The Yankees have certainly been vocal about the Mets refusal to trade them both Lucas Duda and Jay Bruce. Certainly, the returns fans have found the underwhelming returns for both players give credence to what the statements the Yankees have leaked.
Even Sandy Alderson himself indirectly presented credence to the reports saying, “Certainly dealing with the Yankees would be a factor, just as dealing with the Washington Nationals would be a factor. I think it would be foolish for us to say it doesn’t matter, but at the same time is it prohibitive? No.”
With that said, Alderson did try to dispel some of the rumors about the Mets moves being purely about money.
In his interview, he held fast to the notion his ultimate goal was the make the best deal possible. This proverbial deal weighed many factors, “Our goal was not to save money. One of the primary motivations was to create playing-time opportunities for other players. That has continued to be a goal of ours. Dominic Smith will be here [Friday] and we will continue to work toward introducing or giving playing time to players we want to see in regard to how they fit in for 2018.”
Alderson’s statements belie the fact he could’ve taken the Yankees rumored package of two prospects and still created room to play Smith. To that end, it still makes you question the Mets motives here.
According to one unnamed Mets official, the Yankees have been playing games in the press saying, “If they would give us something of [expletive] value, maybe we would have made a deal.”
With that, we have two sides of the story with the source of both sides coming from unnamed sources. Typically in these situations, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Maybe there is an unnamed source out there that can provide that.
At this point, it is hard to know who to believe. Certainly, the Mets don’t have any credibility when it comes to payroll matters. However, this doesn’t mean Alderson took lesser deals because the Yankees were involved or due to budgetary issues.
Likely, the side you choose will be colored by what you want to believe to be true. Until such time as the names of the two rumored prospects are leaked, it’s impossible to know who is right here.
