What is Going on with Kansas City Sports Teams and These Scandals Anyway?

 

When a story rolls out so quickly and with quite the heavy hand ... at this point, sometimes the antennae just goes up with no hesitation at all.  Narnia is wondering out loud.

 

Thursday, Apr 2, the Kansas City Royals were playing the rubber match game vs. the Minnesota Twins.  They had won the first two games and were looking for a sweep of all three.  No doubt, both teams were kind of tired because Wednesday night's game was played in a constant blanket of rain and/or fog.  

 

(It was amazing the entire nine innings from Wednesday night were completed, taking about 3 1/2 hours to do so.  The grounds crew worked their you-know-what's off between innings trying to bring some level of dryness to the mound, the base paths and whatnot.  It was a miserable night for all, but at least the Royals hung on to win.)

 

Originally, 22-year old catcher Carter Jensen was in Thursday's game lineup instead of Salvador Perez.  Usually when there is a day game after a night game, "Salvy" does not catch, but DH's instead.  Later, Carter was pulled from the lineup without any explanation and Perez was going to need to catch.

 

It was concerning - hopefully Carter didn't injure himself during warm ups, right?  Well, come to find out towards the end of the game, it is relayed on Twitter that Carter had allegedly overslept that morning and missed reporting to the stadium in time for the game. 

KC Star Sports Editor Sam McDowell's tweet

Then you had sports anchor McKenzie Nelson from NBC's local affiliate Channel 41, with the video from Vinnie Pasquantino's Town Hall:

Sam McDowell provided us the full transcript from Vinnie's Town Hall:

 Looks like that may not have even been the entire speech.  While Vinnie tried to later say that "first and foremost", he was glad that Carter was okay, what took precedence over that was all about the "36 year old" veteran who was the martyr in this entire incident.  Because that was brought up before his concern about Carter's well-being.  It was about pointing out the obvious.  Which again brings us to another example of the player with the C on his uniform not being anywhere in the vicinity of the local press when it comes to interviews involving anything remotely controversial.  In this case, Bobby Witt, Jr. was nowhere to be heard from either. 

No, no... as usual?  It was Vinnie who was propped up?, I mean - was the one to speak up. In this instance.  We had video and everything.

 

Luckily for all the players, the focus wasn't on the outcome of the game at all, but all on Carter Jensen and oversleeping.  Fans were lucky to be able to find the score.

Instagram:

 

It's always a clue what gets emphasized

Today, it's a top story in the MLB and the like.   Oh look - there's that scandal-chaser, TMZ. 👀👀

 "not allowed to play".

"Jensen benched"

"rookie's tardy arrival"

"Royals scratch catcher"

 

TMZ?   People Magazine?   Tell me you're not serious.  

Wow.  Well, SOMEone needed this to be a big story, didn't they?  😠  Since when is People.com looking at anything the Kansas City Royals are doing?  Carter wasn't even one of the team's star players in the WBC like Vinnie, Maikel or Bobby were.  Where was Carter when the WBC was going on?  He was back in spring training.

And so back to Vinnie's Town Hall, which did what?  The popular first baseman is idolized around these parts.  The WBC brought out the outstanding leadership quality the man possesses.  So fans pay attention to him and what he says.  No doubt, his speech didn't exactly discourage fans from piling on the 22 year old rookie, on Twitter/X as one would hope they wouldn't on a matter like this, on a player who has done nothing but bust his tail for his hometown team and fans.

"KittyCat", who just happens to be a big Salvy fan, had to get her shots in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting whenever I see "kitty" or "cat" in social media names now, a cautionary pause is highly recommended.  It dates back to this author's early J2 days is all that will be said.  😉 Of course, the account above has had my X blocked for awhile. Imagine that ...

Everything was too much with this story.  Did the young man make .. eh ...a significant error?  Yes, of course he did.  But did it warrant a very-public chastising and back-handed expression of concern from a teammate for the press?   No, it didn't.  Leave that for the privacy of the clubhouse, for pete's sake.  No one likes to be embarrassed like that in front of the whole world.

It was because of the very public criticism that made Narnia raise our eyebrows.  It was out of character for the KC Royals, who normally despise scandal and anything that tarnishes their brand and image.  They're an extremely private organization.  Except in this case.  This time, for reasons unknown for sure, the blowhorns came out.

Things about this story that make Narnia go hmmm: 

• And it just so happens that this player's very good friend and teammate had a Golden Boy story come out yesterday as well.  One of those great-character stories.  Not that the teammate wouldn't do something like that.  But the timing was extraordinary.

• Also, it just so happens the Royals had conducted this fun spring training video on what?  Wake-up alarms.  IMAGINE that.  What a coincidence.  You can't make this stuff up. 

• TMZ's coverage - I'm sorry.  This is everything the Royals have NEVER been about.  They aren't about scandal, no mis-behaviors.  They are no porn allowed (inside joke within the fandom). They are clean cut, fresh-faced, well-mannered, cross-wearing, white picket fence, SUV in the garage, nuclear family, Leave It To Beaver, the whole nine yards.  Yes, they have had, do have so many great players over the years in their organization.   But this is also what they're about.  Very controlling of their entire image, their broadcast media, and the local media.  One needs to play nice.  That's been the history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead, veteran Salvador Perez had to ditch his planned DH day and jump behind the plate on short notice … with starting pitcher Cole Ragans counting on him.

Jensen eventually showed up -- in what he described as a “full panic” -- and even got into the game late … but by then, the damage was done, both on the lineup card and the scoreboard in a 5-1 loss. - TMZ source

 

So TMZ is blaming Carter for the loss?  Really?  😬

All that had to ever be said was expressed by Manager Matt Quatraro:

“Carter had an oversight,” manager Matt Quatraro said after a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins dropped the Royals to 3-3 on the season. “He overslept and wasn’t here on time and we made the decision to scratch him from the lineup.”

Perez was pinch-run for by utility man Tyler Tolbert after reaching base in the bottom of the eighth inning on a fielder’s choice. That left Jensen to replace Perez defensively in the ninth inning.

“He feels terrible,” Quatraro said of the Park Hill alum, who is six games into his first full season with his hometown team. “And he’s accountable to it and it’s not something that has been a pattern or any of that kind of stuff.

“Nobody feels worse than he does and I think he’ll admit to that and we’ll move on past it.”

 source:  KCTV5

Simple.  And professional.  Move on.  Anything else should've stayed in the privacy of the clubhouse.  That's how Andy Reid handles his locker room. 

Yet ... look what happened.  Garish headlines on major tabloid sites.  Scandal.  Public berating and scolding.  Followed by memes, jokes, schoolyard taunting - over something that may not have really even happened.  Narnia leaves that door cracked.

Did Carter know this was coming?  Is that part of the reason for his unexpected swing-and-miss struggles so far this season?  I know it's caught me by surprise as I've watched the games.   Or was it all an opportunity that just presented itself and taken full advantage of for several reasons?  Narnia has several possible reasons, but we'll continue to monitor for awhile.  

Let's hope the Royals organization realizes that this kind of stunt is very damaging to mental and psychological well-being.   For an employer who likes to act like they care about their players, this kind of OTT display sure doesn't help endorse that image.

For the player?  Narnia hopes that he can be allowed to grow and prosper without interference.  Already this blog has had to point out two other on-line attempted smears of two different teammates.   It's troublesome to say the least.  

 

pic sources:  tenor, TMZ, People, KSHB-TV Ch41, KC Star, Talkin Baseball, Jomboy Media,

                     KCTV5

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