The Mets might have turned down a better Jay Bruce offer from the Yankees

The Mets traded Jay Bruce to the Indians Wednesday, which should have been an expected transaction completed with little other thought given to it. This is the Mets, though, and that’s not how they tend to work. Instead, shortly after the deal, leaks started coming out that the Yankees had been involved in negotiations as well, and it was clear these leaks came from the Yanks, because they did not paint the Mets in a flattering light.

The Yankees rarely leak — they’re one of the quieter teams in the game, and you often don’t know they’re involved in something until it happens (unless, such as in the case of the Todd Frazier etc. trade from July, they’re negotiating with a team as chatty as the White Sox). So, if the Yankees are leaking, there is a reason, and that reason is that their offer was the superior one, and it didn’t get them anywhere.

This wasn’t the Yanks just butting in on a conversation to try to get Bruce at the last minute. The two sides had enough time to discuss a package, and the Yankees offered the Mets the prospects the Mets asked for a couple of weeks earlier before the trade deadline. The Mets chose Cleveland’s return, though, which was a low-minors pitcher you might never hear of again along with all of Bruce’s salary covered.

The Mets, who are not good and already know their 2018 financial commitments will fall nearly $100 million from this year’s salary, chose a few million dollars more saved now rather than adding prospects they liked to the organization. It’s a very Mets thing, one that looks even worse for them when you realize that the Wilpons, who own the team, very likely did not want to make a deal with that other New York club, especially one that could help the Yanks succeed in making or thriving in the postseason.

Mets fans probably don’t deserve what they get from this team, but Mets management absolutely does.