The most recent Mets-Dodgers deadline trade is the kind of move that barely registers in the moment and looks even stranger in hindsight.
When the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers crossed paths at the 2023 trade deadline, it was not for a headline-grabbing name or a franchise-changing swap. Instead, the Mets, who were selling, made one purchase: Phil Bickford and Adam Kolarek came over from Los Angeles for cash.
Kolarek’s time in New York was brief. The left-hander appeared in four games at the end of the year and has not pitched again since the 2024 season, when he was in Triple-A with the Los Angeles Angels.
Bickford was the more notable part of the deal, at least for a while. The Mets seemed to have plans for him going into 2024, even though he finished 2023 with a 5.14 ERA for the Dodgers and a 4.62 ERA with New York.
They tendered him a contract and brought him to St. Lucie in March.
That led to one of the rarer outcomes in the sport: an actual arbitration case. Bickford and the Mets were at odds over his salary proposal of $900K, while the team believed $815K was fair.
Bickford won, but because the salary was not guaranteed, he would only receive a prorated amount. The Mets released him before the season began.
A few days later, the New York Yankees picked him up. He went on to post an 8.64 ERA in 8.1 innings and has not pitched in the majors since.
That makes Bickford the answer to a quirky trivia question: the most recent player traded between the Mets and Dodgers at the deadline. It is an odd distinction for a player who arrived as a buy for a selling team and never really turned into much of anything. Even with the pedigree of being the 18th overall pick in the 2015 draft - and the 10th overall pick two years earlier when he did not sign - Bickford never lived up to the billing, including for the 2023 Mets, who had very little in August and September.
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