Here's a nice, confusing story to cap off your Saturday night.
Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski caused a ruckus by hugging teammates, apparently passing out cigars, and playing coy about retirement following Atlanta's victory against the Mets. The natural assumption to make, then, was that Pierzynski was retiring.
Take a look at some of Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer David O'Brien's tweets:
#Braves Pierzynski hugging all teammates, passed out cigars. He's retiring, apparently right now.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) September 11, 2016
#Braves Pierzynsnki was coy about retirement thing, said he had nothing to announce, only "who knows what's going to happen?" type replies.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) September 11, 2016
Except Pierzynski is evidently not retiring after all -- and those cigars? Weren't his work:
A #Braves official said as far as he knows A.J. not retiring now.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) September 11, 2016
Pierzynski said not retiring now, that he didn't pass out cigars, that Teheran did for son born last month https://t.co/2c6zZsqWhP
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienAJC) September 11, 2016
Of course, this is all semantics in a way. Pierzynski is going to be forced into retirement fairly soon, likely within the coming months. That's just reality for a 39-year-old backstop who's hitting a career-worst .217/.239/.303 on the season. The Braves could release him tomorrow -- and who knows, maybe they intend to -- and nobody would cry foul.
Pierzynski, a smart guy, probably realizes that. And that's probably why he seemed to have a little fun with the situation at hand. Why not? It's not every day you get to create a Twitter firestorm over hugs.
