A surprising Twitter feud erupted between former New York Mets first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz and prominent MLB insider Jeff Passan during the MLB trade deadline. The spat stemmed from Passan's analysis of a trade between the Yankees and Pirates, specifically regarding prospect Edgleen Perez.
The Trade That Ignited the Fire
Passan reported the Yankees were trading for David Bednar of the Pirates, and included details about the players the Pirates were receiving in return. He highlighted catcher Rafael Flores and Edgleen Perez, noting Perez, a 19-year-old, had "excellent swing decisions."
Mientkiewicz took issue with Passan's assessment, tweeting: "Man what a time to be alive when a non baseball person writes ‘excellent swing decisions' for a guy hitting 209 in A ball and is a career .241 hitter." He questioned Passan's qualifications to provide scouting reports, given he never played professional baseball.
Passan's Rebuttal
Passan quickly fired back, stating the description came from a scout and sarcastically questioning Mientkiewicz's focus on batting average, a metric that has become less important in modern baseball analysis. "That description came from a scout, Doug. Do you hate them, too, or are you just bitter because batting average is no longer the metric people care about, and it’s the only one you were ever good at? Stay bitter, guy.”
Mientkiewicz, a 12-year MLB veteran with a career .271 batting average, appears to represent an older school of baseball thought, where traditional stats hold more weight. The exchange highlights the ongoing evolution of baseball analysis and the differing perspectives between former players and modern-day scouts and analysts.
Whether Perez's "excellent swing decisions" translate into major league success remains to be seen. But the Twitter beef between Mientkiewicz and Passan certainly added some unexpected drama to the MLB trade deadline.