When Jimmy Rollins was still with the Phillies, there were two reports that he would use his veto rights to kill any trade to the Mets, who were reportedly very interested in the boisterous and still very productive shortstop.
However, in an interview with Jerry Crasnick of ESPN, Rollins refuted those reports and admitted that the New York Mets were his second choice of preferred offseason trade destinations.
“This was my No. 1 landing spot,” Rollins said from Los Angeles’ spring training camp, “and I considered the Mets to be No. 2. They have some arms over there — oh my gosh.”
“I’m not saying I would have gone there. It would have taken a lot. But when I was asked, ‘Write down the places you would go if you don’t have any (no-trade protection),’ I had one team on my list and another where I would go if it didn’t work out. Fortunately it worked out here (in Los Angeles). I’m very delighted with that.”
Rollins was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two minor-league pitchers in December, and he waived his 10-and-5 trade rights to allow the deal to go through.
Although he’ll be playing in the NL West, it won’t surprise him if Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and the Mets’ young pitchers help the team make some waves in the East.
“In New York, if you’re not the best, you’re the worst,” Rollins said. “But in my opinion, from playing against them, that team wasn’t that bad. And when you look to the future there, it looks pretty bright.”
It’s amazing how much bullshit gets falsely reported in the offseason. It was always bad, but now with the advent of the Twitter age, it’s gotten exponentially worse. It’s all part of the deterioration of sports journalism which has been reduced to blurbs, blasts, and rants, 140 characters at a time.
