"There is no Mets clubhouse."-Marty Noble to Charley Steiner

Friday, May 2nd, Marty Noble on Charley Steiner's Baseball Beat discussing the Mets, notes no players will step up for a leadership role. The veterans aren't interested. Someone like David Wright is qualified, Noble says, but he'll only take on so much as he's a younger player. Says "there is no Mets clubhouse," then for emphasis says "NONE." If they're off the field, everyone is on cell phones or games. Steiner says it's this way in many clubs nowadays. Either Steiner or Noble added that this "is killing baseball."

• Noble says the evolution of this behavior started around 10 years ago with the big money.

I didn't hear Noble bring up the Tony Bernazard situation, ie the owner's mole in the clubhouse that prevents Willie Randolph from making the team his own.

• Billy Wagner's radio spot on ESPN1050 AM in New York must have been approved by the owners. If he were a leader in the clubhouse as well as a leader in giving baseball reporters something to do it would be helpful. As reliable as he's proven as a media point man, I haven't heard him named as a clubhouse leader. Willie Randolph ended up having to deal with the owner's bad decision to give Wagner a long leash, telling him to keep his comments about team members' performance in-house.

I agree with Dibs and Kevin on the clubhouse: it's private, belongs to the players, and the media should not go in there. Perhaps if that philosophy were carried out, MLB clubhouses could come back to life.

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