The Boston Red Sox were supposedly caught in a "war of words" on Monday. At least, that's what some corners of the baseball internet assumed.
Willson Contreras had a quote on Sunday about the Red Sox's young hitters not being used to going through slumps. Marcelo Mayer had a separate quote about not wanting to excuse the team's young roster for the failure to perform offensively. The New York Post ran a story under the assumption the latter was in direct response to the former, and suddenly, it was gospel that this clubhouse was fractured.
On Monday, Contreras and Mayer both set out to debunk those narratives, stating explicitly that they weren't even referencing each other specifically.
“I think it’s unfair that it was tried to put me against my team when the thing I said wasn’t even close to what I meant or tried to put me against my team,” Contreras sad through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “Obviously, it’s hard to see. I feel like every time I say something or do something, they try to do the opposite. They try to put me against teammates or everybody else. That’s what I feel like.”
Mayer was dumbfounded that his comment was taken as a response to Contreras, and Cotillo pointed out that the day before, he had been asked a more general question that made no reference to Contreras' comments about the struggles of youth.
“I think things just got taken out of context. I didn’t mean to take a shot at anybody, obviously, especially not to Willson," Mayer said, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. "Willson and I have a great relationship. He’s an amazing teammate. He’s a great person. He’s a true veteran of this game and we really respect him in the clubhouse and he helps us a lot."
The Red Sox went on to win Monday night's game against the Detroit Tigers, which would typically do more to calm the vibes in a clubhouse than anything said in the press. If we need to revisit the narrative that the veterans and youngsters aren't on the same page, we will. But for now, that seems like a nothing burger.