On Saturday, I mentioned in a blog post that Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero called out Jose Valverde because of his antics at the end of Friday night's game. Basically Montero was not happy with the fact that Valverde celebrated so much during his six-pitch save, and in general it seems like he has a beef with Papa Grande, as the following comments suggest.
"He's a (bleeping) (bleep)," Montero told the Arizona Republic. "The way he acts, it's not right, you know. You've got to be professional. I've always felt that way. And I've always told him. That's the way he is. I guess he thinks it's right. But I don't care." [...]
Montero added he was surprised Valverde threw three consecutive splitters to get Montero out.
"I never suspected that," Montero said. "I didn't think he had that kind of brain to throw three splits in a row. It surprised me."
Valverde wasn't about to let Montero's criticisms go without a response, so he let the D-backs catcher have it yesterday.
"Tell Montero he’s a freaking rookie and I can do whatever I want to," Valverde said Sunday morning. "Tell him that. Put it in the papers. If he wants to do something, tell him to come to my locker and let me know.
"I never liked Montero," he continued. "He’s a (bleeping) piece of (bleep).
"Tell Montero he has two years (in the majors) and I have eight."
Valverde also added that he doesn't set out to disrespect opposing players, but that may not be the case in the future with Montero.
"For Montero, yes," he said. "I don’t care what Montero’s thinking or
, I do my job and I support my team no matter what. Arizona "If you don’t want to strike out, don’t play baseball. Sit down on the bench. He was looking for a fastball? No. Go to the cage."
Montero naturally shot back with more comments of his own, although he seemed to go on a rant about what constitutes major league service. I don't know why he decided to focus on that part of Valverde's comments rather than, say, Jose calling him a "(bleeping) piece of (bleep)." Montero did add this afterward when asked if he and Valverde never got along when they were teammates:
"Yeah," Montero said, "because he’s dumb. What do you want me to say? He’s smart? No. He’s just dumb."
I haven't seen if Valverde responded to Montero's latest comments yet, but I think it's safe to say Papa Grande got the last laugh by getting Montero out during the ninth inning of yesterday's game en route to another save. Montero grounded out, and it looked like Valverde let him hear about it as he ran to first.
Who knows if yesterday's comments will be the last of this story, but I think the best way to respond to someone's negative thoughts is by showing them what's up on the field, and that is exactly what Valverde did. Montero can talk a big game, but he didn't back anything up after striking out and grounding out against Valverde in two at bats during this past series. If Montero really didn't want Valverde to celebrate, he should have gotten a hit or something to give him a reason not to be happy. Instead Montero struck out and grounded out in his two at bats against Valverde, making those two saves much easier for Papa Grande.