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Pirates, Mets To Swap Jon Niese, Antonio Bastardo

By Steve Adams and charliewilmoth | August 1, 2016 at 3:13pm CDT

The Mets have reacquired left-hander Jon Niese from the Pirates, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (on Twitter). Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that lefty Antonio Bastardo is going back to the Pirates (Twitter link). Both teams have announced the move, and Pittsburgh notes that they’re receiving cash considerations from the Mets in the deal.

The swap of left-handers reunites each southpaw with his 2015 team, as Niese spent his entire career prior to the 2016 campaign in Queens and Bastardo pitched for the Bucs last season. Pittsburgh picked up Niese in what now looks to be an ill-fated swap that netted the Mets Neil Walker, while Bastardo inked a two-year, $12MM contract with the Mets. Neither pitcher has performed up to his standards, though, with Niese posting a 4.91 ERA and briefly losing his spot in the rotation and Bastardo logging a similar 4.74 ERA in 43 2/3 innings of relief.

Niese posted a 4.13 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in New York last season, while Bastardo had a 2.98 ERA, 10.0 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 last year in Pittsburgh. The trade seems to suggest an optimism on the part of their old teams that the flaws the two players showed this year (a vanishing strikeout rate and home-run problems in Niese’s case; control and home-run problems in Bastardo’s) might be painted over. Niese is making $9MM this season, plus a $500K buyout on his 2017 option. Bastardo, who will rejoin the Pirates’ bullpen, is under contract through 2017, when he’ll receive $6.5MM. He’s making $5.25MM this year.

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New York Mets Newsstand Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Antonio Bastardo Jon Niese

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View Comments (41)
Post a Comment

41 Comments

  1. gofish 2

    9 years ago

    Bastardo was terrible for the Mets. Good for NY, even if Niese isn’t a top-shelf arm.

    Reply
  2. koldjerky

    9 years ago

    lol

    Reply
    • rct

      9 years ago

      Only appropriate response, imo.

      Reply
  3. ChaplinBaseball

    9 years ago

    No way!

    Reply
  4. holecamels35

    9 years ago

    honestly laughed when I seen this

    Reply
    • JoshuaGSD

      9 years ago

      me too

      Reply
  5. Ray Ray

    9 years ago

    Tony B**tard.. I love that guy.

    Reply
  6. thisbaezkid

    9 years ago

    No givesies-backsies?

    Reply
    • koldjerky

      9 years ago

      as they laugh in your face

      Reply
  7. ThePriceWasRight

    9 years ago

    who says you can’t go home. Pearce to Baltimore, niese to pitt, rea to SD.

    Reply
    • TJECK109

      9 years ago

      Don’t forget Bastardo was with the Pirates last year

      Reply
    • MB923

      9 years ago

      I assume you mean Niese to Mets and Bastardo to Pitt

      Reply
  8. Darth Alru

    9 years ago

    And now tell me, that Neil Huntington is a great GM, who did two great moves before deadline. Oh, boy! Cheap clubs never win championships. That is what everybody needs to understand.

    Reply
    • Robertowannabe

      9 years ago

      Marlins, Royals,….

      Reply
      • EndinStealth

        9 years ago

        +1

        Reply
    • Kang Ho Polanco

      9 years ago

      Because clearly this Pirates roster is built to win now, not in 2017-20.

      How far has being the richest payrolls in the league gotten the Yankees and Dodgers? One World Series in more than a decade.

      Spending to spend and trading to trade is stupid. If there are no smart moves to be made, the best move is to do nothing.

      Reply
      • Pit2ODU16

        9 years ago

        Pirates shed close to 17 million maybe more this deadline. Maybe Huntingdon wants to actually spend next off season.

        Reply
    • 66TheNumberOfTheBest

      9 years ago

      You’re a Madden fan, right?

      MM endorsed the A’s moves in 2014 wholeheartedly. Said the Pirates were too cheap and gutless to try to win like the A’s.

      Would any Pirates fan trade places with A’s fans right now?

      Didn’t think so.

      Huntingdon makes the right move 95% of the time. That’s a pretty good batting average.

