Rob Manfred allegedly trying to force Mets-Marlins social justice stunt

The New York Mets general manger was caught on a hot mic bashing the MLB commissioner.

On Wednesday evening, three MLB games were postponed to raise awareness for social injustices stemming from the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI. 24 hours later, multiple teams postponed games in a solidarity strike. Allegedly, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred had an idea about how the New York Mets and Miami Marlins should go about their scheduled contest on Thursday, and it caught the ire of Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen.

The head of the Mets front office alleged that Manfred wanted the Mets and Marlins to leave the field once the game started at 7:10 p.m. ET and return to the field an hour later. That would happen in place of postponing the game altogether. That was when Van Wagenen exclaimed Manfred “just doesn’t get it.”

Van Wagenen’s comments were caught on a hot mic that was released on Twitter. The audio is hard to pick up, but ESPN’s Jeff Passan provided a transcript of the Mets general manager’s comments in the tweet below.

Van Wagenen unleashes on Manfred

It’s important to note that Van Wagenen claiming Manfred “doesn’t get it” doesn’t only stem from the plan for the alleged stunt on Thursday. Rather, he says that Manfred is essentially clueless as a leader.

After the Mets and Marlins participated in the social justice act, however, Van Wagenen clarified his comments via a statement: “Jeff Wilpon called Commissioner Manfred this afternoon to notify him that our players voted not to play. They discussed the challenges of rescheduling the game. Jeff proposed an idea of playing the game an hour later. I misunderstood that this was the Commissioner’s idea. In actuality, this was Jeff’s suggestion. The players had already made their decision so I felt the suggestion was not helpful. My frustration with the Commissioner was wrong and unfounded. I apologize to the Commissioner for my disrespectful comments and poor judgement in inaccurately describing the contents of his private conversation with Jeff Wilpon.”

The idea of postponing games came from the Milwaukee Bucks, who decided to boycott Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic. The remaining teams inside the NBA’s Orlando bubble followed suit. The Milwaukee Brewers decided to take the same stance as the Bucks and opted to sit out their Wednesday night game against the Cincinnati Reds. Shortly afterward, the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners vs. San Diego Padres games were canceled.

Below are the following six games that won’t be contested on Thursday, and will be made up at a later date:

• Boston Red Sox-Toronto Blue Jays
• Baltimore Orioles-Tampa Bay Rays
• Oakland Athletics-Texas Rangers
• Colorado Rockies-Arizona Diamondbacks
• Philadelphia Phillies-Washington Nationals
• Minnesota Twins-Detroit Tigers

The Mets and Marlins did not play, but questions remain as to Manfred’s role in this social justice statement.