Phillies trade deadline wins make Mets struggles…
Mets baseball president David Stearns is correct to admit their deadline didn’t go as hoped. It wasn’t good, but what made it worse was the rival Phillies buying the very two gamers that would have helped the Mets most: reliever Jhoan Duran and middle fielder Harrison Bader, both from the Twins.
The Mets never acquired close on Duran, as the Phillies had been in fairly early with the offer of two usually well-regarded prospects — Eduardo Tait (the 19-year-old catcher, ranked No. 53 general) and Mick Abel (the right-handed starter and former first-rounder), and the Mets made little to no effort for Bader.
The Twins sought two well-regarded prospects for Duran, and though the Phillies appeared to have only one prospect completely off-limits (righty pitcher Andrew Painter), the Mets had been usually reluctant to give up any of their top 5 prospects (Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat, Jett Williams, Carson Benge). One other factor heard: They weren’t going to give up Tong, who the Twins appreciated, for a reliever.
Duran and Bader, thriving with the Twins, actually took off in Philly, serving to them bury the Mets. Duran has a 1.53 ERA and 15 saves in Philly (and has two more years before free company), and Bader is hitting .331 with an .889 OPS. More galling, he’s hitting .528 (19 for 36) with a 1.342 OPS vs. the Mets.
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