Mike Silva, at New York Baseball Digest caught up with Alex Merricks, a hard-throwing lefty who the Mets signed over the winter, but never placed on an active roster, to dish some dirt on the organization and Tony Bernazard (pictured). It’s an excellent read.
On Saturday, a day after he was given his release, Alex spoke to NYBD, detailing his frustrating tenure with the Mets; one he characterized as chaotic, lacking communication, and dominated by “a culture of fear.”
….
Silva, who claims the 25-year-old Merricks can touch 95 with his fb, relates the story of Merrick’s year. Despite a solid spring, Merricks did not make a full-season roster out of spring training. He then hurt his ankle, which cost him a few weeks. Even after Merricks had completed his rehab, the Mets kept him in extended spring training, prompted him to ask for his release, on June 12:
Merricks said [Cyclones Manager Pedro] Lopez told him he would pass the request on to Tony Bernazard.
The night before, Alex and two teammates had attended Game 4 of the NBA Finals in Orlando. Merricks, a huge Lakers fan, knew that if the game ended late he would break curfew and incur a $250 fine. After all, Orlando was two hours away from Port St. Lucie. But Merricks said breaking curfew, and the resulting fine, was “common practice” with the Mets. Merricks took full responsibility for the evening with the coaching staff, and his conversation with Pedro Lopez had been friendly.
Later that day, Merricks and the two teammates were brought into the office to have a conference call with Bernazard. Merricks knew he was wrong, but didn’t think it was an egregious offense. What happened totally blindsided him. He was told by Bernazard that “He f***ed the New York Mets, now the New York Mets are going to f*** you!” Merricks was suspended for 30 days without pay and fined $500.
During the next month, Merricks said he tried to reach out to the organization, but no phone calls were returned. Meanwhile, the other two players who went to the game were brought back after two weeks. Asked if he was surprised by this, Merricks said, “No, because they just don’t seem to have it together administratively.” Even after 30 days, he was unable to find out where the Mets wanted him to go.
He said that, although the conference call was his first experience with Bernazard, many of his teammates talked of fearing his presence. “Everyone is on egg shells because they don’t want to be on the receiving end of his tirades,” Merricks said. …
Last week, still unable to get an answer to multiple calls about his future with the Mets nearly 40 days into his 30-day suspension, he saw the report on ESPN about Bernazard challenging the Binghamton Mets to a fight.
…
Two days later, Adam Wogan, the Mets director of minor league operations, finally called him and granted Merricks his release. When he asked what took so long, Merricks said he never received a clear answer.
A couple of comments:
-Merricks pitched for the GCL Twins from 2002-2004, disappeared and then returned in Independent ball in 2008.
-In 75 professional innings he walked 105 batters!
- I think Mike Silva oversells Merricks abilities dramatically HOWEVER,
- If Merricks’ story is true, there is just no excuse for an organization to treat its players this way.
-Cursing is part of baseball. However, it takes on a different meaning in a disciplinary meeting with a supervisor. That setting, to my eyes demands a higher degree of professionalism.
-Unreturned phone calls? In 2009? Inexcusable.
-Disparate treatment of players for the same offense? Inexcusable.
-A “culture of fear?” Beyond inexcusable.
The evidence mounts……
Well the Tony B era is over.
hahah that f’n animal blundetto!!
….oops.. wrong tony B..
This sounds like Jordany Valdespin , Javier Rodriguez etc….
I was just thinking of that after reading this story.
Many wonder why Jordany was not playing and No one (to my knowledge) knows why Javier was on the Suspended List
Well I feel sorry for this guy — is he going to back to the any big club – most likely NO
but to be treated that way — If we have to thank Adam Rubin — well thank you
these KIDS can now worry about truely becoming the best Baseball player they can be
Lets See if Jordany gets to play again — have not seen him in some time
We have been debating, arguing, screaming, fighthing because of the mishandle of some prospects and MAYBE now we gonna have somebody that take care better of the farm and MAYBE that guy will wear a shirt :- )
You are wrong on one point – the punishment for the players shouldn’t necessarily have been the same. As someone who hands out punishments on a daily basis (I’m a school administrator) I can tell you that frequently people deserve different punishments for the same crime. Reasons could be –
- Prior history. What if one player had been late for curfew 4 times previously, but the other guy was late for the first time?
- Attitude. What if one player was apologetic while the other guy argued with management and had zero remorse?
- Severity of the rule breaking. There is a big difference between being 20 minutes late for curfew and being 4 hours late. Maybe the other players went home right after curfew but this guy decided to hit the club.
As far as the phone calls go, who is to say that is true? The article skews the facts of the guy’s career and ability, so it could be doing the same in this regard. The player could have gotten voice mails, but never talked directly to a person from the team. Or, he changed his number while on suspension and never gave it to the team.
The fact is that this one side of the story, and it is from a guy with an axe to grind. Why believe any of it?