With less than a week before their annual Subway Series, it’s safe to say that the New York Yankees and New York Mets aren’t exactly on the best of terms.
This particular beef centers around the Mets trading Jay Bruce to the Cleveland Indians. New York received Ryder Ryan for Bruce. Prospects often pan out in unexpected ways, but Ryan was a 30th-round draft pick in 2016. He’s obviously not seen as a top of the line guy at this time. The Mets were drawn in by the fact that the Indians took Bruce’s salary entirely off of their books.
Following the trade, it was revealed that the Yankees had offered the Mets “multiple prospects” and to take some of Bruce’s money.
Source: #Yankees offered multiple prospects and to take on soe of Bruce $, thought deal was possible, #Mets went another way
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) August 10, 2017
We can only speculate on which prospects were offered and how much money the Yankees offered to pay for Bruce. But Mets officials didn’t exactly take kindly to the leaks.
A Mets official on the Bruce to the Yankees talks: "If they would give us something of [bleeping] value, maybe we would make a deal."
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) August 10, 2017
Another Mets offficial: "When we were looking for players last year, the Yankees weren't exactly rushing to return our calls."
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) August 10, 2017
It was also noted that the Mets were unhappy that the Yankees backed out of a Neil Walker trade once they acquired Sonny Gray.
Mets believe that the Yankees killed the Walker deal once they acquired Sonny Gray and used Walker's medicals as a back-out tactic.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) August 10, 2017
And here we thought that with the Mets out of contention, the Subway Series might not have much intensity this year. Wasn’t that a silly thought?
We know what the Mets got from Cleveland for Bruce. We don’t know if the Yankees offered them a better deal. But the Mets’ responses, especially when bringing up last season when the roles of the teams were reversed, don’t put them in a good light. That gives the appearance that the Mets were just bitter and didn’t want to help their crosstown rivals. That shouldn’t be their focus.
The Mets are not winning the World Series in 2017. Their front office should be focused on either building a contender again in 2018, or rebuilding for further in the future. If that means helping New York’s other team make the playoffs or even win a World Series, so be it.
Again, we don’t know what offers were actually made. But this war of words was won by the Yankees. More to the point, it was lost by the Mets.