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After Team USA took the World Baseball Classic championship over Puerto Rico on Wednesday night, USA center fielder Adam Jones made some comments that Puerto Rico catcher Yadier Molina didn’t appreciate.
Jones said that he and his teammates caught wind of Puerto Rico having a parade scheduled for Thursday and having T-shirts made to commemorate the championship.
The problem was that both sides already had T-shirts made and Puerto Rico’s parade was scheduled to be held whether or not they won.
Case in point: the parade went on as scheduled on Thursday.
Molina, to ESPN Deportes’ Marly Rivera, had the following to say:
“Adam Jones ... is talking about things he doesn’t know about,” Molina told ESPN. “He really has to get informed because he shouldn’t have said those comments, let alone in public and mocking the way [preparations] were made.”
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“He has to apologize to the Puerto Rican people,” Molina said. “Obviously, you wanted to win; he didn’t know what this means to [our] people.”
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“That’s why I’m sending a message to [Jones], saying ‘Look at this, right now you’re in spring training working out, and we’re with our people, with our silver medals,’” Molina continued. “You’re in spring training and you’re working ... you have no idea how to celebrate your honors, you don’t know what it means.”
Several factors seem to be in play here.
First off, Jones was obviously off-base going public with the comments. I don’t think it’s any secret that professional (and collegiate, and high school) athletes and coaches alike use false-motivation rallying cries all the time. Remember back when almost everyone in the country was picking Alabama to beat Washington and ‘Bama was still using fake “national media” quotes?
It happens, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. Use whatever you want, within reason, to get up for the big game.
It only seems dumb when we find out about it.
Secondly, Jones has long been one of the most open and honest players in baseball. So when you get one combined with two, people find out how laughable it sounds that USA was using “T-shirts!” as a rallying cry. Again, I have no issue with it from their perspective, it’s just that many people outside that room will think it sounds dumb.
Jones probably didn’t know, however, there would be a parade if Puerto Rico lost. Generally speaking, there aren’t parades in America for second place. Hell, there isn’t a parade scheduled for winning the WBC. That’s not a slight by any means against Puerto Rico, but a simple fact. It lines right up with what Molina said when he stated that Jones “didn’t know what this means” to the people of Puerto Rico.
On that front, my hunch is Jones will simply apologize and everyone will move on.
For those interested in possible regular-season drama, first of all, there will likely be none at all. If you disagree, though, the AL East and NL Central do indeed play each other this season. The Orioles host the Cardinals June 16-18.
