Mets: Asdrubal Cabrera goes back on trade wishes: ‘I always want to be here’

After being displeased with how the Mets handled his move to second base and requesting a trade late last week, infielder Asdrubal Cabrera has walked back some of his comments.

The Mets beat the Marlins 8-0 on Wednesday night, and after another fine performance on both sides of the ball, Asdrubal Cabrera has somewhat changed his tune.

"“I always want to be here,” the Mets shortstop told The New York Post. “This is a great team. In that moment when I said that, I wasn’t saying I want to get traded. I was just saying it didn’t seem like they had a plan for me. … If they’ve got a plan, they should tell me.”"

Apparently, Cabrera’s frustrations with the organization came out somewhat incorrectly. Last week, when the Mets shortstop/second baseman spoke to the media, he shared that he had asked the team to pick up his extension and then he’d be willing to move and change positions.

The Mets front office declined, and basically forced him to move to second base any way after Neil Walker went down with a hamstring injury. The team has obviously preferred Jose Reyes at shortstop, even though his bat has been pretty ice cold for most of the season. Reyes’ natural position is short, and with Cabrera looking about as slow as ever in the hole, the move made sense for the Amazin’s.

Cabrera unfortunately was having none of it. He requested a trade privately, and then spoke out about it publicly to the media before his first game back.

The decision to talk about it in a public forum has had backlash from both sides of the argument. Some argue it makes Cabrera look bad, and the Mets were in lose-lose position. Others, myself included, think Cabrera was just using leverage to get some type of security for his own career and his family down the line into 2018. Teams do it all the time, so why not players?

In these last few games, Cabrera has actually looked quite comfortable at second base. He’s made a few really good plays, and has actually hit pretty well since coming back off the disabled list going 8 for 18. Maybe he’s finally realized this wasn’t such a terrible decision to begin with.

Next: Mets place Robert Gsellman on the disabled list, recall Matt Reynolds

Either way, now that Cabrera has apparently walked back his statements, this should help keep the chemistry of the clubhouse somewhat loose. This team has been known to have fun, and losing obviously sours that and makes everyone much more irritable. With the Mets winning four out of their last five games, it seems the secret to making things better always lies in earning those W’s.