twitter link). Weiner expects the MLBPA to challenge the team's actions "right away."
6:08pm: The Mets placed closer Francisco Rodriguez on the disqualified list and converted his contract to a non-guaranteed deal, the team announced today. K-Rod will not be paid or pick up service time while on the disqualified list.
Teams can place a player on the disqualified list if he has violated the terms of his contract and Andy Martino of the New York Daily News says it sounds like the Mets won't reinstate their closer until he can play (Twitter link). Rodriguez has about $3MM remaining on his 2010 contract, so the Mets would save a considerable amount if their decision stands and K-Rod is out for the season. The MLBPA could object on Rodriguez's behalf, though.
K-Rod underwent thumb surgery today to repair a ligament. The Mets say Rodriguez told a team trainer that he injured himself in an altercation with the grandfather of his children, according to Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (Twitter link). GM Omar Minaya said the Mets do want to bring K-Rod back in 2011, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork (on Twitter). He has at least $15MM remaining on his contract after 2010.
Good for them. It’s about damn time they’ve showed any kind of back-bone over the past few years.
mets=hhahahaaha……….nuff said
What a dummy.
K Rod should’ve beat some sense into Johan before he…
Thug life, dumb people get served.
K-Rod is gonna hear the news and take the whole Mets organization out. He’s going to bring Ugeth Urbina and Kyle Farnsworth with him.
I would pay K-Rod several thousand dollars just to take out Oliver Perez, so Ollie could get DQ’d himself.
Is he going to spring Ugie out of a Venezuelan prison?
Yes, K-Rod is gonna beat up the wardens father-in-law
It’s ashame there are no women involved, or Brett Myers could have helped as well.
Don’t forget Brian Giles, he’s good on hitting women, especially pregnant ones.
Don’t forget Elijah Dukes. He even had his own personal “keeper” hired by the Nationals to follow him around and keep him out of trouble with them until they finally got fed up with his useless self.
true dat bro, still a decent pitcher
Ozzie Guillen will claim he’s the “only one” encouraging latino players not to beat up their fathers-in-law.
hahaha thats good
What if K-Rod doesn’t recovery from the thumb surgery and the impeding personal life disaster (girlfriend troubles, court, jail time etc) Will the mets then try to void the entire contract? Seems to me like there is atleast a decent chance that 2011 his mind and or health or a combination of both, won’t be ready to commit to being a professional major leaguer.
I think the Mets are jinxed maybe. Until Omar and ownership changes, they are the biggest tease to their fans. You think they’ve got a team that can win, and POOF! Something always happens.
At least with Nationals, Pirates, Orioles, etc. fans, they know they’re getting a loser. Mets fans get stroked every year.
As a phillies fan, I like seeing this…
but they need to fire minaya and manual, and rebuild, because the Wilpon family took a huge hit with the whole bernie madoff thing, and so payroll is gonna be low for awhile
what i dont get…is what is the obsession phillie fans have with the mets…i can understand boston hating the yankees…seeing them crush their dreams for 100 years straight…but we have no history against philly…u guys have had this chip on your shoulder that def extends beyond the realm of baseball…
philly hating on the mets is like the pirates hating on the astro’s..that issh just makes no sense…lol
Don’t believe the hype. There’s no need to take up a collection for the Wilpons, they’re not broke. They’re using the Madoff scandel as a convinient excuse to just be cheap. They have a history of making bad mid-level signings and then passing on more expensive signings that make sense.When they signed Piazza years back, that was only because the fans and the media sent out a huge outcry to do so, and they bowed to the pressure. They skipped on A-Rod, Vlad, Halladay for example. They only signed Santana because no one else wanted to make the deal. After NY and Boston said no to Minnesota, they got lucky by offering nobodies and Minnesota accepted, in order to come away with something. This past winter they signed Bay, because no one else was offering the kind of money he was demanding. They actually were the only real bidders and still overpaid. Then they didn’t do anything else to improve the team. At the trading deadline they stood pat. All they did was cut Alex Cora in order to avoid the vesting clause in his contract for next year. They refused to cut Perez and Castillo because they refuse to eat any part of the contracts that still run into next year. The Mets payroll will be low only because the Wilpons feel that people will come to the new ballpark if they put a competitive team (at least on paper) on the field that draws fan interest. They’re not interested in being champions as much as bringing in the money. You can bet they will fire Manuel ,but will ‘reassign’ Minaya, as he’s owed another year on his contract.As a Phillies fan you can be happy for a good while.
Expected, but blah nonetheless. Really has no bearing on the team’s future plans unless they really are going to try and void his entire contract. But as of now the $3M they’re going to save for this year isn’t going to have any affect on next year’s payroll or his option, and with it being mid-August the Wilpons are likely just going to pocket that $3M.
Reminds me of those Chappelle Show skits “When keeping it real goes wrong”. K-Rod was just trying to keep it real. “Wu-Tang!” LOL
The Clayton Bigsby sketch still puts me in tears.
