Justin Verlander appears to have responded to the claim that he was a “diva” within the Mets clubhouse.
Within the wake of a recent report from The Post’s Mike Puma, during which an unnamed Met dubbed the three-time Cy Young winner a “diva” who was detached from teammates, Verlander stated Monday he has “nothing but respect” for the organization, which dealt him to the Astros before the trade deadline earlier this month.
“I would like to say that I even have nothing but respect for the Mets organization and I enjoyed connecting with all my teammates this season … recent and old!!” It truly was an exquisite group of individuals,” Verlander posted on X, the platform formerly often called Twitter.
“That being said, everyone knows the success of a team is made up of greater than just the players on the sphere, everyone’s input is invaluable. I’m sorry to listen to that a staff member took offense to constructive criticism on how we could improve.
“Wishing nothing but the very best for the Mets moving forward.”
Verlander, 40, signed a two-year take care of the Mets price $86 million in December after winning his second World Series with the Astros.
He was traded back to Houston in exchange for outfield prospects Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford.
Elsewhere in Puma’s report, it was alleged Verander complained about how the team’s analytics department wasn’t as much as par with the Astros’.
Further, Verlander’s attitude led to then-Mets ace Max Scherzer “grousing” about his former cohort, in line with the report.
Scherzer and Verlander had previously been teammates on the Tigers.
Very like Verlander, Scherzer was also traded before the deadline, landing with the Rangers in exchange for infielder Luisangel Acuña, the brother of Ronald Acuña, the NL MVP favorite on the Braves.
Despite coming into the season with the best payroll in MLB, the Mets are a disappointing 53-65, a whopping 22.5 games behind the Braves within the NL East.
