Former NY Mets player Harrison Bader has a new way he can stick it to his ex-team

Harrison Bader isn’t one of those former New York Mets we think of as having much of a vendetta. Even though he was basically relegated to a part-time role in the final months of 2024, he’s not the vindictive ex whose blood runs cold with hatred for the Mets. He was only here for one year and any vitriol seems to be more sports hatred than personal.

Bader has been a perceived Mets target twice since leaving. He was a trade deadline match last winter and again this offseason, prior to trading for Luis Robert Jr., he made some sense. But his history with the Mets probably had him thinking differently about coming back. He’d be entering a similar situation where someone would be around to take his job. This time, instead of Tyrone Taylor, hot prospect Carson Benge would be the one to displace him.

Bader won’t be coming to the Mets as he’ll get paid $20.5 million over the next two seasons as a member of the San Francisco Giants. New York blinked first in what was probably a non-existing standoff. By landing with the Giants on the deal he did, he’ll have a new way to potentially rub it in the Mets’ faces.

Two years of Harrison Bader comes at about the cost of one year of Luis Robert Jr.

Financially, Bader is a much better win. At the same price spread over two seasons, he’s an affordable investment in comparison to Robert who’s getting paid to be a lot more than what he has been in recent years.

Bader has already become a Mets “villain” for the way he performed last season against New York. Combined during his time with the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies, Bader slashed .528/.564/.778 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI. It felt like a lot more than 9 games against him.

Bader and Robert profile as similar players with the main difference between the outlying abilities Robert has shown in the past. His outlier 2023 season which had him hitting 38 home runs obliterates anything Bader has ever done. Both have battled injuries, Bader evading them in the last two seasons.

Robert does fit the Mets better thanks to his power potential and base running abilities. We can call defense a draw. Bader, for as good as his 2025 season was, is still below Robert in several offensive categories over his career. Robert is the buy into what he can be. Bader is the buy into what he is and it’s a limited range.

Another strong showing by Bader in 2026, by at least outperforming Robert, can have the Mets feeling like maybe they did go after the wrong target. It does take two to tango, though. With no indication Bader had interest in the Mets, we can’t fault them much at all for this.

The Mets took on much more risk by trading for Robert as opposed to just signing Bader. They traded away two players on top of taking on his full $20 million contract that will cost them at least another $2 million if they buy him out.

For whatever it’s worth, Robert is projected by FanGraphs’ Steamer system to hit .232/.295/.403 with 18 home runs and 25 stolen bases with a 1.6 fWAR. The same projections have Bader at .245/.303/.391 with 12 home runs and 12 stolen bases plus a 1.2 fWAR.

Let’s just hope Luisangel Acuna doesn’t decide to do something stupid like become a really good major leaguer for the Chicago White Sox.