Mets, A's Reportedly Had 'Substantial' Mason Miller Trade Talks Before Padres Deal

Mason Miller is right in the middle of the National League wild-card race as a member of the San Diego Padres, but he was reportedly almost part of the same race with a different team.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Wednesday the Athletics held "very serious" and "substantial" trade conversations with the New York Mets regarding the star relief pitcher. In fact, the American League West team "viewed the Mets as the most serious about Miller" outside of San Diego.

Ultimately, New York ended up adding Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley to its bullpen.

The Athletics pivoted and traded Miller and pitcher JP Sears to the Padres for shortstop Leodalis De Vries, pitcher Braden Nett, pitcher Henry Báez and pitcher Eduarniel Nuñez.

It could be something of a sliding-doors moment in the NL wild-card race, as the Mets are one game ahead of San Diego. Both teams are in playoff position as of Wednesday, as New York is the second wild card behind the Chicago Cubs.

The Padres are three games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the third and final spot.

Miller could help his new team make quite the charge as a flamethrowing option at the back of the bullpen with a 3.66 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 20 saves and 60 strikeouts across 39.1 innings and 39 games. The 2024 All-Star pitched a shutout inning in his Padres debut during Friday's win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

As for the Mets, they have lost six of their last seven games and are trending in the wrong direction. They gave up six or more runs in five of those contests and could use more effective arms across the pitching staff as they look to turn things around heading into the stretch run.

Miller would have fit the bill as an effective arm who could have slowed the recent struggles, but New York's serious talks never turned into an actual trade.