      Reply
      • pirates937

        9 years ago

        Huntington’s only good trade was Burnett for Moreno and Canyones

        Reply
    • TJECK109

      9 years ago

      Wtf are you talking about? Do you even watch baseball? How many GMs can say their team has been to the playoffs 3 straight years? Everyone except you seemed to know this was going to be a transition year. Go get in line on the Clemente bridge with the rest of the jumpers that have zero clue about Pirates baseball and will complain just to complain.

      Reply
      • HalosFan

        9 years ago

        Transition year? That wasn’t the initial plan.

        Reply
      • larrynez

        9 years ago

        Finally someone that knows something about baseball. Good job TJECK109

        Reply
  9. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    9 years ago

    Nice.

    Bastardo was OK, Niese was not.

    Reply
  10. PhilliesFan012

    9 years ago

    What is going on today

    Reply
  11. No Soup For Yu!

    9 years ago

    Hey, take backs are okay if both sides agree to it.

    Reply
  12. Ravens_Last_Place

    9 years ago

    lol

    Reply
  13. letsgobucs

    9 years ago

    Ouch Neil. That big trade in the offseason ended up being Neil Walker for 1 1/2 seasons of Antonio Bastardo at roughly $8m.

    Reply
  14. Ravens_Last_Place

    9 years ago

    Wonder why NYM didn’t offer Walker for Niese? Hmm…

    Although Walker really isn’t having that good of a year. Plus the Pirates don’t need a 2B. Their magician pitching coach couldn’t figure out Niese.

    Reply
    • Sportfeen69

      9 years ago

      Why tf would the mets trade walker ?

      Reply
  15. kingjenrry

    9 years ago

    Bwahahaha. Not anything else I can really think of. In essence, the Mets traded Bastardo for Walker. I’ll take it.

    Reply
  16. mpin99

    9 years ago

    They should fuze these two together and split their time evenly, Jon Bastardo can do it all!

    Reply
    • Kayrall

      9 years ago

      And a very sickly Jose Wright.

      Reply
  17. Logjammer D"Baggagecling

    9 years ago

    Pirates got screwed. Neil walker and neise for Tony Bastard. Lol.

    Reply
    • steelparrot 3

      9 years ago

      To bad we didnt send them Locke and Liriano too.

      Reply
  18. Sportfeen69

    9 years ago

    Mets to the WS

    Reply
  19. marco 5

    9 years ago

    Why would either team even make this trade.this part of the season is supposed to improve your team for the final run and neither one of these guys fits that mold

    Reply
  20. Bill

    9 years ago

    My wife called to tell me that the Mets got Niese back and I said WTF but when I saw that they dumped Bastardo I thought it was a great del. Can hardly wait to hear Jon’s comments about coming back to the Mets after his words on the way out!

    Reply
  21. michaelw

    9 years ago

    BREAKING NEWS!

    ST.L MAKES A BLOCK BUSTER MOVE!

    : MO GOES TO WORK FORCE TEMP AGENCY IN DOWN TOWN ST.LOUIS AND HIRES WILLY THE HACKER AT MINIMUM WAGE IN EXCHANGE FOR FREE ADVERTISING AT THE BALL PARK! ROTFLMAO

    Reply
  22. dempsey77

    9 years ago

    Wow, NH looks like a complete fool at this deadline…He made a BAD deal to begin with by dealing Walker for Bride, because OBVIOUSLY with Walker playing a power devoid position and giving you +power results at a oremium spot, he was worth considerably more than Bride was with his career numbers trending down for the last few seasons…but now, not even a full season later to give him back to the Mets in exchange for a Left Handed reliever that we allowed to walk away in free agency is simply amazing to me. We essentially gave up a top 10 second baseman (arguably) and got NOTHING in return for him…and as a Pirates fan that’s watching a roster that is very devoid of power in its lineup, how nice would it have been to have Neil Walker in the middle of this lineup all year long…should have NEVER dealt him away in the first place. I’m a very disappointed fan today…

    Reply
  23. buckeyeintexas

    9 years ago

    yankeeaddiction = Palmer…

    Reply
  24. buckeyeintexas

    9 years ago

    Palmer = yankeeaddiction

    Reply

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