There's nothing like that feeling of going to sleep, knowing that, when you wake up, there will be presents to open around a tree...or waiting until dinner is finished and candles are lit to open that evenings' present. Met fans are no different- we enjoy presents just like the next person...maybe, in fact, a bit too much. And maybe that's because most of the presents we've unwrapped over the years were never quite as good as they seemed...now, imagine going to sleep, waking up only to find lumps of coal in your stockings, and gobs of ripped sweat-socks under your tree - and you'd understand what most Met fans have felt like, over the years, after unwrapping their newest players...
Since it 'tis the season and all, let's look at some players who looked like shiny new presents once upon a time, only to end up as re-gifted lumps of coal...
Since it 'tis the season and all, let's look at some players who looked like shiny new presents once upon a time, only to end up as re-gifted lumps of coal...
Jim FregosiEvery time an Art Howe wants to move a Mike Piazza to first base or an Art Howe (there's that name again) wants to move a Jose Reyes to second, I fall into a cold sweat, my palms get moist and I have flashbacks to 1972, when the Mets traded Nolan Ryan & prospects to the Angels for Shortstop, Jim Fregosi. That's right- "shortstop" - although for some reason the Mets' brain-trust at the time felt like they could move an out-of-shape Fregosi to the "hot corner" simply because they needed him there. Not exactly great planning, nor use of logic, but that's why this will always rank as one of the worst trades of all time. Now, to be fair, Fregosi was a perennial all-star, but at SHORTSTOP!!! Most baseball "experts" at the time were quite surprised at the speed of the demise of Fregosi's skills, particularly since he was an all-star as recently as 1970. However, coming off of a season (1971) in which he had a tumor removed from his foot, and having to learn a new position (3B) on the fly, the odds were stacked against Fregosi from the start. Fregosi was the Mets second attempt in 2 years to trade young prospects for an older player to mind the "hot corner" - they had already sent outfielder Amos Otis to Kansas City in exchange for Joe Foy, who, while filled with potential, couldn't keep his head together and was out of baseball after the 1971 season due to problems with drugs. That left yet another hole at third for a team that just couldn't seem to fill that gaping wound- and in Fregosi, sadly, the team failed yet again. Hurt again (thumb), Fregosi only got into 101 games in 1972, with 382 at-bats, 5 home runs, 32 RBI's and a .232 batting average, almost identical to his numbers from 1971 with the Angels. By the middle of the '73 season, Fregosi was sold to the Texas Rangers, and unlike the rest of the players on this list, he never had a single decent season in a Met uniform. Meanwhile, Ryan was taming his wildness, with the help of catcher Jeff Torborg, manager Del Rice and pitching coach Tom Morgan. Ryan was no longer enamored of the "big city" and wanted a trade, but in those days it's not like a player had any leverage short of retiring - and a flame-throwing young arm should certainly be worth more then an old, breaking-down shortstop! To be fair, no one believed that Ryan's wildness would so soon be harnessed in a way that allowed him to set a record by pitching for 27 years and winding up a Hall-of-Famer, but by trading him, along with a decent bat in Stanton, for what amounted to a year and a half rental of Fregosi, the Mets would forever be haunted by his accomplishments and the questions of "what might have been"...
George Foster
Imagine how crazy Met fans would get today if we acquired an outfielder who had hit 52 home runs and knocked in 149 runs while winning the NL MVP 4 years earlier?? In the prime of his career, at the age of 33??? Coming from an organization (the Cincinnati Reds) steeped in tradition and recognized as one of the best dynasties of all time?? That's right- we'd be skeptical, call him over-paid and over-rated, and wait for the bottom to fall out! But it wasn't always that way- in fact, when the Mets acquired Foster from the Reds in exchange for pitchers Greg Harris & Jim Kern, and catcher Alex Trevino, most Met fans thought we'd finally received our payback for the Seaver to Cincinnati trade.
