An emotional New York Mets player wrongly thinking he had just been traded proved Wednesday night that there indeed is crying in baseball.
Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores showed the human side of the business when, in the middle of a 7-3 loss to the San Diego Padres at Citi Field in New York, he was informed of the social media reports that he was being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers as part of a deal for outfielder Carlos Gomez.
The only catch? The trade never happened.
According to multiple reports, the deal fell through Wednesday night, with conflicting reports that there were medical concerns about both Gomez' hip and the Mets' Zack Wheeler's post-Tommy-John surgery elbow.
The on-field drama started when fans gave Flores a standing ovation in his final at-bat late in the game. When Flores took the field in the next half-inning, he could not hold back tears after thinking he was leaving the organization that signed him as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela.
"When I came up to hit I heard everybody cheering. I said, 'Why?' There's no reason,'' Flores told reporters. "I thought [a trade] was the only reason. I was sad, being with the Mets forever, and all my teammates here. That's why I got emotional."
Usually players are pulled off the field during the game if they have been traded, but Mets manager Terry Collins told reporters that he left Flores in because he was unaware of the trade until bench coach Bob Geren told.
"I feel terrible for Wilmer,'' Collins said afterward. "There's not a finer kid in that clubhouse than him, and so hopefully, we can move past this and get ready for tomorrow. We've got another game to play."
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson apologized to Flores following the game.
"Unfortunately, social media, etcetera, got ahead of the facts and may have had an adverse effect on one of the players rumored to be involved,'' Alderson told ESPN. "It's an unfortunate situation. It's something I've addressed personally with the player involved, and it's one of the things that happens today with modern communications, etcetera.
"It's an unfortunate situation, but whatever has been speculated over the course of the evening has not and will not transpire."