Last night may have just been one of the most harrowing and bewildering evenings I’ve ever experienced watching a baseball game.
Tom Hanks may have gotten it wrong, because last night we saw lots of crying in baseball.
I’m sure sports talk radio, the talking heads on TV, and everyone on social media, will have a field day trying to affix blame on what transpired Wednesday night, and point fingers at the would-be culprits. What’s ironic about that, is that they are the ones who created the chaos that unfolded throughout the unforgettable and crazy evening.
In the wake of a deal that completely fell apart, we’re now left with both teams and their propaganda machines blaming each other for the injury concerns that compelled them to back out.
The Brewers are saying they backed out because Zack Wheeler’s elbow reconstruction was much more severe and complicated than your typical Tommy John surgery.
The Mets on the other hand, had big concerns over a degenerative hip condition that they believe was serious enough to kill the deal.
Who’s right and who’s wrong? Perhaps they are both right or wrong. Rules being what they are, neither GM is allowed to discuss player injuries publicly. So you are left wondering if you should believe Ken Rosenthal, Bob Nightengale, Joel Sherman, or Tom Haudricourt. Take your pick.
There are so many facets that one must consider to grasp the entirety of what took place.
For example, if Sandy Alderson was the one who backed out of the deal why then did he allow the chaos and incredible feeding frenzy on social media to drag on for hours? Couldn’t he have just issued a short statement that the deal was dead? And likewise, you could say the same thing about the Brewers GM.
The three main protagonists to what transpired were Joel Sherman, Ken Rosenthal and Andy Martino. They were the ones reporting the deal with the caveat that it was pending a review of Zach Wheeler’s medical records. In fact we didn’t hear anything about Carlos Gomez’s hip until 1 AM in the morning. With such epically bad reporting from those guys, who knows what the fuck really transpired. We may never know.
In the aftermath of the debacle, we were left with a player whose heart was crushed and who was forced to endure an untold amount of emotions on the field. And in full view of millions of onlookers as Wilmer Flores crying became a National phenomenon that trended at the top of social media and whose video was being replayed endlessly again and again on ESPN and the MLB Network.
Watching the poor kid out there even brought tears to my eyes. Sandy Alderson said he sought out Flores to apologize to him after the game.
“I’m coming to work,’’ Flores said to reporters, his eyes still filled with tears long after the Mets 7-3 loss to the Padres at Citi Field.
Another casualty left in the wake, was manager Terry Collins who delivered an epic profanity-laced rant in the post game press conference.
Collins used so many expletives that more than half of his press conference had to be bleeped out. The guy was pissed. And rightfully so, as he had initially been looked at as the evil sadist that kept running Flores out there knowing that he had been dealt.
However, Collins knew absolutely nothing. He – as is usually the case – was out of the loop. All he was worried about was trying to win a ballgame. When two players alerted him the Flores was crying, he was stunned, wondering what happened.
“He got traded,” said the players. “What??? For who??? For what??? Nobody fucking called me!!!” said Collins.
To hear his version of events was actually pretty funny if it wasn’t so fucking sad, pathetic and depressing.
Like I said, the entire issue is now being left to each team’s propaganda machine. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning, was to check and see how this was being spinned on MetsBlog, and of course half of the reporting is completely focused on what an awful deal it would’ve been considering Carlos Gomez’s hip and his steep decline in WAR and performance, this after he was being lauded as the perfect fit.
Zack Wheeler’s elbow however, is not even mentioned, not even a word that the Brewers are saying they backed out because of Wheeler. Pure slanted journalism at its best.
Two of the main Brewers sites had severely slanted takes as well, but at least they mentioned both possibilities.
So where does that leave us now and how does Sandy Alderson pick up the pieces and move on?
Well basically everything gets reset to where it was before the calamity of events unfolded. Jay Bruce is still a solid target for the Mets. So is Yoenis Cespedes.
There are also some questions that remain, like for example, did the Mets burn their bridge to Milwaukee and is Gerardo Parra no longer an option?
Have the Brewers diminished the trade value of Zack Wheeler who the Mets were using as a trade chip in several rumored negotiations?
And does that now kill any chance of acquiring a player of significant value?
Who knows…
One thing is certain, expect the next two days to be filled with lots of rumors, buzz and innuendo. Don’t believe everything you hear and read on social media or propaganda sites, and take everything with a grain of salt until the deal is officially reported by team representatives.
We’ve got a game this afternoon… Let’s win it.