Imagine how crazy Met fans would get today if we acquired an outfielder who had hit 52 home runs and knocked in 149 runs while winning the NL MVP 4 years earlier?? In the prime of his career, at the age of 33??? Coming from an organization (the Cincinnati Reds) steeped in tradition and recognized as one of the best dynasties of all time?? That's right- we'd be skeptical, call him over-paid and over-rated, and wait for the bottom to fall out! But it wasn't always that way- in fact, when the Mets acquired Foster from the Reds in exchange for pitchers Greg Harris & Jim Kern, and catcher Alex Trevino, most Met fans thought we'd finally received our payback for the Seaver to Cincinnati trade.
GM Frank Cashen certainly made a huge splash, signing Foster to a five-year, $10 million dollar contract, the richest in the sport at that time. The Reds had lost stalwart catcher, Johnny Bench, to retirement, and were in desperate need of a quality defensive backstop, which they believed they found in Trevino. Additionally, their pitching was thin, so the additions of reliever Kern and potential young starter Harris made sense, at least to Met fans who were shocked at the acquisition of such an esteemed player for, it seemed, so little in exchange. We all know now that, short of matching his MVP numbers, Foster had an impossible, uphill battle in living up to the hype in New York. Admittedly, his first season in pinstripes, 1982, was a huge let-down, as in 151 games and 550 at-bats, Foster hit a paltry 13 home runs and knocked in a mere 70 runs, while batting .247 (of particular note now is how precipitously his slugging average dropped from '81 to '82 - from .519 to .367.) Foster did bounce back in 1983 and '84, hitting 28 and 24 homers, knocking in 90 and 86 runs, respectively, the centerpiece of line-ups that offered the right-hander little to no protection. Most alarming, however, was his continued gain in strike-outs while producing lower slugging percentages and batting averages. At his best, Foster only hit more than 26 doubles on 2 occasions, and as he got older, he was able to muscle balls out of the park but had more and more trouble putting balls into play, hence his lowered batting averages, slugging percentages, etc.
Acquiring Foster was a necessary move by Cashen, who had inherited a team that was long-in-the-tooth, possessed a middling minor league system, at best, and had kept mediocre players due to sentiment far too long to be a competitive team (sound familiar?). He bought the team time, until they were able to assemble what became the championship team in 1986; by that time, Foster had worn out his welcome, as, right or wrong, he no longer seemed to fit in the clubhouse with the new breed of Mets that had taken over the team. Foster was waived, and claimed by the Chicago White Sox, where he played in 15 games before being waived again. While Foster did receive a partial World Series share from the '86 team, his name is not usually remembered when that team is discussed. His time on the Mets served a purpose, but in never living up to the expectations fans had for him, right or wrong, to Met fans, his name will always be mud...
Bret Saberhagen
What year was it? Was it an one that ended in an odd number, or one that ended in an even one? Because depending upon your answer, you'd either see a very un-hittable Bret Saberhagen, who was almost Sandy Koufax-incarnate; otherwise, if you answered wrong, you'd get a decent, yet unspectacular right-hander who'd keep you in games, but wouldn't be dominant too often. This every-other-year-jinx was never figured out, but Saberhagen remained one of the most dominant, if confusing, pitchers in the American League. Named to the all-star team in '87, '90 and '95, and winning the Cy Young in '85 and '89, you'd think he'd have finished with a winning record better then 167 - 117 after 16 seasons; while his lifetime ERA was a respectable 3.34 and his WHIP an excellent 1.14, he only won 20 games twice and had but one excellent year as a Met, the strike-shortened (of course) 1994 season.
Of course, the entire Saberhagen-Jeffries-McReynolds trade featured a heaping helping of disappointment in a single deal- Gregg Jeffries, the one-time wunderkind of hitting whose career never came close to expectations; Kevin McReynolds, who was mainly guilty of being laid-back in a fast-paced town; and Saberhagen, who went a pedestrian 29-21 over 4 seasons and was featured in the less-then-flattering book about the '92 Mets, Bob Klapisch's "The Worst Team Money Could Buy." It's hard to say how much better Saberhagen's record would have been in 1994, as he was 14-4 in 24 games, with a 2.74 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP during a season that ended due to a strike in early August, depriving Saberhagen of at least 10 additional starts and a shot at a third 20-win season. Yet another player who never quite reached the same heights once donning the orange-and-blue...(oh yeah- for those wondering- if you guessed "odd" year seasons, you win the giant bottle of bleach- a story for yet another day...)
