Francisco Lindor wasn’t about to get into a public spat with a former teammate as the Mets shortstop prepared to face the Guardians on Friday for the first time since he was traded away from the organization.
“All those veterans and no leadership,” Jason Kipnis said of the Mets on the Foul Territory podcast this week with former catcher AJ Pierzynski.
Reminded that he played with Lindor and asked if the shortstop was a leader, Kipnis responded: “I’m gonna repeat it again, all those veterans and no leadership.”
Kipnis, now out of baseball, played for Cleveland from 2011-19 and was Lindor’s teammate for five seasons.
“I haven’t talked to him,” Lindor said Friday before hitting the game-winning single in the Mets’ 10-9 win in 10 innings over Cleveland at Citi Field. “I don’t really have much to say.”
Lindor’s wife, Katia, entered the fray with a post on Twitter:
“My husband is such a classy person, would never say what a bully Kipnis was in the clubhouse. Sounds like a true leader vs. the opposite of a leader.”
Kipnis changed course in a Twitter post on Wednesday.
“Said what I said, we’ll move on cause I don’t have the energy nor the want to for Twitter back-n-forths!.
“Also Frankie wasn’t expected to be a leader [with Cleveland] when he was so young. I bet he’s grown into a damn good one. We’re just talkin’ about [expletive] cause they’re not winning like they can.”
Kipnis also responded to Katia’s tweet, apologizing for the comment on Friday.
“I’m not so sure about bully but I said it earlier and I’ll say it again,” Kipnis quote-tweeted Katia’s tweet. “Terrible take on my end and I was wrong. Should be proud of the man he’s grown into and nothing but love for the Lindor family. Can admit when I f–ked up. Sorry it even got to here.”
Lindor was acquired by the Mets, with Carlos Carrasco, before the 2021 season in a trade that sent Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario to Cleveland, where they have become mainstays.
Last season, Gimenez was an All-Star and won a Gold Glove at second base.
“They’ve been awesome,” Lindor said. “I care about players’ performance, but talking to people that have been around over there [Gimenez and Rosario] have been great people and that’s awesome. Whenever you have good, quality people, it makes me happy to know they are good to have in the clubhouse besides obviously that they have been playing well.”
Catcher Tomas Nido, who is working with new contact lenses to help him deal with dry eye syndrome, was placed on a rehab assignment for Single-A St. Lucie.
The Mets also announced that outfielder Tim Locastro has returned from his rehab assignment and transferred to the 60-day injured list with a right thumb UCL sprain. Locastro was placed on the IL last month with back spasms.
Catcher Michael Perez was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to create roster space for Gary Sanchez. Also, Josh Walker was optioned to Syracuse, with Carrasco returning from the IL.
