CHICAGO — Manager Clint Hurdle expressed displeasure Thursday with Chicago Cubs second baseman Javier Baez’s actions the night before.
Hurdle was asked about the Pirates’ clubhouse dynamic, with players still establishing themselves, and brought up Baez when discussing the need for players to speak truth to one another. Baez already had three of the four home runs he hit in the first two games of the series and flipped his bat, likely in frustration, when he popped out in the seventh inning Wednesday night.
“You watch their kid flip that bat last night? Where’s the respect for the game?” Hurdle said. “The guy hits four homers in two days, so that means you can take your bat and throw it 15, 20 feet in the air when you pop up like you should have hit your fifth home run? I would bet that men over there talked to him, because I do believe they have a group over there that speaks truth to power.”
Hurdle also mentioned Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, referring to Contreras arguing balls and strikes with home-plate umpire Dan Bellino.
“The catcher, a talented young man, there’s a day he would have been thrown out as soon as he went like this, the ball’s high, at the plate,” said Hurdle, holding his hand level with his chest. “Those are things you help your young players with as they go through it, but that’s not respect for the game. That’s not the way we do things here.”
Baez responded to Hurdle’s criticism after the Pirates beat the Cubs Thursday afternoon, telling ESPN:
"I bust my [butt] every day to play hard. I don't think anyone plays this game harder than me. I respect [the game]. I respect whatever, but you don't go out there and talk trash about someone. I have a lot of things I could say right now, but I don't control what's out there, what people talk about me."
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: April 12, 2018, 6:04 p.m.
Updated: April 12, 2018, 6:04 p.m.