Of course, the entire Saberhagen-Jeffries-McReynolds trade featured a heaping helping of disappointment in a single deal- Gregg Jeffries, the one-time wunderkind of hitting whose career never came close to expectations; Kevin McReynolds, who was mainly guilty of being laid-back in a fast-paced town; and Saberhagen, who went a pedestrian 29-21 over 4 seasons and was featured in the less-then-flattering book about the '92 Mets, Bob Klapisch's "The Worst Team Money Could Buy." It's hard to say how much better Saberhagen's record would have been in 1994, as he was 14-4 in 24 games, with a 2.74 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP during a season that ended due to a strike in early August, depriving Saberhagen of at least 10 additional starts and a shot at a third 20-win season. Yet another player who never quite reached the same heights once donning the orange-and-blue...(oh yeah- for those wondering- if you guessed "odd" year seasons, you win the giant bottle of bleach- a story for yet another day...)
Bobby Bonilla
Bobby Bo, Bobby Bo, Bobby Bo...it wasn't bad enough that he had two tours of duty with the Mets, but, beginning in 2011, the Mets are on the hook for $1.19 million dollars each and every season until the year 2035. How did this happen? Well, sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started on a polluted port, on a Flushing, Queens-bound ship...
Bonilla was perhaps the centerpiece of Klapisch's book, and at 5 years and $29 million dollars, he was certainly deserving of the double-edged-sword that being in the spotlight in Queens brought. Without the protection of all-stars Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke around him, Bonilla had one good season - 1993 - with 34 home runs and 84 RBI's, but an average of only .265 and a slugging percentage of .522, fourth-highest in his career. Bonilla would never reach such numbers as a Met again, and after wearing out his welcome mid-way through the '95 season was traded to Baltimore for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa, a top outfield prospect who, yet again, never got close to living up to his potential.
After 1.5 excellent seasons in Baltimore, he signed as a free agent with the Marlins and old manager, Jim Leyland, winning the 1997 World Series but costing the team too much salary under former owner Wayne Huizenga's austerity plan (win a championship, gut the team), and Bo-Bo was on the move once more, to the Dodgers this time. This lasted an entire season, until the Mets, under GM Steve Philips, couldn't do without Bobby and traded reliever Mel Rojas for the chance to acquire the malcontent a second time.
Amazingly, Bonilla's second tour of duty as a Met was even worse then the first - it ended with Bonilla in manager Bobby Valentine's doghouse, in an incident that could very conservatively be called "unprofessional." In sum, the Mets made it to the NL Championship Series, versus the hated Atlanta Braves; in the deciding game 6, while the Mets were being eliminated during a heart-breaking, 11-inning loss, Bonilla was playing cards in the clubhouse with Rickey Henderson. That was the last straw, and before the 2000 season began, the Mets put Bonilla on waivers, owing him the remainder of his long-term contract, some $5.9 million, which they agreed to defer, hence the 25 years of payments at $1.19 per beginning in mid-2011. So Bonilla is the "gift" that keeps on giving for the Mets - and next year, when newly signed reliever DJ Carrasco takes the mound, know that he will make the same amount for playing that Bonilla will for sitting at home- but he's only got a 2-year guarantee, while Bonilla's will last another 25...
Bonilla was perhaps the centerpiece of Klapisch's book, and at 5 years and $29 million dollars, he was certainly deserving of the double-edged-sword that being in the spotlight in Queens brought. Without the protection of all-stars Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke around him, Bonilla had one good season - 1993 - with 34 home runs and 84 RBI's, but an average of only .265 and a slugging percentage of .522, fourth-highest in his career. Bonilla would never reach such numbers as a Met again, and after wearing out his welcome mid-way through the '95 season was traded to Baltimore for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa, a top outfield prospect who, yet again, never got close to living up to his potential.
After 1.5 excellent seasons in Baltimore, he signed as a free agent with the Marlins and old manager, Jim Leyland, winning the 1997 World Series but costing the team too much salary under former owner Wayne Huizenga's austerity plan (win a championship, gut the team), and Bo-Bo was on the move once more, to the Dodgers this time. This lasted an entire season, until the Mets, under GM Steve Philips, couldn't do without Bobby and traded reliever Mel Rojas for the chance to acquire the malcontent a second time.
