Kiké Hernández and the dangers of tweeting during a trade rumor
Technology has drastically changed how sports rumors are reported. With the Internet, and sites like Twitter, news is now instantaneous. Trades get broken before they are officially announced, and athletes can immediately respond upon being dealt or seeing a teammate sent away.
[Related: White Sox acquire Todd Frazier in three-team trade with Reds and Dodgers]
That rapid exchange of news isn’t always a good thing, though. Just ask Los Angeles Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernández. The 24-year-old sent out the following tweet early Wednesday:
That seems innocent enough, right? It’s two emojis that signify a man running. Problem is, Hernández picked an awful time to send that out. Just a few minutes earlier, news broke that the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers were engaged in trade talks. At the time, no one knew which players were going to Chicago.
Suddenly, Hernández tweet took on a much more drastic tone. Was he running to Chicago because he was traded? Was the wind emoji used because Chicago is known as “The Windy City,” and Hernández was hinting at his new home? For most, it was a suspicious thing to tweet while rumors were rampant. For some, Hernández was already as good as gone.
Turns out, that wasn’t the case.
Crisis averted. Hernández had not been informed of a trade and his tweet had no larger meaning. Eventually, it was revealed that the Dodgers and White Sox were engaged in a three-way trade with the Cincinnati Reds and Todd Frazier was involved. Hernández, however, was not part of the deal.
[Elsewhere: Jason Heyward chose the Cubs over the Cardinals due to their youth]
For a while there, no one was sure what the heck was happening. A completely rational tweet was taken out of context due to swirling rumors. While Hernández has no reason to feel bad, he’ll probably check out the rumor mill before making his next tweet.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