Don’t forget he faces up to a year in prison if found guilty of 3rd degree assault. The only way he won’t be found guilty is if the lawsuit is dropped.
Right. I call plea deal, he gets probation, anger management, and small fine- also known as the celebrity special.
And then he’ll be wanting a “second chance” like every other athlete. While everyone else in the real world would be fired on the spot after committing any type of crime. MLB should suspend players like the NFL does (even though they’re too soft. Vick should have been suspended a full season).
I think a full season would’ve been harsh for a guy who just spent 2 years in federal jail. Roethlisberger should have been suspended longer; he’s a quarterback in the national football league, I’m sure he can find some women he doesn’t have to force to be with him.
This guy tears up his thumb in a NON BASEBALL activity and the MLBPA is going to challenge the METS rights to disqualify this guys salary for the remainder of the season. The players union in this case is dead wrong, the METS organization should have the right to void his contract for the rest of this season. What a dumba*s KRod is for putting himself and the team in this spot.
apparently b/c the idiot Mets pitched him after his original suspension. K-Rod can claim he got hurt in the game, not b/c of fight…
however if word is correct that k-rod told trainers it was b/c of fight they have no case
is there any record of k-rod telling them this, or this strictly one word against the other
That’s a simplistic look at it. Take a legal look at the issue: What clause in the contract did he violate?
While it seems obvious and whatever, it’s not, because it’s a legal issue.
Agreed – this is more complicated than it looks.Take hitting a Gatorade cooler in a dugout – resulting in an injury – is that baseball related? There is nothing in the game that suggests hitting anything in a dugout is OK. Yet, we see players do it and get injured all of the time. To my knowledge no contracts have been voided because of this.How about fights in the locker room? Basketball on the weekends? Think of the millions of ways that athletes get hurt and then think of how many contracts were voided because of that. The reality is that voided contracts are incredibly rare.The Mets may have public sympathy on this move because K-Rod was being a total a-hole. However, I don’t think that improves their legal position one iota.
this could spell the end to guaranteed contracts in baseball. If you can’t void a contract for a non playing injury, that happens in an incident where you are charged with a crime then when can you. If I were the Union here I would proceed with caution. win the battle lose the war.
misdemeanor
It’s still a crime and he faces up to a year in jail if found guilty (which he will be).
noone with money gets jail time for class 3 assault, he will get a nice fine though…
I’d like to see NYC/S try to make an example out of him like they did Plaxico Burress.
I could be wrong so I changed my post to read”charged with a crime”. I still think the union should be careful here.
AHAHAAHAHA, yeah right. Tell your GM to sign Lee 5 years/120m, but only 40m is guaranteed, so how quickly he signs with another team.
All teams can’t just decide to stop giving guaranteed contracts, that collusion.
I’m just sayin in the next CBA, that includes all teams. Its not that far away from negotiations time.
Michael Weiner. What an appropriate name for someone defending a guy that punched his father-in-law.
Want to hear a joke? I wrote a post regarding Carlos Zambrano and the possibility of him being traded to the Mets in exchange of Castillo and Perez since the contracts matched up. My logic (if I dare call it that now) was that maybe a change of scenery and joining fellow Venezuelans Santana and K-Rod might have a calming effect on Z. 1 week later I learn that Santana was accused of rape by some woman (charges were never made by police) and then the K-Rod situation. Looking back that was sort of like asking Andy Dick to be Lindsey Lohan’s AA sponsor.
Maybe the Mets and Cubs can still swap K-Rod and Zambrano. Crazy Venezuelan for Crazy Venezuelan sounds fair.
I guess teams will start putting in a “do not fight family members” clause in new contracts. Have it right next to playing flag football and basketball.
HAHAHAHAH WEINER!
seriously though, without basis? no. he beat up his step father IN Citi Field, tore his thumb in the fight.
Anyone else thinking karma?
sorry about that, i just noticed i said step father. i meant in law.
What happens if no charges are pressed?
You know, I’m gonna go devil’s advocate here just briefly. Is his girlfriend’s father living and working independently in NY/NJ? I don’t think so. I think he lives in a millionaire’s home in Staten Island. Maybe he takes care of his grandkids, sure, and maybe he has work somewhere, but KRod is the breadwinner for everybody who lives in that house. Why would Mr. Pena want to press charges if he didn’t sustain any damage?
Furthermore, wasn’t the attack immediately preceded by Pena shouting/arguing with KRod’s mom? Maybe he had a history of disrespecting Mom-Rod and Frankie just blew his top. (Of course I realize Pena’s involvement may have involved his defense of his daughter; still we don’t know the exact transcript of this unfortunate family feud.)
Truly the whole KRod clan MUST know he’s a live wire, with anger and resentment from his (at times) hungry and barefoot childhood in the slums of Caracas. It doesn’t excuse the violence, no, but it contributes to context here.
Anyway the Mets would be wise to continue to treat him as an investment as they are not likely to shed that contract and can’t afford to have him seething with indignation in the clubhouse throughout 2011.