Amazingly, Bonilla's second tour of duty as a Met was even worse then the first - it ended with Bonilla in manager Bobby Valentine's doghouse, in an incident that could very conservatively be called "unprofessional." In sum, the Mets made it to the NL Championship Series, versus the hated Atlanta Braves; in the deciding game 6, while the Mets were being eliminated during a heart-breaking, 11-inning loss, Bonilla was playing cards in the clubhouse with Rickey Henderson. That was the last straw, and before the 2000 season began, the Mets put Bonilla on waivers, owing him the remainder of his long-term contract, some $5.9 million, which they agreed to defer, hence the 25 years of payments at $1.19 per beginning in mid-2011. So Bonilla is the "gift" that keeps on giving for the Mets - and next year, when newly signed reliever DJ Carrasco takes the mound, know that he will make the same amount for playing that Bonilla will for sitting at home- but he's only got a 2-year guarantee, while Bonilla's will last another 25...
Kaz Matsui
Kaz Matsui was the first Japanese infielder to sign with a major league team, when GM Jim Duquette signed him in 2003 amidst great fanfare, on the heals of the Yankees' having signed Japanese outfielder Hideki Matsui one year prior. Not only were the 2 players not related, but once again, the Yankees chose the "correct" Matsui, as their outfielder went on to play 7 great seasons for them and led them to a World Series victory. Kaz never quite lived up to Hideki's accomplishments - in fact, he never came close to being the player most fans and Met executives alike expected when he was originally signed.
His offensive stats in the US never came close to those he put up in Japan; his fielding, which was supposed to be his strong-suit, having won four Gold Glove awards in Japan, also let him, and the Mets, down. His arrival caused manager Art Howe to move top prospect Jose Reyes from short to second, which not only cut his season short (due to injuries playing out of position) but screwed up the team's defense up the middle, as Matsui (who made it a condition of his signing that he would start at shortstop) made numerous errors, in addition to failing to make much of an impression at bat. By the end of the 2004 season, Reyes had moved back to short, Matsui was penciled in as the second baseman for 2005, and both the Mets GM and manager were fired. Sadly, Matsui's first season was also his best, which is damning him with feint praise. He hit .272 with 7 homers, 44 RBI, 14 stolen bases, 40 walks, 97 strike-outs and an on-base percentage of .331 - pedestrian stats, at best, and certainly not those of an all-star.
By the middle of 2005, Matsui was part of a 3-man platoon at second base; by mid-2006, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies for Eli Marrero; by 2010, Matsui had been released by the Astros, signed to a minor league deal by the Rockies, and upon season's end, was headed back to Japan to play for the Rakuten Eagles in 2011. Matsui represented the Mets biggest gamble in the Japanese market, and it was a complete failure, sadly, as he was a colorful character and could have owned the town had his stats been closer to fellow countryman Ichiro'Suzuki's instead of resembling those of former Met second baseman Doug Flynn.
One more case of playing multiple players out of position, and one more case of a player failing to live up to his past glories once arriving in Queens...only Matsui's journey was far longer then the rest of the players on this list...
His offensive stats in the US never came close to those he put up in Japan; his fielding, which was supposed to be his strong-suit, having won four Gold Glove awards in Japan, also let him, and the Mets, down. His arrival caused manager Art Howe to move top prospect Jose Reyes from short to second, which not only cut his season short (due to injuries playing out of position) but screwed up the team's defense up the middle, as Matsui (who made it a condition of his signing that he would start at shortstop) made numerous errors, in addition to failing to make much of an impression at bat. By the end of the 2004 season, Reyes had moved back to short, Matsui was penciled in as the second baseman for 2005, and both the Mets GM and manager were fired. Sadly, Matsui's first season was also his best, which is damning him with feint praise. He hit .272 with 7 homers, 44 RBI, 14 stolen bases, 40 walks, 97 strike-outs and an on-base percentage of .331 - pedestrian stats, at best, and certainly not those of an all-star.
