Shane Victorino Responds To 'Mazz And Whoever That Other Individual Is'
One of the biggest headlines this spring has been Shane Victorino, and why the hell Red Sox manager John Farrell promised him the starting job in right field, before he even saw Victorino, or most importantly, his competition, play a single inning.
Another one of the biggest headlines this spring, of course, has been the Red Sox being linked to Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels in trade rumors. Talks of the Red Sox needing an ace have dominated the conversation surrounding the 2015 team since Jon Lester signed a 6-year deal with the Chicago Cubs. On Tuesday, Victorino shared his thoughts in regards to the Red Sox potentially acquiring Hamels.
“I’d love to see him any time. … I’m also happy with the guys we’ve got – I respect them. … Any time you can get a No. 1, as I told these guys – not the front office, but the players – any time you can go get a guy in my opinion who is established, who has done it [you do it]. And I understand you don’t want to give up this prospect or that prospect. You’re hoping this guy becomes a Cole Hamels. Hoping. Oh wait, that guy is there now. And even as a hitter. Why would you hope that guy becomes this hitter, when you have it right now? And I understand there’s a financial side. And there’s a bigger picture. But like I said, at the end of the day, it’s right here in front of you. Why are you hoping?”
98.5 The Sports Hub’s Felger and Mazz caught wind of Victorino’s comments and fired the first shots at the outfielder. Here are the comments in full:
“There are two parts of the comment that really bug the crap out of me,” Mazz said, noting that he understands that most veterans want to win now rather than wait for prospects to develop. “In this particular case, you have a 34-year-old, breaking-down outfielder whose job is potentially going to be taken by whom? Mookie Betts, or by default, Rusney Castillo. And so who are we talking about, potentially, in this trade? Mookie Betts. So is that the deal?”
“Mookie Betts is going to take his job, [and Victorino says] ‘Hey, get the kid out of here, because we can win now if we get Hamels,’” Mazz added.
“Really … what a comment,” said Felger. “Throwing your young players under the bus, who are competing against you for your job.”
“Wow,” Mazz said. “What a loser. ‘Get rid of the kid before he takes my job.’ That’s how it comes off.”
Mazz also pointed out that if a trade doesn’t go down between the Red Sox and Phillies, then Victorino is going to have a share a clubhouse with Betts and possibly Henry Owens or Blake Swihart.
“They’re on your team! You’re talking about an elite prospect. So you’re going to come out publicly and say ‘I’d move one of these guys in a second, because I don’t know what he’s going to be’? Well, that does wonders for team chemistry, doesn’t it? Really, this Red Sox team that prided itself on chemistry and character and camaraderie a couple of years ago, now that you are a 34-year-old broken-down guy in the final year of a contract, now you want to get rid of the prospect because it serves you.”
Mazz added: “If I were one of the veteran guys on this team, I’d pull him aside and say, ‘Hey, pinhead. Mookie Betts is going to play with us this year. You’re out here lobbying for him to be dealt. … You’re openly lobbying for us to get rid of these guys, and we’ve got to share a room with them for the next six months? What are you stupid?’”
Less than 24 hours later, Victorino heard Felger and Mazz’s comments and fired back.
“If there’s one person that’s an advocate of that individual who was named in the article, Mookie Betts, it’s me,” Victorino said. “I don’t have any fear or feel like there’s competition that I’ve got to get him shipped out of here. That’s the part for me, where individuals put words in your mouth, that sit behind a mic and say something, you know where I’ll be. I’ll be more than happy to talk to you about it. But don’t get behind a mic and be a coward and try to put words in my mouth, because not once in that article did I mention anybody’s name. I said two or three prospects — whoever. It could be anybody. I was never a prospect. I was part of every single trade talk every year (with Philadelphia). That’s the part for me that’s like, Mazz and whoever this other individual is, I don’t know who these clowns are. In my opinion, it’s frustrating that I have to come in the next day and justify myself. But I’m more than willing to do it. You know why? I have no guilt trip on what I said. All I said was, if it warrants going and getting a guy like Cole Hamels, hey, I’m all for it. But I’m fine with what we have here. I’ll take those five guys any day.
