Padres manager admits he pulled players from a game to mess with the media

Padres interim manager Pat Murphy had decent reasoning to pull Justin Upton and Matt Kemp from Wednesday night's game: It was a night game, the team had to play Thursday afternoon and San Diego was up by five runs late in the game. Get the guys some rest, you know?

But after the game, Murphy claimed he had a funnier reason for pulling them:

#Padres int manager Pat Murphy said he pulled Upton and Kemp late to get them off their feet "and give you guys something to think about."

— Joe Trezza (@JoeTrezz) July 30, 2015

The Padres interim manager basically admitted to pulling Kemp and Upton late to troll the media. That's amazing.

— Chris Hatfield (@SPChrisHatfield) July 30, 2015

With the trade deadline approaching, a player getting pulled from a game is a sign they might be on the move -- once they've been dealt, there's no use in them playing further and risking injury for a team they technically no longer play for.

So, when players get pulled from games around this time of year, the media goes on HUGWATCH, checking to see if exiting players are giving their teammates emotional goodbyes in the dugout. Since Upton is the subject of several MLB trade deadline rumors, it's no surprise people went on alert after this move.

Murphy's baseball reasoning probably had more to do with this than his joke explanation, but I like thinking an MLB manager might be making decisions just to screw people. Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, the Mets left in weeping Wilmer Flores after everybody in the stadium thought he had been traded. (He wasn't.)

★★★

SB Nation presents: Explaining a not-so-funny trade deadline moment