Javy Baez Responds to Clint Hurdle’s Criticism
Clint Hurdle made it quite clear how he felt about some of the actions of Javier Baez and Willson Contreras during the three game set at Wrigley Field. Specifically, he referenced Baez tossing his bat (subscription required/recommended) in disappointment after popping out in Wednesday night’s game.
In his postgame interview Wednesday night, Baez expressed his own disappointment with the way he handled that moment, and noted that his teammates (later identified as Pedro Strop) helped him learn from the experience. Today, after hearing of Hurdle’s comments, Baez responded.
Javier Baez, clearly bothered by Clint Hurdle telling reporters he didn't respect the game: "To be honest, I got a lot of things I can say right now. But I don’t control what’s out there, what people talk about me. I’m just going to keep playing my game."
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) April 12, 2018
Javier Baez: "I bust my ass every day to play hard. No one plays this game harder than me. I respect 90. But you don't go out there and talk trash about someone."
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) April 12, 2018
Baez on Hurdle: "We won (last night) and it got to him. We lost the series, but we’re still the same. I’m happy. There’s music in the clubhouse. There’s nothing to take personal. People that talk about me, they can save it. I don’t control it. I don’t really care about it.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) April 12, 2018
Javier Baez: “I’m going to play hard every day. Whoever likes it, fine. Whoever doesn’t like it, that’s you.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) April 12, 2018
I think I speak for the entire Cubs Insider staff when I say, “PREACH JAVY!” Baez plays baseball with an extreme amount of passion and pride. Knowing his backstory, namely the relationship he had with his late sister, helps to understand why he leaves every ounce of his being on the field during every game he competes in.
Will some of his actions rub people the wrong way? Obviously. But Javy shouldn’t (and isn’t) going to change the way he plays because people like Hurdle think it’s disrespectful. And in case you had forgotten, that’s the same Clint Hurdle who had one of his pitchers hit Jake Arrieta with a pitch in the 2015 Wild Card game and had nothing to say when one of his own players, Sean Rodriguez, was busy getting into a street fight with an innocent Gatorade cooler.
Perhaps this will all fade away a we’ll all forget about by next week as the Pittsburgh Fun Police encourage us to move along, nothing to see here. But we’ve already seen one instance this season in which Contreras cursed out a Brewers player over an incident that took place three or four years ago in the Venezuelan Winter League. You think he and Javy are going to stand on the Roberto Clemente Bridge as this all passes beneath it on the Allegheny?
In all likelihood, they’ll be trying to bomb a few balls into the water the next time these teams meet.