On Sunday, Mets starter Jason Vargas had to be restrained from going after a Newsday beat writer in the Mets’ clubhouse, shouting, “I’ll knock you the f--- out, bro.” All of this stemmed from manager Mickey Callaway misconstruing the reporter’s “I’ll see you tomorrow” as some sort of dig when it was just, you know, someone saying, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” So, yeah, that all escalated quickly.
While Callaway’s response to all of that was criticized -- he apologized, but only eventually -- Vargas had not said anything about the incident until after his start last night. He was pretty sharp on the mound -- he struck out ten and would’ve gotten the win if his bullpen hadn’t blown up -- but his comments about the incident with the reporter were on the vague side. Here’s what he said:
Well, it’s not obvious, actually, because Vargas declined to say what else isn’t out there. As it is he sounds defensive and seems to be suggesting that, however “foolish” the whole situation was, he was somehow justified in going after the reporter. Which doesn’t really track with anything else we know about it all.
I suppose, someday, Vargas may choose to share the deep, dark truth of all of this and explain why it was reasonable for him to tell a newspaper reporter “I’ll knock you the f--- out, bro.” If the truth is out there, it’s out there, after all.
Until that day, though, I think we’re safe to simply assume Vargas was being an unnecessarily aggressive jackwagon.
