The walk-off that wasn't supposed to happen needs a deep rewind
Wilmer Flores wasn't supposed to be here. Flores came up as a New York Met, grinding his way through their farm system since he was a scrawny teenager. And in 2015, he finally got his opportunity to be an everyday member of the big-league club. But on July 29 of that year, the Mets got rid of him. New York needed a big upgrade, and agreed to part ways with Flores in a trade to acquire a big bat, Carlos Gomez.
And yet, two days later, here he still is, with a chance to walk it off against the division rival Washington Nationals. It's been a dramatic, and even tearful, couple of days, but Wilmer Flores has a chance to make magic. Before he does that, we should revisit the trade that wasn't, track the surprising moves of these 2015 Mets, and relived the exciting events that have already transpired. We need to rewind.
And yet, two days later, here he still is, with a chance to walk it off against the division rival Washington Nationals. It's been a dramatic, and even tearful, couple of days, but Wilmer Flores has a chance to make magic. Before he does that, we should revisit the trade that wasn't, track the surprising moves of these 2015 Mets, and relived the exciting events that have already transpired. We need to rewind.
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00:00It's July 31st, 2015.
00:03We're in Queens, where a game between the New York Mets
00:07and Washington Nationals remains tied
00:09in the bottom of the 12th inning.
00:12Nobody on, nobody out, Mets up looking for a walk-off.
00:17This is an important moment for the usual reasons,
00:20division rivalry and jockeying for first place.
00:23But it has a chance to be truly special
00:26on a totally different level
00:28because of this man at the plate.
00:30To understand why, we must rewind.
00:34This episode of Rewinder is presented by T-Mobile,
00:36America's largest 5G network.
00:39While it's not the main reason
00:41this city-field crowd is tingling right now,
00:44the race for the NL East depends on moments like this one.
00:49The Washington Nationals have won this division
00:51two of the last three seasons,
00:54and here they sit in first place today.
00:57The Mets hang just a couple games behind Washington,
01:00and tonight begins a three-game series
01:02wherein New York could close that gap.
01:05Whether that matches your expectations or not
01:08depends on when you formed those expectations.
01:12Before this season, expectations were tepid,
01:15but that changed.
01:17Tommy John surgery took Zach Wheeler out of commission,
01:21but gave back another pitcher, Matt Harvey,
01:23after he missed all of 2014.
01:26Plop a rehabilitated Harvey beside these guys,
01:30and you're looking at several viable aces, young and old.
01:34Jacob deGrom is just breaking out as a star,
01:36while Bartolo Colon is literally still a star in his 40s.
01:41That staff, with closer Jairus Famiglia sealing the deal,
01:44pitched the Mets into first place in April,
01:47including some big opening series victories in Washington,
01:50where Colon out-dueled Max Scherzer,
01:53and Harvey got a win against Steven Strasburg.
01:57These Mets won 11 straight at one point,
01:59and became the surprising talk of the majors.
02:03Even when those pitchers flagged somewhat,
02:05Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matts came up from the minors
02:08looking quite promising.
02:10The arms warrant faith.
02:13When the Mets fell back
02:14toward the mediocrity people expected,
02:16it was because of the offense.
02:18A lineup that's always been pocked with question marks
02:22only got flimsier.
02:24New York already needed production from some unproven bats,
02:27and then injuries made it worse.
02:30The Mets slumped, and when pressed to fix that offense,
02:33GM Sandy Alderson called the media citizens of panic city,
02:38which some people did not like.
02:41That was late June, and one had to wonder
02:44if New York was just packing it in
02:46and giving up on the season.
02:48Only recently did the Mets front office make it very clear
02:51that would not be the case.
02:53On July 24th, they went out and got some helpful bats,
02:57Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe.
02:59A couple days ago, the Mets got some pitching help
03:02by trading for Tyler Klippert.
03:04And today was the big one.
03:06Before this game, the Mets went out
03:08and made a deal for start outfielder, Yohannes Cespedes.
03:12He'll arrive to help fight the Nats tomorrow.
03:15So the Mets are going for it.
03:17They're not giving up.
03:19They've made moves.
03:20They're still trying to win the NL East.
03:22That's the big picture.
03:27And that's what's at stake in this moment
03:29against the division leader.
03:30But it's not what people are feeling right now.
03:34The emotion palpable in this stadium
03:36is something more intimate.
