Brewers claim Mets backed out of Carlos Gomez trade for financial reasons

Conflicting reports continue to emerge today after the Mets and Brewers scrapped a deal that would have sent center fielder Carlos Gomez to New York for right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler and infielder Wilmer Flores.

First, reports last night from FOX's Ken Rosenthal and others said that the Mets pulled out of the prematurely reported deal due to questions about Gomez's medical records and a potentially injured hip. Today, Gomez's camp and those on the Milwaukee side of the abandoned trade are disputing the veracity of the Mets' claims regarding Gomez's health.

Gomez's agent, Scott Boras, said that Gomez has never had a hip injury, and though he had an MRI in June, "his hip structurally and tissue-wise is clean." Boras's point-of-view here is clear. His client, who stood to move to a much bigger market and a better team, has now had his value called into question just before the July 31 trading deadline.

The Brewers continue to dispute that Gomez's hip is damaged, as GM Doug Melvin says Gomez "in my mind, is healthy." Naturally, the General Manager of a team trying to trade a player whose value has now been diminished, needs to defend himself as well as Gomez.

Today, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt reports that "a source familiar with the talks on both sides" claims the driving force behind the Mets' reluctance to go ahead with the deal was "financial, not medical."

Haudricourt's story breaks down the timeline of the negotiations, claiming that the Mets only pulled out of the trade when the Brewers said they would not include money in the deal to cover Gomez's salary, which includes $9 million owed in 2016. At that point, Haudricourt, says, "the Mets came back and said they were calling off the deal over Gomez's medical records, which was their right all along."

All these sources—Boras, Melvin, and Haudricourt—are familiar with the Milwaukee side of this bizarre story, and logically, any information fed to a Milwaukee beat reporter would probably also be coming from the Brewers organization, or someone in Gomez's camp. Putting the onus for the bungled trade on the Mets, whose financial woes in recent years have been well-reported, is an easy way to redirect the narrative away from the fact that Gomez, one of the best pieces left on the trade market, and Milwaukee's most valuable player, could be damaged goods.