Mar 31 2019 08:38 PM
How strange. How strange that my turn to ask the big Hey, Nineteen! question should come now, when my whole baseball existence is in limbo. How strange that it should fall in this hard little center of the Mets roster filled with catchers. I'm filing just before Tomás Nido, who took my job, and just after Patrick Mazeika, who's gonna take his job, because what comes around goes around, you smug little shit.
I'm sorry. I don't mean to be bitter, but I'll be fucked if I ain't bitter. I mean, not long ago in the big picture, Matt Harvey was the most celebrated pitcher in baseball. Dark Knight, "Har-vey's Bet-ter!" chants, chasing models around town. I mean, he was a tool, but a valuable tool, right? And I got traded for him. Me, Devon Mesoraco! The overpaid oft-injured catcher from Cincinnati way. And yeah, Fangraphs says he had more value than me after the trade, but fuck them. I was Mr. Teammate Guy and he was ... Matt Harvey LOL.
Well, I'm tired of that good teammate bullshit. I signed a minor league contract and the last thing I expected was to play minor league ball. That's just not how I roll. I got a wife and kid and when we filled out our tax return, under OCCUPATION, I put "Major League Baseball Player." Now the Mets are trying to make a liar out of me. A federal criminal! Lying on a federal form! I'm sorry, but no.
So I didn't report to the minors with my minor league contract. I say I had an oral agreement with the Mets to be granted a release if I didn't make the team. Some grown-ass man named "Brodie" tells me that if I thought I had an agreement, I should have asked for it in writing. My agents over at Jet Sports Management are all, "Ummm ... let me get back to you."
So yeah, that's the sitchoo: (1) I've got a contract binding me to the Mets, (2) the Mets farmed me out, (3) I refuse to report, so the Mets don't have to pay me, even though (4) they are retaining my rights. And now (5) I've threatened to retire, and (6) the Mets are all, "Well, we're calling your bluff, but it's not like even if you did retire, we'd let go of your rights."
And (7) I'm like "Oh, consarn it all!"
How strange.
It's all a massive pile of bullshit. But somethings got to give, right? The Mets don't want to dick me around all year, and I don't want to not play all year, as much as I don't want to play minor league ball. It's a gen-u-ine impasse. A Mexican standoff. 
If it breaks, anything can happen. If it doesn't, only one thing can happen.
So what's going to happen?