Quote: John Franco on Mets and Leadership
Update, 11:57 pm:
Following yesterday’s game, David Wright told reporters:
“With all due respect to Johnny, he doesn’t know what’s going on in this clubhouse… I don’t feel the need to have to defend myself as a leader. If these guys in here respect me and think of me as a leader, that’s what I need… I don’t worry myself about outside people saying what they’re going to say. It doesn’t matter. What matters to me are these 24 guys in here and the coaching staff. Whatever anybody else wants to say, they can say whatever.”
Original Post:
John Franco was a guest on Inside Pitch on SIRIUS XM Radio yesterday, and had the following to say when asked about the Mets:
“You know, there’s still something missing there. I don’t know what it is the last couple of years. Watching them almost every day, there’s no leadership there. Nobody wants to step forward and be a leader. Something is missing and it’s hard to put your finger on it. They got some great, talented players - Reyes and Wright and Beltran, now Santana’s there – but I just can’t put my finger on it. It seems like, to me, they’re not having fun, even when they were winning. Playing in New York, the pressure cooker here, I’m sure there’s a lot of pressure on them, but they need to relax a little bit and look like they’re having fun. It kind of looks like they’re not having fun and everybody’s on their own page.”
Later, Franco was asked, “What kind of player does it take to really step up and push the guys and be a leader,” to which he responded:
“With the Mets, a guy like David Wright is a guy that I’m hoping – you know, I tried talking to him and tell him to come forward and be that guy, but I think David feels that being that he’s such a young player and you have the Delgados and Sheffields and veteran guys like that, he’s afraid that they’ll look at him like, ‘Be quiet and sit down.’ Gary’s here and Gary’s been great. Gary Sheffield’s been great, so I don’t have a bad thing to say about Gary, but I think you need a guy who the organization is building around and is going to be here for the next five, six years. David’s been here for five years already, and he’ll probably be here for another five years, him and Jose, so that’s the core of the team. One of those guys has to step forward and take charge.”
Inside Pitch airs weekdays at 1 pm exclusively on SIRIUS XM Radio’s MLB Home Plate channel.
