Jeff Passan has hilarious reaction to now-deleted fake Kris Bryant trade tweet that went viral

A fake Kris Bryant trade went viral with just an hour before the MLB Trade Deadline expired on Friday, and Jeff Passan wants you to know it’s not his fault. 

A basic rule of Twitter is always be careful of what you see.

That’s generally a good rule for life, and in the era of Anti-Facters, but it’s especially true on days like the MLB Trade Deadline. Diligent fans are always on the lookout for. fake Schefter or Woj, and it sounds like we need to add a fake Passan to the ESPN trifecta of insiders.

It’s almost like an initiation of sorts, having your Twitter account faked so that thousands of eager fans and reporters can be duped with a few keystrokes and a tap of a thumb.

That’s what happened on Friday, as a fake Jeff Passan account tweeted out that the Yankees were trading for Chicago Cubs star Kirs Bryant. One the surface, the deal made absolutely zero sense. The Yankees had just traded for Anthony Rizzo and moved two of their top prospects to make the deal happen. What more did the Yankees have to offer that would exceed the deal that landed them Rizzo — Bryant’s teammate in Chicago.

But it sounded good.

A fake tweet is like a flame; don’t give it oxygen and it’ll die. In the case of the fake Bryant tweet, reporters like Jesse Rogers and Bob Nightengale huffed and puffed a nice gust of amplification that spread the fake trade across Twitter.

Passan knew his good name was being besmirched and wanted to set the record straight.

From his coverage of the MLB Trade Deadline to the fun personality he has on Twitter, to things like his passionate defense of Shohei Ohtani to the face of Stephan A. Smith on First Take, Passan is very quickly becoming everyone’s favorite MLB reporter.