Well, Wilmer Flores is now a household name throughout the nation and has forever endeared himself to the New York Met fan base for what happened transpired in a 48 hour period last week.
Flores, whom the Mets drafted at age 16 and has played for this organization the past seven years became a folk hero by showing emotion when he learned he was being included in a deal to bring Carlos Gomez back to the Mets. Wilmer cried on the field, learned the deal was being rejected by the Mets, and then a day later hit a walk-off home run to defeat the Nationals in the first of what would end up being a three game sweep of the Nats.
While all of this was going on, the Mets were taking hits from all sides, including the agent of Gomez, the Milwaukee Brewers, and of course the very people who created this in the first place, the media. In their haste to get the story out first, certain members of the media got information from some of their insiders. It could have been a player agent, it could have been an employee of one organization, it might have even been a baggage handler in San Francisco who was told to not include Gomez luggage with the rest of the Brewers baggage because he was headed to New York.
The media members in their haste to report this deal never got anything from the very man who was making this deal, Sandy Alderson. Alderson said as much when he announced the deal had not taken place. The deal did not go through as the Mets, wisely decided the medical reports concerning Gomez hip were just too risky to make this trade.
Now, you would think perhaps one of these media members would have given us a mea culpa on making the trade report way too soon. You must be kidding yourself if you ever think one of these gas-bags would ever admit to that. No, instead they turned their venom on the Mets and the Met organization. They blamed the Mets for not contacting Terry Collins in the dugout during the game and pulling Flores off the field. They talked about the fans having smart phones in the stands and learning about the trade the 21st Century way. The tabloids had pictures of Flores crying and wrote their snarky headlines.
Not anywhere did you read or hear one of these media types say, “Maybe we should have waited until the Brewers and the Mets announced the trade.” That isn’t part of the media’s game. You see, they can criticize the players and the organization, but they never look at themselves objectively. They will circle the wagons and protect their own claiming, we are only giving the publi c what they want.
The media though would have crucified the Mets if the Gomez trade was made and two weeks later he landed on the DL with a damaged hip. The media would have excoriated the Mets had they traded for a pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery and not available to pitch for them until next July. My guess is the Milwaukee media cares more about the Packers than the Brewers, so a GM can trade for such a player and not worry about the blow back. What really is the best thing to happen out of all of this though, is how Met fans have made Flores into their personal hero. It is almost a slap in the face of the media as Met fans have cheered for this kid.
He has told the fans, “I love being a New York Met and I don’t want to leave this organization.” Met fans, in spite of all the negatives that have been written and said about this organization since 2006, appreciate knowing a player has a loyalty to the organization and not just the paycheck.
