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.
Bastardo was terrible for the Mets. Good for NY, even if Niese isn’t a top-shelf arm.
lol
Only appropriate response, imo.
No way!
honestly laughed when I seen this
me too
Tony B**tard.. I love that guy.
No givesies-backsies?
as they laugh in your face
who says you can’t go home. Pearce to Baltimore, niese to pitt, rea to SD.
Don’t forget Bastardo was with the Pirates last year
I assume you mean Niese to Mets and Bastardo to Pitt
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.
Marlins, Royals,….
+1
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.
Pirates shed close to 17 million maybe more this deadline. Maybe Huntingdon wants to actually spend next off season.
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.
Huntington’s only good trade was Burnett for Moreno and Canyones
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.
Transition year? That wasn’t the initial plan.
Finally someone that knows something about baseball. Good job TJECK109
Nice.
Bastardo was OK, Niese was not.
What is going on today
Mets just punched their ticket back to the series. The heart and soul of the Mets has returned.
Hey, take backs are okay if both sides agree to it.
lol
Ouch Neil. That big trade in the offseason ended up being Neil Walker for 1 1/2 seasons of Antonio Bastardo at roughly $8m.
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.
Niese in a Mets uniform is magic and you can’t figure out magic.
It’s the shnoz
Why tf would the mets trade walker ?
Bwahahaha. Not anything else I can really think of. In essence, the Mets traded Bastardo for Walker. I’ll take it.
They should fuze these two together and split their time evenly, Jon Bastardo can do it all!
It is the lack of thinking like this that is why the Mets have not won a championship since 1986. If they patched Jose Reyes and David Wright together they would have a healthy David Reyes.
Or a catastrophic Jose Wright. It’s a crapshoot.
And a very sickly Jose Wright.
Pirates got screwed. Neil walker and neise for Tony Bastard. Lol.
To bad we didnt send them Locke and Liriano too.
Here is the list- Jon Niese followed by Tom Seaver, Pedro Martinez, Doc Gooden, Josias Manzanillo, Ron Darling, Tom Glavine, Pedro Feliciano, Frank Tanana, Bret Saberhagen The Mets just brought back the best pitcher in franchise history.
Mets to the WS
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
Give Niese the damn ball every fifth day and watch him perform his magic. Prediction 7-0 1.14 era down the stretch. Mets over take the Nats on the strength of Niese’s arm.
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!
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
This still does not come close to the Mets reacquiring Niese. This might very well be the biggest move in franchise history.
yankeeaddiction = Palmer
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…
yankeeaddiction = Palmer…
Palmer = yankeeaddiction