Ruben Tejada should stand his ground in spat with Terry Collins

In today’s New York Post, Mike Vaccaro weighs in on the little spat over Ruben Tejada reporting to camp. Here’s a short excerpt:

“As a parent might, Collins wants Tejada to know he’s not furious at him, he isn’t angry that he didn’t settle his visa issues early enough to be here sooner. No, he’s disappointed. He expected more from Tejada, given what he saw of him last year, so there is a measure of paternal dissatisfaction.”

Well, here’s my message to Collins, Vaccaro and anyone else disappointed with Tejada – take your paternal dissatisfaction and use it to wipe off the bottom of your shoes. Because any other use of this dissatisfaction is a waste of time and energy.

MLB and the MLBPA have a collectively bargained date by which players are responsible to report to camp. If Collins or anyone else wants players to be in camp earlier, they should make it a priority for their owner in the next CBA negotiations.

I cannot stand this attitude that elevates trivial stuff to such important heights. If Tejada reports to camp on Friday rather than Saturday, it is not going to make him a better hitter. It is not going to make him a better fielder. And most importantly, it is not going to make him a better person.

Now, if Tejada’s visa issues keep him from reporting to camp on time, that’s a completely different issue. Tejada, and all players, know ahead of time when they need to report to camp. They need to have everything taken care of to allow them to meet that deadline and they should be both ashamed and fined if they report late.

By the end of Spring Training, everyone from the manager to players to writers is ready for the real games to start. There is more than enough time allocated for everyone to get ready to play by Opening Day. So why make it a big deal when a player does not come to camp early?

I want my team’s manager, and myself as a parent, to worry about things that actually matter – not things that give the appearance of mattering. If Tejada was learning a new position, then it would matter and he should be in camp early. You know, like Daniel Murphy is – getting all the reps that he can. But Tejada has been a shortstop all of his life. He doesn’t need the extra reps fielding and he’ll have plenty of time to get used to Murphy being his double-play partner.

When Tejada reports to camp and has his first meeting with Collins, I hope he is prepared for his manager to give the “I’m disappointed in you, son” talk. I hope he listens respectfully and allows Collins to say everything that he feels he needs to say. Then I hope he looks him in the eye and says, “Skip, I’m in great shape, I’m ready to play and I’m going to show you all season long how unimportant it was for me to report to camp earlier than the collectively bargained deadline.”

Then hopefully the parent can learn something from the child.