By the middle of 2005, Matsui was part of a 3-man platoon at second base; by mid-2006, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies for Eli Marrero; by 2010, Matsui had been released by the Astros, signed to a minor league deal by the Rockies, and upon season's end, was headed back to Japan to play for the Rakuten Eagles in 2011. Matsui represented the Mets biggest gamble in the Japanese market, and it was a complete failure, sadly, as he was a colorful character and could have owned the town had his stats been closer to fellow countryman Ichiro'Suzuki's instead of resembling those of former Met second baseman Doug Flynn.
One more case of playing multiple players out of position, and one more case of a player failing to live up to his past glories once arriving in Queens...only Matsui's journey was far longer then the rest of the players on this list...
Pedro Martinez
Pedro Martinez's signing was not a failure- let me get that out of the way before we get started with our final entrant onto this list. In fact, Pedro's signing HAD to happen, in order for the Mets to become relevant again in a quick fashion under new GM Omar Minaya, as signing Pedro was the lynch-pin for all of Minaya's off-season moves yet to come. Without Pedro, it's doubtful that Minaya would have been able to convince not only all-star outfielder Carlos Beltran to sign with the team, but even heralded Latin American free agent prospects like Fernando Martinez and Deolis Guerra allegedly chose the Mets because of Martinez' decision to join the orange and blue brigade.
Pedro received a 4-year, $53 million dollar contract to leave the Red Sox, after taking Boston to their first World Series victory in 86 long years. He arrived in New York to great fanfare, and his jersey immediately became a top seller, both in New York and in baseball in general. Sadly, like Matsui, Pedro's first season in Queens was also his best season in Queens, going 15-8 with a 2.82 ERA and a WHIP of 0.94. Pedro became the heart and soul of the team, and in 2006, a return to greatness for the team was not only expected, it was demanded by a fan-base that had grown fed up with losing or coming in second place, like they did in 1999 to the Braves and, even worse, like they did in 2000 in losing the World Series to the hated cross-town Yankees. Here was the now beloved Pedro, enemy of those same Yankees, pitching for the Mets just like he had the Sox, poised to lead the best Queens had assembled in exactly 20 years to the World Series victory that was destined to be theirs! Until it wasn't...
The 2006 team did quite well, going 97-65, winning the division by a decisive 12 games over the Phillies. They swept the Dodgers, the team that Martinez came up with, 3 games to none, and were poised to beat the Cardinals in a best of 7 series on their way to the World Series and the Detroit Tigers...except, they didn't, losing to the Cards in 7 games, the best finish the team has had since, and perhaps the last moments of glory that Martinez had with the team. Pedro started out like gang-busters, going 5-1 with ERA of 2.50, with 88 k's, 17 walks and only 44 hits in his first 76 innings. In fact, the Mets' bullpen had cost Pedro at least another 2 victories in the early season, one that would most definitely see Pedro win yet another Cy Young award - only he didn't, as a change of undershirt (ordered by the umpires vs. the Marlins) caused Pedro to fall and hurt his hip, which while not stopping him from pitching, compromised his motion enough that he ended up going 4-7 with a 7.10 ERA and 2 separate stints on the DL. An MRI taken in mid-September brought the worst news of all- Pedro had suffered a torn muscle in his left calf and a torn rotator cuff. The resulting surgery left him on the sidelines for almost all of 2007, and left Met fans wondering just how easily the team would have cruised to a World Series title had Pedro remained healthy the entire season.
Pedro came back earlier then expected, as he was able to pitch a number of games in September of 2007, leading to high expectations for the 2008 season. That, too, was not to be. In fact, I attended his first appearance of the 2008 season, sitting 4 rows behind the Marlins dug-out, in Florida, having taken in the last 2 games of the Spring Training season and Johan Santana's first game as a Met in the season's opening game. Pedro didn't look too great to begin with, but in the 4th inning, he felt a pop in his hamstring and came out of the game, not coming back for another 2 months, at which time he didn't have his usual nasty repertoire of pitches, and finished an un-Pedro-like 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA in his only losing season.
