Phillies left fielder Andrew McCutchen isn't one to hold his tongue.
He spent the Phils' unexpected week off, because the Marlins experienced a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak during teams' season-opening series, tweeting almost daily about missing the game.
And when he was given the opportunity to express his feelings about being sidelined for a week for circumstances out of his hands, McCutchen spoke his mind.
The Athletic's Jayson Stark asked McCutchen during a podcast appearance on Monday if he was angry at the Marlins players who left the team hotel. Here's what McCutchen said:
"I was upset at everything that's transpired through that — whoever decided to step out or not necessarily follow the health and safety protocol," he said. "That upset me. What made me angry was that we, as the Phillies — we were the ones that ended up having to pay for that. ... We followed all of the health and safety protocols. We knew that was important. We understood that's what we needed to do to be able to play this game. And we did everything right. And we paid for it.
"And so for me, that was upsetting. I'm sitting here at home, watching 28 to 27 to 26 other teams play, and we're sitting at home — all (testing) negative by the way. And we have to watch this happen while we did nothing wrong. So for me, that was very upsetting. It was very upsetting that we did everything right, and we were still the ones paying for it."
It's hard to find fault in McCutchen's frustration.
Frankly, any player would be justified in being at least slightly angry with the Marlins. Derek Jeter admitted on Monday some Miami players did indeed 'let their guards down' during their time in Atlanta. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic demands attention and diligence from everyone, pro athletes included, in order to keep each other safe.
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And it's probably doubly frustrating for McCutchen, who turns 34 later this year after a year off from the game. McCutchen only has so much playing time left in his baseball career, and will need players to protect the league's safety for the rest of the season so he can keep playing.
The Phillies resumed play Monday night in the Bronx aginst the Yankees, and will hopefully be able to play out the rest of their 60-game season.
If something derails that path, it sounds like McCutchen won't be to blame.
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