Tyler Naquin looking ahead after trade from Cincinnati Reds

NEW YORK – There is no guide to prepare a player for the first time he is traded in his career, but Tyler Naquin says the key for him was not allowing himself to look into the past.

Naquin was the first of five players the Reds dealt at the trade deadline, sent to the first-place New York Mets for 18-year-old center fielder Héctor Rodríguez and 19-year-old right-hander José Acuña. A free agent at the end of the season, Naquin braced himself for the possibility of a trade.

“My cousin, Kyle, actually was on a plane, it was his first time to ever come watch me by himself,” Naquin said. “He was on the plane and I got traded. When he landed, obviously, everybody was texting him, he showed up at…