03:38It's all about the move the Mets didn't make.
03:42The man at the plate right now with a chance to start
03:46or even finish a Mets rally is Wilmer Flores.
03:50Right now, his presence and his opportunity
03:53feel bigger than the big picture.
03:55Wilmer wasn't supposed to be here.
03:59He has been here a while in the Mets system, that is.
04:03Wilmer was born in Venezuela.
04:05And at this point, I feel like I have to tell you,
04:08he has two brothers who are also named Wilmer.
04:11Anyway, our Wilmer signed with the Mets organization
04:14on the day he turned 16.
04:17Their scouts had never seen a kid
04:19that skinny hit that hard.
04:22Opponents in the minor leagues found the same thing.
04:24Wilmer couldn't see an R-rated movie without a guardian,
04:27but he was ranking.
04:30This 09 New York Times piece tells of a team
04:33intentionally walking Flores with runners
04:35on first and second.
04:37Those stories and some impressive stats
04:40amounted to a high and sometimes even tip-top ranking
04:43among the most touted Mets prospects
04:45when Flores was still a teenager.
04:48Flores logged a lot of reps in the minors,
04:51long enough for his ranking to lag a bit
04:53and then pick right back up.
04:55Finally, on the day he turned 22,
04:58Flores debuted for the big league Mets
05:00and stuck around to spell the injured David Wright
05:03at third base.
05:04It went, eh.
05:06The bat didn't pop, the glove didn't perform
05:09at basically any position Flores tried.
05:12Last season, Flores got a surprise
05:14early season fill-in start
05:16and then got more opportunities later in the year
05:18when the Mets were totally out of contention.
05:21He looked better overall, better enough
05:23that at the beginning of this important 2015 campaign,
05:27Wilmer was named the opening day shortstop,
05:30even with doubts lingering about his defense.
05:33It's been a long, long road,
05:36but Wilmer Flores finally got to be
05:38an everyday Met this season,
05:39and he demonstrated enough of that power potential
05:43that some offered his assent as a reason
05:46the Mets hadn't made a big trade entering June.
05:49Obviously, that last thing changed this month.
05:52The Mets pushed in their chips,
05:54and Flores, it turned out, was a chip.
05:58To improve their chances,
06:00and I guess satisfy those residents of Panic City,
06:03the Mets pursued the biggest bats on the trade block.
06:07They quickly zeroed in on Carlos Gomez,
06:10the aging but still powerful star
06:12languishing on the awful Milwaukee Brewers.
06:16Milwaukee was going nowhere
06:17and prepared to deal Gomez for younger players,
06:20but they wouldn't accept
06:21only the injured Zach Wheeler in return.
06:24They wanted Flores, and on the evening of July 29th,
06:28the Mets said, fine, he's yours.
06:32Just one thing, on the evening of July 29th,
06:35two nights ago, the Mets were right here
06:37in the middle of a game against the Padres.
06:41Wilmer was playing shortstop.
06:42Neither he nor Mets manager Terry Collins
06:45had been alerted to the trade talks,
06:47nor the deal being verbally finalized mid-game.
06:51Someone else spilled the beans, though.
06:53At 8.57 p.m., Joel Sherman of The Post
06:57reported that the Mets got Gomez.
06:59A few minutes later,
07:01the whole internet knew Flores was in that deal.
07:04And then, a few minutes after that, in the seventh inning,
07:08Flores stepped to the plate.
07:10Every fan in attendance
07:11who was checking Twitter between innings,
07:14which is to say absolutely everyone,
07:16knew Flores was a goner,
07:18but Wilmer himself had no idea,
07:21and he was flabbergasted when he got a standing ovation.
07:25Only when Wilmer returned to the dugout
07:27did he realize why that happened.
07:29But still, as far as Terry Collins knew,
07:32nothing was official,
07:33so Flores went back out on the field to play shortstop,
07:36and that's when the dam burst.
07:39These were the tears of a guy, still only 23,
07:43who had been part of the same organization
07:45since he was a child,
07:46living far away from his home,
07:48working year after year toward this very opportunity.
07:53In an instant, without warning,
07:55he had to move halfway across the country and start fresh,
07:58on an awful team, no less.
08:01So many athletes in so many sports
08:04have experienced this moment before.
08:06Trades are cruel like that.
