New York Mets manager Terry Collins clearly made the wrong decision by pulling David Wright from the May 15 game against the Milwaukee Brewers after Mets pitcher D.J. Carrasco plunked Ryan Braun on his left arm.
Not only did Collins' gutless move get Wright heated, it also annoyed Milwaukee Brewers skipper Ron Roenicke.
"It was interesting, what that shows is interesting,'' Roenicke said of Collins' decision to pull Wright.
Collins said his decision to pull Wright was all about avoiding injury, as the team can ill afford to lose its top star for an extended period of time.
"David Wright's a professional who said -- as he always does -- I will take one for the team," said Collins, explaining the nature of the dispute. "But he's not going to do that. We're not in position to have him take one for the club and miss three days or miss a week. I'm not letting that happen."
Citing injury concerns doesn't make sense in this case, because the Milwaukee Brewers aren't going to forget about the Mets beaning one of their stars and then running away from retribution.
It's a safe bet that Roenicke, an old school baseball guy, already has Sept. 14 circled on his calendar, as the Mets travel to Milwaukee for a three-game series.
Collins may have saved Wright from getting plunked on May 15, but now his star player is in line to get beaned with two weeks left in the season, when playoff implications may be on the line.
Wright is going to be needed in the stretch run, as the final 20 games of the season will likely determine the true contenders for the final wild card spots.
The Mets could very well be in the hunt for one of those two wild card postseason berths, and the final weeks of September will be a crucial time for everyone on the team to be healthy.
In my 20 years of watching professional baseball, I've never seen a team handle a beaning in this fashion. Wright was willing to step up and settle the matter like a man, take the beanball retaliation to settle the matter and put it behind him.
The unwritten rule in baseball has always been "you hit one of mine, so I'll hit one of yours." It's a system that has always worked out just fine, as sometimes it's alright to let players police themselves to blow off some steam and put the past behind them.
Now it'll be hanging over David Wright's head for four months, and the New York media will be asking him about the incident until it's resolved in September. That is a distraction the Mets can ill afford.
The matter also caused fans and the media to question the harmony of the Mets clubhouse, another distraction the team doesn't need right now as they look to bounce back from losing three of four.
Was Terry Collins wrong for pulling David Wright from the May 15 game against the Milwaukee Brewers? Let me know in the comments.
Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Mets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.
