The mysterious release of Jeremy Jeffress from the Nationals

[Dan Druff]

Jeremy Jeffress has, for the most part, been a good relief pitcher during his 11-year MLB career. He had a few dud years (including 2019), but he pitched great in both 2018 and 2020, and overally seems to be a great guy for MLB to take a shot on, provided it's not for a ton of money.

Indeed, the Nationals did just that, signing him to a minor league contract with incentives. This by itself was bizarre, as Jeffress had a 1.54 ERA in 2020 with the Cubs. You'd think some team would have given him a Major League contract, especially given that 2020 wasn't a fluke.

The Nationals signed him on February 22. Just two weeks later, on March 7, they released him, citing it was for "personal reasons".

Jeffress tweeted this on the day he was released.

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1368652202512965634

He also tweeted this, slamming his former agent, Joshua Kusnick:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1368584209858768901



Ten days later, he angrily tweeted three times:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1372297226521825282

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https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1372299941104734218



What the hell is going on here? Is Jeremy Jeffress that bad in the clubhouse, to where no team is willing to touch him?

My instinct would be to say yes, but I've seen before where false rumors screw over a player. The Mets put out the (false) word that Justin Turner was a bad teammate and didn't hustle, and nobody would touch him in 2014. It was only by a weird fluke that he signed with the Dodgers (Tim Wallach saw him at a college alumni game). Had there not been that weird chance meeting at the CSUF alumni baseball game, Justin Turner would have been forever known as a career reserve guy who lost his career because he was bad in the clubhouse -- something his teammates said wasn't true, by the way.

So is Jeffress really a victim of some form of weird collusion between his agent and prospective teams? Or is he just a big asshole? Or both?

[Dan Druff]

His agent briefly responded in one of the Twitter threads.

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/JoshuaKusnick/status/1368631842203705344


So it seems that Jeffress probably thinks Kusnick is talking teams into not touching him, now that they're not working together anymore.

Hmmm....

[Walter Sobchak]

There's probably 2 dozen teams that could use him in relief, and they can get him cheap now.

He must be baseball's Kaepernick.

[gut]

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/1363903140089757699

Read through a bit of his timeline and saw that. This guy seems like a piece of work, and I'm frankly amazed he is/was an agent.

[gut]

From an article talking about the Nats GM Rizzo:

“Again, we’re not going to get into that, that’s kind of getting into the Jeffers situation. But you know the way we do our business here,” Rizzo said.

“We do a lot of due diligence and character is a big thing here in this organization. So we stand on our track record with that and we do a lot of work on it.”

Asked if it was something specific which happened yesterday morning or a decision that was made over time, Rizzo said simply, “We’re not going to comment on that.”

As for defining “personnel reasons”, Rizzo said, “a ‘personnel reason’ is an employment issue.”

So, not on-field/performance related?

“Correct.”

Who knows? Maybe they are both crazy.

[tgull]

Locker Rooms can be the end if you go out of way to be a problem. Even in high school.

I was a high school junior on the baseball team, I was not playing since I broke my arm a couple months earlier but still elected to be part of the team. Anyway, we got a transfer in from another state, a tall lanky Latin kid named Antonio, who had a mustache, he was 17 and looked like the Nightstalker in retrospect. He told me he was a pitcher and 1st baseman. In practice he absolutely dominated on the mound in a simulated game and coach started him opening game. Opening day he tossed a no hitter and struck out just about everyone.

The school was buzzing the next day when they read his name and no hitter over the loud speaker. But something was off, in gym class we had a free throw contest and it was obvious Antonio had never played basketball and had no form and shot like a female with two arms. People were cracking up and he wigged out and threatened to fight anyone. Gym teacher literally had to pull him aside and calm him down.

That weekend Antonio had another dominating pitching performance, struck out like 8 in 5 innings, but he gave up a really long homerun. In the dugout he said the batter had a corked bat and actually was shouting to the Umpire. Everyone was like WTF, these are aluminum bats, even Coach told him to stop complaining.

That Monday in practice, he and Coach got into a huge shouting match. Apparently Antonio wanted to play first base when he was not pitching. That was not happening, our current 1st baseman was our best hitter. Our next game was a Saturday which Antonio could have pitched but Coach wanted to send a message. Antonio showed up late to the game with a Big Gulp which infuriated Coach, but the game went on with Antonio sulking in the corner of the dugout. About the 4th inning Coach went up to Antonio and said give me your drink. He opened it and smelled it and handed it to an Assistant who smelled it and he rolled his eyes back. It was like half Jack Daniels, you could actually smell it when he poured it on the grass.

Antonio was suspended for 2 weeks and kicked off the team. About a month later he just stopped coming to school altogether. So yeah, being a locker problem is generally fatal no matter how good you are.

[Dan Druff]

Interesting how the Cubs didn't bring him back, after the season he had there. So this was more than just an agent scaring people off. I'm wondering if he had some kind of issue with the Cubs, they let him go, and then his former agent shit-talked him to the Nationals. Perhaps the Nationals asked him about the shit talk, he flipped out, they decided he was a psycho, and released him.

Not gonna lie... I'd like to see the Dodgers take a shot on this guy for the Major League minimum. When he's going well, he's one of the better relievers in the game.

[Dan Druff]

BUMP

April:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1385733199335084032


June:

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https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1406541932273176578

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1408850605972475907


Still not touched by any team. Jeffress taking to mocking ancient players being signed to deals, while he remains available.

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1408851609065443336

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https://twitter.com/JMontana41/status/1408852194229506049

[BCR]

I’m getting some Kyrie vibes, but not Kyrie-level talent. Very good, but not elite paired with crazy isn’t worth the trouble. Fuck, even elite talent like Bauer isn’t worth the trouble atm. Baseball isn’t basketball or football with a Tom Brady or LeBron being the difference between deep playoff runs and the lottery/high draft pick. I feel like the Indians have lost 5 Cy Young guys and basically had the same 92 wins most years following. You just think instead of $40 million, I’ll find a guy for $12 million to win 13 games and find another 7 wins with the other $28 million. If they’re clutch, it matters come playoffs, but this dude isn’t that level.

[tgull]

Guy must have some serious shit going on. He had a 1.54 ERA in 2020. That is salty. A normal guy with his stats would at least get a $4M one year deal. Maybe he is puncher like Bauer.

[shoeshine box]

I sense Mental Health issues. imo.