The Indians acquired outfielder Jay Bruce from the Mets on Wednesday evening. The Yankees were also reportedly in the mix for Bruce, but the club wasn’t willing to take on the remainder of Bruce’s salary, and the Mets weren’t willing to assume it, either, despite the Yankees offering “multiple prospects.”
That news circulated on Thursday, which apparently frustrated an unnamed Mets official. Per Mike Puma of the New York Post, that official said, “If they would give us something of [bleeping] value, maybe we would make a deal.”
A different Mets official said, “When we were looking for players last year, the Yankees weren’t exactly rushing to return our calls.”
Puma adds that the Mets and Yankees nearly had a deal in place last week involving second baseman Neil Walker, but the Yankees nixed the deal over Walker’s medicals. The Mets believe that the Yankees nixed the deal after acquiring starter Sonny Gray from the Athletics and used Walker’s medicals as an excuse.
That there is bad blood between the Yankees and Mets isn’t surprising. However, these two teams that play in baseball’s largest media market are now bickering over a few million dollars and assumed nefarious intent. This is some high school level drama and neither team looks good coming out of the dust-up.