COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Only the Mets can turn a trade into a total back-page farce. Last night word got out that the Mets and Milwaukee Brewers had a trade in place that would have sent Wilmur Flores and Zach Wheeler to the Brew Crew for outfielder Carlos Gomez . The Mets had been rumored for a while in this trade market to be in search of a "big bat" and they believed that Gomez was their guy. Gomez was told by his teammates that the deal was done. Flores found out and started crying on the field -- then the rug was pulled out from underneath everyone thanks in part to the Mets unwillingness to let the deal go through. Initially there was a belief that the Brewers had concerns about Wheeler who is coming off Tommy Johns Surgery and is out for the entire 2015 season. Wheelers isn't even expected back until mid-season of next year. However reports have contradicted that notion, and the Brewers had no concerns with Wheeler whatsoever. The Mets themselves are the ones who pulled the plug o...

The suddenly wheeling and dealing New York Mets have made another move, four days before the non-waiver trade deadline. The Mets acquired right handed reliever Tyler Clippard from the Oakland A's for minor leaguer Casey Meisner. Clippard is another cost saving acquisition for the Mets, since he will be a free agent after this season, and is due to make $3.1 million the rest of this year. Clippard is 1-3 with a 2.79 ERA and 17 saves this year. He automatically becomes the Mets set-up man behind closer Jeurys Familia.  Currently the Mets back-end of the bullpen comprises of Jenrry Mejia who is ineligible for the postseason, and unreliable Bobby Parnell, who had a typical Parnell implosion in a big spot a couple outings ago. Clippard gives the Mets that veteran reliever they hoped to have when they acquired Jerry Blevins from Washington, only to see Blevins hit the DL. He has not returned since the start of the year. As a former National, Clippard might find some added motivatio...

While Major League Baseball is grabbing plenty of headlines, rumors and Twitter space, the NFL is slowly kicking off the 2015 season in training camp this week. All 32 teams are reporting to their respective camps as you read this, and with it, renewed excitement comes with the dawn of a new season. The 2015 NFL season begins with plenty of headlines that are sure to soak up all the summer sunlight as two-a-days and pre-season games get closer. Let's look at some of the major topics. 1) Tom Brady vs. the NFL : In what has to be the biggest example of "dragging your feet," the NFL, Players Association and Brady's representatives have been talking about a potential settlement on the quarterback's appeal of a four-game ban for deflating footballs in last winter's AFC Championship game with little to no success. There are a lot of moving pieces in this case, from Commissioner Roger Goodell hearing the appeal in spite of backlash from the NFLPA and a few NFL f...

The New York Mets have been the butt of jokes for a number of years now when it comes to making moves to improve the ball club. A sense of reluctance and ongoing stubbornness from both General Manager Sandy Alderson and ownership has soured things in Flushing for far too long. Then this weekend things began to change -- believe it or not. The Mets made a rare deal with division rival, Atlanta to acquire aging veterans Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson f or two low level minor league prospects in John Gant and Rob Whalen. The move is both a smart one and cost saving for a team obsessed with pinching pennies. Uribe, 36, is owed only $6.5 million in the final year of his contract, which is this year. Johnson, 33, is owned only $1.5 million. For Uribe the Mets are the third team he will play for this year, as he came onto his new team hitting .272 with eight homers and 23 RBI. Johnson, who is mostly a utility guy at this point in his career is hitting .275 with nine home runs and 34 RBI....

On July 17, I had the honor of joining the New Jersey Jackals on their trip to Cooperstown to play the Rockland Boulders in the first ever Can-Am League classic. We toured the hallowed halls of the Baseball Hall of Fame; eyeing the jerseys, caps and bats of yesteryear before getting ready for baseball later that afternoon. In the game, the Jackals defeated the Boulders by a score of 9-1 behind a grand slam homer by A.J. Kirby Jones and a bases clearing double by Matt Helms in the win. Below is the highlight package I put together of the trip.

As most know I have been very busy covering the New Jersey Jackals this season, providing play-by-play coverage for their radio and TV coverage on www.canamleague.tv . Below are some highlights from an interview I did with Ed Ott, former Jackals pitching coach. Ott returned to Yogi Berra Stadium to have his number 14 jersey retired on June 20. Here is the full radio interview myself and Nick Delahanty did with Ed during the fifth and sixth innings of the ball game.

The Mets are have been mired in mediocrity all season long. After a terrific 13-3 start that was highlighted by an 11-game winning streak it has been downhill ever since. The Mets are 28-38 since their 11-game winning streak ended on April 24 against the New York Yankees. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the Mets. David Wright has missed most of the season with Spinal Stenosis; Daniel Murphy spent a chunk of time on the DL; catcher Travis D'Arnaud has been on the DL twice; the Mets still don't have a short stop; Dillion Gee is no longer a Met; Jon Niese is on his way out, eventually, and the Mets have one of the worst lineups in baseball that is ranked 27th in runs scored, and 29th in baseball in team batting average. In short: they stink.  The future of the Mets depends on these two guys. Yet, here the Mets are still somewhat alive in the NL East (er, should I say NL Least) as the Washington Nationals have yet to pull away from the competition...