Former Mets infielder turned rival clearly still upset about his release

The first few weeks of the baseball season can be disorienting for fans that aren't fully tuned in during the winter. Old faces can be found in new places throughout the league, but as it turns out, fans aren't the only ones that struggle to cope with change.

Atlanta Braves utility infielder Luis Guillorme is still coming to grips with his own new situation, as he joined his new club only after being non-tendered by the only franchise he's ever known, the New York Mets.

Guillorme was drafted by the Mets in the 10th round of the 2013 MLB draft, and he's spent time on New York's big league roster since 2018. He's never been more than a utility player, but for Mets fans, he's been a reliable presence for years.

With the Mets in town for a four-game series with his new club, Guillorme reflected on how weird it is to now be on the other side of the NL East rivalry.

“New people wanted their guys,” Guillorme said, h/t the New York Post. “And it was one of those things it could have gone either way. I could see it happen and see it not happen.

“The past 11 years of my life I have known one thing and one thing only. And for the past six years I have been in the big leagues for the team, the same guys around me, same places. There is still an adjustment. It’s early on.”

Luis Guillorme still hasn't totally come to grips with the end of his Mets tenure

It's easy to forget that these are real people that play for our favorite teams. They have families, homes, and feelings that go beyond trying to gets hits and win ballgames, and this is an illuminating, if slightly heartbreaking, example of that.

Guillorme's situation calls to mind other players who have had to adjust after leaving the only place they've ever known. Freddie Freeman's move from the Braves to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022 was famously not easy for the star first baseman, especially in light of reports that he wanted to stay in Atlanta. More recently, Corbin Burnes has had to deal with being traded from the Brewers to the Orioles after eight years in Milwaukee, saying, "I was shocked" at being dealt.

Mets fans are familiar with seeing a longtime player switch sides within the division. Guillorme's new teammate Travis d'Arnaud spent more than six seasons in New York, while 2015 postseason hero Daniel Murphy left the following season for the Nationals after the Mets opted to move in a different direction.

Like finding out that your ex is dating someone new, seeing your former teammates in the opposing dugout is a weird feeling. The Mets have already moved on from Guillorme, having signed Joey Wendle this offseason to be their new utility infielder, though I'm sure many of Guillorme's former teammates share his feelings about seeing him on their chief rival. Like Freeman, Burnes, d'Arnaud, Murphy and others, though, Guillorme will settle into his new home in due time. What seems weird now will be just another day at the ballpark, but first, the Mets and Braves have three more games to play this week. Hopefully both sides can get through it.