Former NY Mets player goes after Jeff Passan's Yankees-Pirates trade analysis

Every year during the MLB trade deadline, the most important people are MLB Insiders who break the news to the fans. Guys like Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, who have years of experience, have allowed them to build connections across MLB front offices and get the news of trades firsthand. You would have a hard time finding a New York Mets fan who didn't have a post notification on for one of those insiders.

Out of all the insiders, none has built more credibility than Jeff Passan. He has been such a reliable source that many fans won't believe what other insiders are reporting until Passan tweets something about it. While many fans love Passan, the same can not be said about former Mets first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. The 12-year Major League veteran made his frustration with Passan known during the deadline. But what caused this strange Twitter beef?

How Jeff Passan's simple report upset Doug Mientkiewicz

It appeared to be a normal trade report. At first, Passan broke the news that the Yankees were trading for David Bednar of the Pirates. As any good reporter would do, Passan was able to find out who the Pirates were getting back from the Yankees. He even went the extra mile, giving a brief scouting report on each player. This allowed fans to get an idea of who these players were and what their strengths are.

While many fans saw this tweet and didn't think twice about it, Mientkiewicz took exception to it. He was upset that Passan, who had never seen a pitch in professional baseball, was giving a breakdown of these players.

Mientkiewicz did not like that Passan said Edgleen Perez had a good swing decision. A quick look at Perez's stats shows the opposite, with him not even being a .250 career hitter. Even worse, he hadn't played a game above Single-A, so you can see where Mientkiewicz is coming from. How can you have a good swing decision if you're struggling to hit at one of the easier levels of professional baseball?

Passan decided to defend himself and push back against the idea that this analysis came from him. In the process, he also fired back at Mientkiewicz. He called him out for putting too much emphasis on batting average, saying it's the only stat that makes him look like a good hitter.

Passan does have a point. Over Mientkiewicz's career, he had a slashline of .271/.360/.405 with 66 home runs, 438 RBIs, and a 100 OPS+. Even in his one season with the Mets, he wasn't overly impressive, slashing .240/.322/.407 in 87 games with 11 RBIs and a 106 OPS+. At best, these are the numbers of an average player.

With that idea in mind, Mientkiewicz's tweet does come off as a bitter player trying to gatekeep who can evaluate players and who can't. Yes, a former pro player is probably one of the best players for assessing talent because he knows what it takes. However, just because they're the "best" to do it, doesn't mean they're the only ones who can. Anyone who has watched a lot of baseball probably can watch a young player and get some idea of whether they're going to be a good player or not.

Regardless of which side you fall on, this is a funny footnote in a jam-packed deadline. It will go down with some of the best interactions in Twitter/X history.