Given that one of the best moments at the Cubs Convention was him telling an expletive-filled story about Jon Lester’s famous Tommy Pham pick-off, I think we already know that Willson Contreras is willing to drop an f-bomb every now and again.
So when cameras caught Contreras letting them fly after a long battle at the plate and a triple yesterday, it wasn’t necessarily a shock:
Not sure what Willson is saying here. Can anyone read lips? pic.twitter.com/EWBsyOAJ6d
— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) April 8, 2018
But the question was … why? And who was Contreras talking to?
Here’s the explanation he offered to NBC Sports Chicago:
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So, the expletive wasn’t meant for the quick-pitching pitcher or the catcher, but for someone in the Brewers’ dugout who had an incident with Contreras in the Venezuelan Winter League back in 2014. I did a quick scan of the rosters from that year, and there were a lot of positional Brewers in the league at the time – Jesus Aguilar, Hernan Perez, and Orlando Arcia – but if I had to guess, I’d go with Brewers catcher Manny Pina, who played in the league, and also would have an opportunity to be messing with Contreras (it did look like he kept turning to Contreras throughout the at bat and saying things), and the catcher seems like a guy who is in a spot that would make sense to be shouting “eff you, trying to get me, but I won” (if you’re shouting that at all, of course).
Whoever it was, and whatever the circumstances, I’d imagine Contreras will get a deserved talking to. I get the emotions of it, and no one wants to take that away from Contreras. But a very visible set of f*** yous on the TV is not really something the Cubs or the league will want as a regular occurrence.
(And before any Cardinals fans slide into the comments to compare, this really isn’t the same thing as flipping out and shoving an umpire so that you can physically go after an opposing manager who (reportedly) dropped an f-bomb about you.)