On Sunday, former Giant-turned-Astro Mauricio Dubón made waves when he criticized his former teammates following a 3-for-5, 2 RBI performance in a 7-3 win against them.
He accused the Giants of mistreating him after the game:
Following that, Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper took issue with Dubón’s statements, saying, “They could’ve easily thrown his tired little butt under the bus, but they didn’t.”
On Wednesday morning, Kuiper’s broadcast partner Mike Krukow joined KNBR and levied further criticism at Dubon, saying, “He needs to keep his mouth shut.”
Listen here:
Krukow expanded on that, saying the ex-Giant’s comments are something that all 29 teams in MLB not named the Astros are hearing, implying it doesn’t reflect well on Dubón.
He went on to praise, then harshly criticize him. Krukow recalled being frustrated by his departure, but that it was justified. He said the game moved to quickly for Dubón:
When we had him here, I loved the guy. He’s as friendly and as nice a kid as I’ve seen come through that clubhouse. He always brought a smile everyday and he’s a gifted player. I really, really was upset when he walked out of that clubhouse. I didn’t want to see the guy go because he’s going to be a good player in this game.
But he wasn’t playing the game — the mental side of the game, the big league game. It was moving a little too fast for him. He was a guy bunting with a nine-run lead or whatever it was. He was stealing with a seven-run lead. He’s a guy who was throwing to the wrong base when he was in the outfield. He was a guy that lost track of the outs when he was on the basepaths.
And those are all mental mistakes. And basically, he was being asked to learn how to play the game at the big league level. And when you weren’t performing mentally, those are the unforgivable mistakes that you can make them once, but you can’t make them again. Well he was making them again. And the organization lost patience with him.
When there was a roster crunch with him and Thairo Estrada, Dubón was the cut. He was scooped up by the Astros, who were just beaten by the Giants at home after a pair of sterling pitching performances from Anthony DeSclafani and Logan Webb.
Krukow said Dubón’s mistakes were costing the Giants games and while he hopes the best for him, he shouldn’t be criticizing his former team.
“I wish the guy the best, we all do,” Krukow said. “He’s really a nice guy. But for him to go out there and make comments to the Giants that he wasn’t treated right or he wasn’t given fair opportunity, that’s just wrong. That’s not true. I wish him the best, but he needs to keep his mouth shut.”
The Giants’ series win over the Astros gives them their first road series win of the season.