08:09Very few, though, have had their emotional response
08:12witnessed and documented in the middle of a game.
08:16Finally, the Mets front office called the dugout
08:18and told Collins to pull Flores in the ninth inning.
08:22Milwaukee execs wondered what the player
08:24they had just acquired was still doing out there
08:26to begin with.
08:27Except the deal wasn't done, not technically.
08:32While going over Carlos Gomez's medicals,
08:34the Mets doctors saw something that spooked them.
08:38Gomez has had some leg injuries this year,
08:40but insisted yesterday that he's fine, sexy, in fact.
08:45Didn't matter.
08:46The Mets scrapped the entire deal,
08:49and at game's end, Flores, along with the rest of the world,
08:52found out he was, in fact,
08:54not getting traded for Carlos Gomez.
08:57Of course, that didn't mean he would remain a Met for good.
09:00Yesterday, Flores and his manager
09:02recalled that surreal scene on the field.
09:05Flores explained his emotions quite simply.
09:08Collins defended his decision
09:10to leave Flores out there at greater length,
09:12insisting he had no idea there was a trade
09:15and placing some blame on everyone's cell phones.
09:18But the trade deadline wasn't until 4 p.m. on July 31st.
09:22That is today.
09:24Just a few hours ago, the Mets went out
09:26and made that other big deal for Cespedes,
09:29and it didn't include Flores.
09:32Wilmer Flores is, after clearly believing he wouldn't be
09:36and showing the whole world how he felt about that,
09:39a New York Met.
09:42And now he's up for them in a really big moment.
09:46It would be so, so sweet if he could deliver right here.
09:49But make no mistake, Wilmer does not need a walk-off tonight
09:53to become a fan favorite.
09:54He is already there.
09:56It's not like Wilmer Flores wanted to weep openly
09:59in front of thousands of people,
10:01but if anything could endear someone
10:03to the long-suffering fans of a downtrodden team,
10:06it was that outpouring of emotion
10:08that took place here two days ago.
10:11Tonight was the fans' chance to return that emotion,
10:14and Wilmer has given them ample opportunity
10:16to express themselves.
10:18Almost instantly, in fact.
10:20Flores is covering second base tonight,
10:23and the third pitch of the game produced this hard-hit ball
10:26that required the sick diving play for an out at first.
10:30It's a great play, but you don't usually hear
10:32this kind of crowd pop for infield defense.
10:36That's a fine play.
10:38Nor do people usually give standing ovations
10:41in the top of the first inning.
10:43But that is how completely Wilmer Flores
10:45has won the hearts of Mets fans.
10:48For simply making his first plate appearance,
10:50Wilmer got another standing ovation.
10:53This was beautiful.
11:00Later on, Wilmer came up with runners on first and second,
11:03and he drove one in with a grounder just out of reach.
11:06This place went nuts.
11:08Here comes Uribe with the first run of the game!
11:17So tonight has already been magical
11:19for Wilmer Flores and his adoring fans.
11:23The Mets would love a walk-off here.
11:26They're all in on this season,
11:27as evidenced by the moves they made this month
11:30and this very afternoon.
11:31Some wins off the first place Nats
11:33would represent huge strides in their quest
11:36to win the NL East and maybe beyond.
11:39On paper, that's what's at stake here,
11:41and it doesn't have to be Wilmer.
11:44And on paper, it won't be.
11:46The announcers just noted, sorta tongue-in-cheek,
11:50that he's gone a while without a homer.
12:00And that is fine.
12:01The Mets just need someone, anyone,
12:04to pull them ahead at some point.
12:06Wilmer just needs to get on base to do his job.
12:08He doesn't have to be the one
12:09to end the whole thing right here.
12:12But man, if it is Wilmer,
12:14if this young man who has been part of this organization
12:17since basically childhood,
12:19who has ascended and struggled and grappled
12:22with the pain of leaving in front of the only fan base
12:24he's ever known as a pro,
12:26if he could make it happen,
12:28then an already magical night
12:30might become something historic.
12:34Let's see.
12:35Welcome to a moment in history.
12:40Flores drives it, deep left center field,
12:42Taylor back, near the wall, it's out of here!
12:46Flores ends it with a homerun!
12:49Wilmer Flores night at Citi Field
12:51comes to a fitting close
12:53and the Mets win it 2-1 in 12.