Mar 05 2019 04:16 PM
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I'm not even sure what happened. I was the man. Then I got dealt. I didn't get dealt because I sucked. I got dealt because everybody else sucked. But I was the man. Right up until the time I was traded, this whole concept of "bullpen" was about setting up a ninth inning where I'm on the mound.
But dealt I got. There's just no two ways about it. It happens all the time, but the lack of justice is so ironic. "Jeurys, you're pretty good, so get the fuck out of here. The rest of you guys, you suck, so stay put. You can't have nice things, and Jeurys is a nice thing. Hey, Jeurys, didn't I tell you to leave? What's taking so long?"
So I go somewhere else. Oakland, to be specific. I'm confused and a little heartbroken, but I do my best. And then I get to the offseason. I get to sign anywhere I want to be the man again! But the market is depressed. My agent calls and tells me, "Hey, Jeurys, do you know who's offering the most money? You'll never guess!"
"It's got to be the Mets," I say.
"Its the Mets!" he says.
And I'm all, "Didn't they already get somebody else to be the man?"
And he's like, "Yeah, but, get this — they're offering you more money to be the backup man than other teams are offering you to be the man. THE CHEAP-ASS METS!"
So I wear a cross, but I'm really more of a Buddhist, and I'm like, "Well, what does it mean to be the man in the long run? I still have a lease on that place in Corona. Fuck it. Tell them I said yes."
"How did you know it would be the Mets?!" he asks.
"Because life is confusing and ironic, and once you embrace that, it's no longer confusing, even if it's still ironic. I'm Buddhist like that." I totally said that.
So here I go, back-up closer? Alternate closer? Eighth-inning guy? I'm holder of the Mets all-time saves in a season record, and I'm holding somebody else's water. I try not to think about where this is going to lead, but just be in the moment. But you may have an idea.