The Other Fifteen

I swear, this stuff keeps falling right into my lap. More exploits of the human colostomy bag!

JUPITER, Fla. — The Mets were patient with Lastings Milledge along his bumpy learning curve and tolerated plenty of headaches from his off-the-field conduct. But now that Milledge is a member of the Nationals, and again taking shots at his former team, the Mets are through putting up with his behavior. He's not their problem anymore.

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There were moments — mostly during Milledge's rookie season in 2006 — when that respect was questioned. Milledge notoriously showed up only an hour before the game's first pitch during a series in Philadelphia, drawing harsh criticism from Wright at the time. Milledge also celebrated a bit too much when he high-fived fans along the rightfield line after a tying home run at Shea Stadium.

Such behavior may have annoyed the Mets, but Billy Wagner said that none of the players held a grudge against him. It was Wagner who hung a sign in Milledge's locker during a series in DC that read, "Know your place, Rook!" And he insists that was nothing more than the type of rookie hazing that everyone endures. In fact, Wagner went as far as to say that Milledge actually got off easy.

"Everyone in the organization babied the heck out of him," Wagner said. "We couldn't get on him too much because we were told to lay off of him. It could have been a whole lot worse for him and all we did was try to help him to help us."

You tell them, Billy Wagner! If it wasn't for the Mets organization, you could have helped Milledge a lot worse!

I mean, that has to give front offices heartburn, right? Scout a guy all through high school, pay him a massive signing bonus, invest years into training him... and then have to worry about what an overgrown kid like Wagner is going to do to screw it all up.

Classy, Billy Wagner. Classy.

Labels: Baseball, Billy Wagner