Jeff Wilpon put out a one-sentence, 18-word statement yesterday and let that stand on its own merit to describe how “very disappointed” ownership was in Francisco Rodriguez’s “inappropriate behavior.”
As statements go, it was not Lincoln-esque — and it wasn’t even acceptable. Unfortunately for Mets fans, however, it totally was expected — to have Mets ownership hiding off-stage on another humiliating day for the franchise.
I understand restraint, the desire to avoid making a public statement during every three-game losing streak or every time there is a call for your manager to be fired. But there are times, Jeff, that you must project leadership, to publicly demonstrate to your dispirited fan base that someone is both in charge and cares as much as they do about another season rotting away on the field and off.
Yesterday was one of those days to offer more of your soul than one sentence, 18 words. Yesterday was the day to actually remind both your players and customers that someone who actually cares is in charge. Yesterday was a day — with your closer going through the legal process and your starter for the day facing a civil suit and your fourth outfielder complaining that he wants to be traded — to go into your clubhouse, close the door and reiterate to the inmates who is running this asylum.
And yesterday was the day to face the press and deal with the uncomfortable inquisition. Because that is what a leader does. He stands up on the worst days and takes charge and responsibility. He explains how the franchise got here and the plan for doing better in the future. He does not put out an 18-word statement and leave it to a lame-duck manager and his players to explain the aberrant behavior of Rodriguez.
This is not a team owned by a faceless corporation. This is family ownership, which is supposed to mean actual people who live and breathe the results like the fans. It is your family, Jeff. And at some point, you can’t shield yourself with spokespeople and excuses and sparse words parsed by your p.r. apparatus. One of your players punched his girlfriend’s father in the face in the family room of your stadium, Jeff. A player who has had several out-of-control moments already that you have not addressed well enough.
When you stay in hiding we wonder even more about your father’s recent out-of-touch remarks that you are doing a great job. Really? By what measure? The team isn’t winning again. Players are embarrassing you and the organization. Attendance is down. If you were doing any better, they would have to board up Citi Field. Serious self-analysis needs to happen here; the kind of self-analysis that the son of another rich man, Jimmy Dolan, seems incapable of undertaking.
But that is a big picture thing. In the small picture, Jeff, you needed to signal something about accountability by being accountable yourself.
Can you talk from the heart? I don’t know. You seem to feel persecuted and angry in such situations; as if the world does not see the genius of Wilpon ownership. But if this organization really is, as you claim, in your blood then show your fans, not with a few memorized talking points or an 18-word statement that has less passion than Oliver Perez.
Either you really are in or not. Either you are ready to really lead or just hope the spin-men can get you through another day. Either you let another horrible day produced by more bad behavior from K-Rod be a starting point for a new way to run the organization or you should expect the fans to believe you just don’t care.
No more hiding. No more daddy saying what a great job you are doing. No more hand-holding by the p.r. gurus. If what K-Rod did is unacceptable to you and your family, come tell the world what you plan to do about it. Your fans need to see you, not 18 words.
joel.sherman@nypost.com