Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor's Disgraceful Thumbs Down Temper Tantrum Proves They'll Never Succeed in New York

The point of Frank Sinatra's famous line, “If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere,” is that not everyone can succeed in The City That Never Sleeps. New York Mets “stars” Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor have just proven they are not cut out for life in the big city. The two overpaid, underperforming middle infielders and their disgraceful thumbs-down booing of their home fan sare not only childish and lame but also show a complete lack of ownership over their own poor performance.

These two self-indulgent, spoiled athletes showed both an unwillingness to take responsibility for a team underperforming expectations and a complete inability to lead. However, unlike these two overly-sensitive divas, the Citi Field faithful will do the right thing and reward them if and when the time comes.

Because that's how New York fans roll.

Big-money acquisitions Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor have been terrible with the Mets

To understand what is so reprehensible about the Javy Baez and Francisco Lindor thumbs down to the fans, you have to start with the facts. The facts are, the two have been bad, and they've dragged the team down with them.

Lindor was the Mets' big 10-year, $341 million, offseason free-agent signing. He's currently having a career-worst year, but at least the Mets were winning in spite of him early in the season.

Throwing out the 60-game 2020 season for the total-based stats, Lindor is on pace of set career-low marks in (deep breath) runs (50), hits (75), RBI (38), batting average (.224), OBP (.316), slugging (.370), OPS (.686), and total bases (124). His home run (11) and stolen bases (10) totals are currently career lows, but he should be able to get a few more of each in the next 52 games to avoid setting a new personal futility mark.

Baez showed up in Queens from the Chicago Cubs at the trade deadline. He has just a few months left on his one-year, $11.65 million contract. He played his first game on July 31. In 17 games since, the shortstop-turned-second-baseman has failed to produce for the Amazins'. So far, he has just four homers and seven RBI while hitting .210 with a .258 OBP.

The bigger problem is, the Mets are 6-11 with Baez in the lineup. The team was in first place in the NL East pre-Baez. Now, New York is in third. The club is 6.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves, and the same number of games out of the NL Wild Card.

This is why they boo at Citi Field.

Baez and Francisco Lindor are giving the fans the thumbs down gesture to boo them back

What are a pair of under-producing coddled stars to do when the home fans — who they've done nothing for so far — don't support them unconditionally? Boo them back, apparently.

Baez, Lindor, and the equally mediocre (but not quite as overpaid at $3.6 million) Kevin Pillar all gave a massive thumbs down to the fans after good plays this week. Why the gestures?

“I strike out and get booed,” Baez whined, per ESPN. “It doesn't really get to me, but I want to let them know that when we're successful, we're going to do the same thing to let them know how it feels.” The 28-year-old two-time All-Star continued:

If we win together, then we got to lose together, and the fans are a really big part of it. In my case, they got to be better. I play for the fans, and I love the fans, but if they're going to do that, they're just putting more pressure on the team, and that's not what we want.

Javier Baez on New York Mets fans

These quotes are mindboggling and show a total lack of appreciation and understanding of his position in life. The fans have to do better? The fans need to know how it feels?

The Mets fan making $63,998 per year (the median income in Queens, per Census.gov) and paying from $9 to $228 to watch a game against a lousy team and $86 to $1,122.00, per MLB.com to watch the Mets get spanked by their cross-town rivals, the Yankees, absolutely do not need to “do better” or be shown “how it feels” by three failing baseball players making a combined $37.55 million this year (or $494,078.95 per RBI).

The only people in the building that need to do better are Baez, Lindor, and Pillar.

New York fans are unlike any other

New York fans are a different breed than fans elsewhere in the country. They love their sports heroes as hard, if not harder than any other fan base. They also expect more out of their stars.

This is New York, after all.

It's where you'll find Wall Street and the Empire State Building, the home of Jay-Z and Howard Stern, and the location of the 27-time World Series champion New York Yankees and the mecca of basketball, Madison Square Garden.

The city even coined the phrase, a “Bronx cheer”, as a slang term for booing!

And, NY sports fans have booed almost all great New York athletes at one time or another. Joe Namath, Patrick Ewing, Mark Messier, Eli Manning, and even the great and beloved Derek Jeter heard the city's boo-birds at some point in their careers.

You know what these legends did? They played harder, turned things around, and got the Meadowlands and Yankee Stadium and MSG crowds back on their side. For this, the New York fans loved them even more.

Baez is on a one-year deal, so he'll probably play somewhere else next season. But Lindor, with his onerous contract, is likely in Flushing to stay. And, even with this juvenile outburst, the Mets fans would come back around and cheer him like mad if he ever gave them a reason too.

Unfortunately for Mets fans, this temper tantrum shows that Baez and Lindor don't have the fortitude it takes to turn it around and succeed in New York.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and contract figures courtesy of Spotrac

RELATED: Donovan Mitchell Had to Become a New York Mets Fan for a Surprising Reason