New York Mets pitcher Jorge López was cut by the struggling team one day after he threw his glove into the stands following his ejection, and then followed that up with a post-game rant for the ages.
The 31-year-old López gave up a two-run home run to Shohei Ohtani in the eighth inning before being ejected by third-base umpire Ramon De Jesus for shouting at him, over a check swing call that didn't go his way.
On his way to the dugout, López untucked his jersey and then threw his glove into the Citi Field crowd. The Mets would go on to lose to the Dodgers 10-3.
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"I don't regret it," an unapologetic Lopez told reporters after the game.
"Whatever happens happens. Whatever they want to do, I'll be here tomorrow if they want me.
"I'm going to keep doing this thing," added the Puerto Rican pitcher. "I'm healthy. I'm ready to come back tomorrow if they want me to be here."
According to MLB.com reporter Anthony DiComo, López, who is a Spanish speaker, also said a comment in English in front of reporters which was interpreted by those present as either calling the Mets "the worst team in the whole f—ing MLB" or calling himself "the worst teammate in the whole f—ing MLB."
Later in the same interview, López was asked if he called New York "the worst team" in MLB to which he said: "Yeah, probably, it looked like."
According to DiComo, López later clarified through a clubhouse source that he meant to say that he was the worst teammate on the worst team.
On Thursday, López posted on his Instagram story: "Who ever hear me I said 'teammate' and what I said on the situation I been the worst teammate. Thanks media for make it worse."
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza called López's outburst "unacceptable" and that it would be handled internally.
"It definitely doesn't look good," Mets' shortstop Francisco Lindor told reporters afterwards. "If our manager says it's unacceptable, it's unacceptable. I hope tomorrow [López] feels completely different. … If he doesn't, at the end of the day, he's our teammate and we've got to go out there and compete, day in and day out, and I'll back him up."
Lindor won't have to do that after the Mets decided to take the pitcher off the roster.
"We have standards here," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "When you're not playing well, guys will show emotions. There's frustrations, but there's a fine line and yesterday went over that line."
Mendoza would not specify whether the decision was made over López's behaviour or the behaviour coupled with the pitcher's postgame interview.
Mendoza said the decision was made to send a message to players, who held a team meeting after the defeat.
"I'm talking about standards, right," he said. "There's going to be times where you want to see frustration for players, but there's a fine line and … behaviors like that we're not going tolerate."
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