Yankees: Clint Frazier seems to call out NYY in series of tweets

Wondering where Clint Frazier’s been, New York Yankees fans? It surely seems like he’s gotten the Jacoby Ellsbury treatment, doesn’t it?

Unexplained medical issues. Updates that are few and far between. Roster upgrades that seem to leave him in the dust. What is going on?

Frazier’s been out of action ever since July 1 with vertigo-like symptoms which have forced him to undergo a battery of tests, all of which revealed … nothing?

The Yankees updated fans on Sunday on Frazier’s status and revealed the outfielder will begin workouts in Tampa to “see where he’s at baseball-wise.” Sounds like good news … but apparently there’s something afoot.

Why do we say that? Because in one of his very few tweets since the end of May, Frazier had some cryptic messaging, but we’re unsure who it’s directed at. Is it the Yankees?

Are we missing something or misinterpreting what was said? We’d prefer that be the case.

Clint Frazier’s tweets suggests his relationship with the Yankees isn’t so great.

Once again, this is all conjecture because he didn’t explicitly mention the Yankees or refer to anything specifically he’s been going through … but who else would he be talking about?

Especially if he’s talking about hopefully getting his story published via The Players’ Tribune?! Frazier would seemingly like to express his “perspective” ever since the start of 2018. His profile description now reads “scranton railriders.”

There’s famously always been some sort of “problem” following Frazier, whether it was his fault or not. Hell, shortly after he arrived in New York via the Andrew Miller trade with the Indians, it was rumored he asked the Yankees to un-retire Mickey Mantle’s No. 7 so he could wear it! (That obviously was not true.)

Back in 2018, he suffered a concussion in spring training and the lasting effects of that injury lasted through 2019 — a span in which he played in just 84 games. In 2018, he took rightfully took issue with Yankees’ play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay for saying “shame on [Clint Frazier] for not getting healthy.” Who wouldn’t?

https://twitter.com/clintfrazier/status/1422398763142983688?s=20

Then, in 2019, a season where he registered the most playing time of his big league career up until that point, controversy surrounded the young slugger in early June when he avoided the New York media following a game against the Red Sox in which he committed multiple defensive miscues that ended up costing the Bombers dearly.

His response to that?

“No, I don’t regret it. And to be fair, I don’t think I owe anyone an explanation because it’s not a rule that I have to speak.”

Then came 2020, when it seemed as if every ounce of drama — whether random or contrived — was about to fully exist in the rearview. Frazier filled in admirably during the pandemic-shortened season when Aaron Judge missed time, was a Gold Glove finalist for his play in right field, and, though he lost a lot of playing time in the postseason because of Aaron Boone’s preference of Brett Gardner, hit a go-ahead home run off Blake Snell in Game 1 of the ALDS.

Frazier was named the starting left fielder this past offseason. Goal achieved!

Well, not quite. Frazier collided with the wall again in spring training, which further worried fans about his previous condition, even though he said he was OK. Then, when the regular season began, his “Gold Glove-caliber” defense proved to be very shaky. That coincided with him … fully losing himself at the plate. He’s hitting .186 with a .633 OPS through 66 games this year.

But, like we said, he’s been gone for over a month now with very minimal disclosed about his situation. Some have posited the Yankees might want him away from the team due to his poor performance. After all, how long does it take to get a diagnosis for his issues? Again, there’s no indication any of that is true.

It’s all just so very odd. And hopefully we do hear Frazier’s perspective at some point because it’s evident the team is divulging as little as possible for whatever reason … and that “reason” could be exactly what Frazier wants to talk about whenever he’s given the opportunity.

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