Charges have already been pressed though.
This has so many implications. No one has mentioned the point that Los Mets wiggled out of paying Alex Cora guaranteed $2 million by dropping him before he hit his games played number. Then a week later, this KRod nonsense.
The perceived apathy on this team bothers me, no one in the clubhouse really seems to care, and the front office is busy trying to figure out ways to evade paying contracts they negotiated. WTF?
If I am a potential free agent or a play with a limited no-trade clause, there is NO CHANCE that I am heading to Los Mets. Never!
“If I am a potential free agent or a play with a limited no-trade clause, there is NO CHANCE that I am heading to Los Mets. Never!”CO-SIGN….but i don’t like the fact that u have to put LOS METS…wake me up when the Mets have a latino owner and start selling rice, beans and platano maduro’s instead of dogs/burgers at the park
I will say this. There is no “good reason” to pummel another human being, especially publicly, unless it’s in self-defense. The issue though lacks context w/o us knowing his reasons or what spurred the incident. If he was just upset over the game then obviously he was wrong. If his “girlfriend-in-law” did something disrespectufl towards his mom or something of that sort, then while still reprehensible, it’s a little more understandable. I can’t think of any of us who would tolerate someone being disrespectful towards our moms, daughters, wifes, etc.
As for the Mets they need to be careful. If they plan on bringing him back for 2011 then they have to really weigh the issue of voiding out the rest of this 2010 contract. It would definetly be contested by the Players Union and the last thing you would want is to have that issue lingering in the air during the course of the 2011 season. The best case for both sides is if they can come to some sort of meeting of the (ahem) “mind” with each other outside of litigious arena.
Something really smart would be for the two sides to agree on something like:
K-rod and the Mets donating $1.5 mil from this years remaining balance, $1.5 mil from next years contract and his $2.5 mil buyout for 2012 to some sort of charity geared towards a charity. I probably wouldn’t donate to a domestic violence charity as it obviously has a “wife beater” stigma attached to it and might paint K-Rod inappropriately. This way it shows some contrition from K-Rod, allows the Mets to look somewhat benevolent as opposed to simply trying to save money and everyone can walk away feeling a little better about themselves.
K-Rod, his girlfriend, their kids, and her parents all live together. What I heard on the radio is that the father had been racking up big credit card bills which K-Rod was pissed off about. The two got into an verbal argument at which point the father said something about K-Rod’s mother which incited K-Rod to assault him.
In addition to this, K-Rod also has some prior domestic issues (i don’t know if it’s physical abuse or just a lot of arguing) which could factor in to his court case.
What I really don’t like is hearing Jeff Wilpon basically say they wouldn’t bring him back if someone steps up to close (ie we don’t want to keep him if we have a cheaper option) and Omar saying he would welcome him back. They should give ambiguous answers (like they do for almost everything else).
It’s going to be a very long and ugly process. I just hope the Mets haven’t done anything that will end up killing the possibility of voiding the entire contract.
The Mets cutting him is doing him a favor.
KRod will still get paid somewhere else and not be in the suck that is the NY Mets
How is this ‘without basis’? I guess the union has to stick up for its guys but there certainly is basis.
The Mets are such a low class and dysfunctional ballclub. The Wilpons really need to clean house and start over but then again they are part of the problem.
Because the players union can’t just say “completely justified.”
How we get a poll that lets users vote on what they think the outcome SHOULD be? I’d be interested to see how many baseball fans would side with the union.
K-Rod assaulted someone, very likely injured himself due to the course of an illegal action, and he should be paid? I can’t even imagine 15% of MLBtraderumors users siding with him or the union.
I could see K-Rod getting released…going to the red-sox for 7 mil a year…the red-sox then trade pap to another team for some prospects.
I just hope the mlbpa’s position of “without basis” damages their credibility a bit. They’d be more rational in saying something like “too extreme”. Regardless, the Mets should at least get away with not paying K-Rod for the remainder of the year.
In somewhat related news, what do you guys think of letting Parnell close for the rest of the season? We’re obviously out of it….again. If he’s unsuccesful, no harm done. If he’s successful, we either have a closer or a closer to trade. Can’t lose. Of course, Jerry isn’t going to give up until he’s mathematically removed so expect Takahashi to close until he messes up just one time and Jerry picks someone else.
I’m guessing that once the swelling goes down, the story will too… I know he had always been good at striking hitters out, but his nickname fits even better now.
Ha! Let’s call him KO-Rod from now on!
wow a response without name calling or quoting a rap song? I’m impressed child
It’s going to be something like the Warriors where they’re going to be all different gangs. Like the Legend roid users like A-Roid, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire vs. the wife beaters Brett Myers, Brian Giles, since he doesn’t have work Marcus Giles vs. the prisoners K-Rod, the Farnsworth, Urbina ect.
Don’t forget Chuck Knoblauch! He beat his wife too…