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Mets baseball president David Stearns is right to admit their deadline didn’t go as hoped. It wasn’t good, but what made it worse was the rival Phillies acquiring the very two players that would have helped the Mets most: reliever Jhoan Duran and center fielder Harrison Bader, both from the Twins.
The Mets never got close on Duran, as the Phillies were in pretty early with the offer of two generally well-regarded prospects — Eduardo Tait (the 19-year-old catcher, ranked No. 53 overall) 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 seemed to have only one prospect totally off-limits (righty pitcher Andrew Painter), the Mets were generally reluctant to give up any of their top five prospects (Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat, Jett Williams, Carson Benge). One other thing heard: They weren’t going to give up Tong, who the Twins liked, for a reliever.
Duran and Bader, thriving with the Twins, really took off in Philly, helping them bury the Mets. Duran has a 1.53 ERA and 15 saves in Philly (and has two more years before free agency), 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.
