Former Mets minor leaguer who lost his job destroys “toxic” Mets

PItcher Andrew Church, selected in the second round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the New York Mets, was among the players that lost their jobs yesterday as some teams, including the Mets, want to cut costs amid the coronavirus pandemic and the lack of action and revenue generation.

Shortly after receiving the news of his dismissal from the Mets, the hurler wasted no time and blasted his former organization.

Among the things he wrote in his Instagram account @papachurch36 were that the Mets signed a “celebrity” (almost certainly referring to Tim Tebow) to put more people in the stands, and blamed the organization for forcing him into game action with no warm-up pitches.

“The Mets made a mockery of our team by putting a celebrity on it to sell more tickets,’’ Church wrote, an apparent reference to the 2016 signing of Tebow, per the New York Post. “I saw players lose their jobs because of it. We weren’t playing to win, we were playing to make everyone else money. Not the players. We never saw a cut. Well, allegedly one player did.”

When Tebow was signed, GM Sandy Alderson defended that it was strictly because of his baseball talent. “This decision was strictly driven by baseball,’’ Alderson said back in 2016. “This was not something driven by marketing considerations or anything of the sort.” However, after he wasn’t with the New York Mets, Alderson admitted that wasn’t entirely true.

Church and Tebow were teammates in Class-A in 2017. In Triple-A Syracuse last year, Tebow had a .163 average with 98 strikeouts in 264 plate appearances.

Church said the Mets are “filled with snakes”

Per the Post, Church retired briefly before returning last season and said his “competitive nature was taken advantage of. They knew I would never say no to competing and would fly me around to fill in for anyone who got injured”.

He refers to a game on August 30, 2016, with Triple-A Las Vegas. Then, Church allowed three runs in four frames after entering in the third inning.

The pitcher claims the New York Mets handled the situation in an irresponsible manner, causing his UCL to tear that night because he had just arrived in the game and had no time to throw warm-up pitches.

The Mets refused to have doctors check on him and instead sent him back to Single-A to pitch in the playoffs, but he didn’t do it. Church retired in 2018.

“The culture that has been built for decades within that organization is toxic,” Church wrote. “Filled with snakes and bottom feeders trying to elevate their professional careers at the expense of the players, with no remorse.”