Trade deadlines in any sport can be confusing, messy and emotional for some. The fact of it is, when teams want to get the most out of the top talents on their team, they either want an equal amount of talent in return, young talent to help them build for the future or assets to assist them in other moves.
In the case of the New York Mets potentially acquiring a former member of their outfield in Carlos Gomez, they had to give up some young talent to send to the Milwaukee Brewers. They agreed to send infielder Wilmer Flores and young pitcher Zach Wheeler to the Brew-crew.
Or, that’s what we all thought.
Wilmer Flores thought that as well. One way or another, one of the many reports of his trade found its way into the Mets clubhouse and the young shortstop found out.
Flores, who’s been a member of the Mets organization since 2007 when he was 16 years old, took the news hard. He was emotional and all the world was able to see.
As the details of the proposed trade surfaced and Flores went to what was assumed to be his final at-bat as a member of the Mets, the Citi Field faithful gave him a standing ovation.
As Flores headed back out to the field in the 8th inning, he was visibly upset and it was curious to many, including the Mets broadcast team of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez, why he was still in the game. Usually when a player gets traded, he’s taken out of the game to avoid any potential injury issues.
As the game winded down and it appeared the Mets couldn’t overcome the 5-run deficit, Flores was pulled out of the game and sent to the locker room. It appeared the trade was all but a forgone conclusion.
Then as the game ended and everyone went to the locker room, Mets GM Sandy Alderson dropped the bomb on everyone. The trade is not going down and Flores would stay in New York. No, it wasn’t due to Wilmer’s tears, in fact it was due to some medical concerns for both Carlos Gomes and Zach Wheeler.
For some reason, Mets manager Terry Collins didn’t believe that Flores was affected by the trade that took over social media.
Terry Collins on Flores' response: "There's a lot of BS out there. A lot of it." Says he didn't know anything about it.
— Mike Vorkunov (@Mike_Vorkunov) July 30, 2015
