Francisco Lindor Reportedly Grabbed Jeff McNeil By The Throat In The Tunnel The Night Of The Infamous Ratcoon Incident Like The True Team Leader He Is
NY Post- The tension had been building for at least 2 ½ weeks between Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil when it reached a boiling point on May 7 in the tunnel that connects the Mets dugout to the clubhouse at Citi Field. Details weren’t divulged by the players involved or organization at the time, but The Post has learned the specifics of what transpired in the “Rat/Raccoon” altercation from that night.
The shortstop Lindor, frustrated by the second baseman’s latest positioning gaffe and their ensuing argument, according to a club source, grabbed McNeil by the throat and pinned him against a wall in the tunnel. Before the situation could escalate, Mets players hearing the commotion arrived to break it up.
What a guy Francisco Lindor is! Everyone knows that ratcoons attack when they see motion much like the T Rex in Jurassic Park and Lindor did everything in his power to make sure his new double play partner was not in harm's way.
Not only is Lindor a great guy but he is an even better teammate that will clearly do whatever it takes to win games by helping my guy Jeff McNeil out with his defensive positioning.
Lindor had been visibly flustered on the field after McNeil, lined up to the left of second base in the shift, ranged too far toward the hole in pursuing Nick Ahmed’s grounder. Lindor fielded the ball and McNeil ducked, allowing the shortstop a throw to first base. But Lindor’s brief hesitation on the throw may have cost him any chance at throwing out Ahmed, who was safe.
McNeil had two previous defensive positioning miscues involving Lindor, two weeks earlier at Wrigley Field. At some point — either before or after the series at Wrigley — manager Luis Rojas had threatened to bench McNeil if he didn’t get on board with the team’s shifting. Rojas, according to sources, made good on that threat, but it’s unclear if the benching occurred on April 22 in Chicago or April 25 at home against the Nationals — McNeil was absent from the starting lineup for both games.
Lindor’s anger with the situation apparently stemmed as much from McNeil’s dismissive attitude toward the positioning issues as the actual mistakes. “[Lindor] would always try to get him to move and Jeff would be like, ‘Shut up, I got it,’ ” a source said. “It was building and building.”
After reading that, I think Lindor may be one of the extremely few 6 tool players in baseball. He is fast, can play Gold Glove defense, has a howitzer for an arm, can hit for power and for average (outside of the nightmare first few months), which is great. But it's that 6th tool that gets overlooked by the traditional scouts that only geniuses like Steve Cohen are willing to pay top dollar for that can lead you to championships. Leadership. Heart. Balls. Whatever you wanna call it, Francisco Lindor has it in spades since not many players on a new team would grab a teammate by the throat to help convince him to listen to the manager and line up in the right spot on the diamond.
Suddenly all those talking heads and beat reporters crying after the game about this seems even more ridiculous than it did back in May. Save me all the crybabies complaining about some contact between a couple of adults too. According to those sickos on KFC Radio, choking someone is a sign of love in 2021. Besides if I had a nickel for every time two of the 86 Mets grabbed each other by the throat, I'd have enough money to buy all the cocaine those guys did on their way to winning the World Series.
I'm not sure which coach, player, or exec from the 2021 Mets that no longer plans on being in Flushing leaked this, but I'd like to thank them for letting Mets fans know they got a real one in Francisco Lindor. The Lindorks may be sick about this but I'm sure Francisco will be glad to grab them by the throat in order to show them the light.
What a season 2021 was. We're on to the hot stove and 2022 (Whenever we get a President Of Baseball Operations, GM, and Manager)