“These individuals who make the situation bigger than what it needs to be have no credibility on making statements behind the mic. Come in the clubhouse. Let me ask you face-to-face. That’s the thing that frustrates me more than anything. Individuals sit behind a mic and they take a story and they make it into a big fish rather than keeping it a little fish. I never said anybody’s name. I never said any individual’s name. And those guys are quick to assume that because those guys (Betts and catching prospect Blake Swihart) are the guys that were talked about, I’m trying to call out my teammate or trying to get them shipped away. Guys, come on. That’s the last thing this guy is trying to do.”
I know that’s more reading than most Stoolies are willing to commit to in one week, never mind one blog, and I’m sure you skimmed a bunch to get down here to the point, so here it is. Yes, I think Victorino’s comments were taken out of context to a degree, but not entirely. I totally get where he’s coming from when he basically says, why would you hold onto a prospect who, maybe, can only become as good as Hamels when you can just go get Hamels himself now. I get that, because that’s what I told myself to justify trading Anthony Rizzo away in the Adrian Gonzalez deal. Rizzo could only become as good as Gonzalez, so why wait for that to happen or risk the chance that it doesn’t happen at all, when you can just get a player of that caliber right now?
From that point, I get it. But then I look at it from this angle. Victorino isn’t a Red Sox fan. He’s a Red Sox player, whose deal is up at the end of this year, and whose window is closing in terms of his playing career. He’s not talking in regards to what’s best for the Red Sox and their future, he’s talking in regards to what’s best for him. I know that Felger and Mazz’s comments really honed in on the aspect of Victorino suggesting that the Red Sox should trade Mookie Betts for Hamels, thus making Victorino’s greatest threat to his playing time disappear, while adding a legitimate number one starter, but I don’t think that’s how he was thinking when he made those comments.
Personally, I just think he wants to win now, because he sees how good this team’s chances are to do something special this year, in addition to the fact that the future of the Red Sox really doesn’t matter to him at this point. Essentially, he’s acting as though he’s a general manager that knows he’s going to be fired at the end of the season, so you might as well go for it now because what happens after this year really doesn’t concern you. What does he care what a guy like Henry Owens or Betts could become in the future for the Red Sox? It’s irrelevant to a guy in his position.
But like I said, I think the angle that Victorino wants Betts gone because he’s his competition was completely overblown, just for the simple fact that the Phillies want Blake Swihart just as much as they want Betts, and a catching prospect is obviously no threat to Victorino whatsoever.
To Mazz’s point about the chemistry factor, he’s absolutely right. Victorino’s excuse of, “Oh, I didn’t name names, so what’s the big deal?” is so lame. The big deal is that, realistically, there are only a handful of guys in the Red Sox system who could be the pieces used to acquire a guy like Hamels, and those guys know exactly who they are. He’s also being hypocritical to say let’s go out and get Hamels, what are we waiting for? And then when Felger and Mazz call him out on his comments, he backtracks and says, “I’ll take those five guys any day,” in reference to Clay Buchholz, Rick Porcello, Joe Kelly, Wade Miley and Justin Masterson.
At some point this season, like Mazz said — assuming Victorino is still even here at that point — he will have to share a clubhouse with the guys who he volunteered to be traded, and somewhat doubted whether or not they’ll actually become special players. It reminds me of that time that Dan Patrick asked Kevin Millar if he’d rather have Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez or Alex Rodriguez, and he said, “I’m taking A-Rod.” Two months later, A-Rod’s a Yankee and things just got pretty awkward in the Red Sox clubhouse.
The bottom line is if Boston really wanted Hamels, he would be in a Red Sox uniform right now. The Red Sox have more than enough elite, young talent to acquire Hamels if they really wanted to, but they’re not that desperate yet. It’s pretty clear at this point that the Phillies aren’t backing down from their asking price, and the Red Sox aren’t budging from the list players who they’ve deemed untouchable. In short, Victorino was better off just keeping his mouth shut, and being happy he even has a spot on this team at all.