Pedro's tenure as a Met was finished, as he signed mid-way through the 2009 season with the Phillies, helping their march to the World Series, where the Yankees, Pedro's old nemesis, got the best of him this time and beat the Phillies in 6 games. He ended up with a 32-23 record, not much different then Saberhagen; his ERA was 3.88, mostly due to his injuries; but his legacy was one of hope, and he was a joy for Met fans to watch and cheer. It's truly sad that his final seasons with us were so marred by injury, the main reason he appears on this list, as he was no longer able to replicate his many amazing seasons with the Red Sox and Expos.
Yet another case of too little, too late...
Pedro received a 4-year, $53 million dollar contract to leave the Red Sox, after taking Boston to their first World Series victory in 86 long years. He arrived in New York to great fanfare, and his jersey immediately became a top seller, both in New York and in baseball in general. Sadly, like Matsui, Pedro's first season in Queens was also his best season in Queens, going 15-8 with a 2.82 ERA and a WHIP of 0.94. Pedro became the heart and soul of the team, and in 2006, a return to greatness for the team was not only expected, it was demanded by a fan-base that had grown fed up with losing or coming in second place, like they did in 1999 to the Braves and, even worse, like they did in 2000 in losing the World Series to the hated cross-town Yankees. Here was the now beloved Pedro, enemy of those same Yankees, pitching for the Mets just like he had the Sox, poised to lead the best Queens had assembled in exactly 20 years to the World Series victory that was destined to be theirs! Until it wasn't...
The 2006 team did quite well, going 97-65, winning the division by a decisive 12 games over the Phillies. They swept the Dodgers, the team that Martinez came up with, 3 games to none, and were poised to beat the Cardinals in a best of 7 series on their way to the World Series and the Detroit Tigers...except, they didn't, losing to the Cards in 7 games, the best finish the team has had since, and perhaps the last moments of glory that Martinez had with the team. Pedro started out like gang-busters, going 5-1 with ERA of 2.50, with 88 k's, 17 walks and only 44 hits in his first 76 innings. In fact, the Mets' bullpen had cost Pedro at least another 2 victories in the early season, one that would most definitely see Pedro win yet another Cy Young award - only he didn't, as a change of undershirt (ordered by the umpires vs. the Marlins) caused Pedro to fall and hurt his hip, which while not stopping him from pitching, compromised his motion enough that he ended up going 4-7 with a 7.10 ERA and 2 separate stints on the DL. An MRI taken in mid-September brought the worst news of all- Pedro had suffered a torn muscle in his left calf and a torn rotator cuff. The resulting surgery left him on the sidelines for almost all of 2007, and left Met fans wondering just how easily the team would have cruised to a World Series title had Pedro remained healthy the entire season.
Pedro came back earlier then expected, as he was able to pitch a number of games in September of 2007, leading to high expectations for the 2008 season. That, too, was not to be. In fact, I attended his first appearance of the 2008 season, sitting 4 rows behind the Marlins dug-out, in Florida, having taken in the last 2 games of the Spring Training season and Johan Santana's first game as a Met in the season's opening game. Pedro didn't look too great to begin with, but in the 4th inning, he felt a pop in his hamstring and came out of the game, not coming back for another 2 months, at which time he didn't have his usual nasty repertoire of pitches, and finished an un-Pedro-like 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA in his only losing season.
Pedro's tenure as a Met was finished, as he signed mid-way through the 2009 season with the Phillies, helping their march to the World Series, where the Yankees, Pedro's old nemesis, got the best of him this time and beat the Phillies in 6 games. He ended up with a 32-23 record, not much different then Saberhagen; his ERA was 3.88, mostly due to his injuries; but his legacy was one of hope, and he was a joy for Met fans to watch and cheer. It's truly sad that his final seasons with us were so marred by injury, the main reason he appears on this list, as he was no longer able to replicate his many amazing seasons with the Red Sox and Expos.
Yet another case of too little, too late...
These players all have one thing in common- they let down the hopes of Met fans at one time or another. Except for Pedro, injuries really weren't an excuse - sadly, poor performance came in all sizes and shapes for a Met team that just never seemed to get that "lucky break" when they overpaid for a player, either via the contracts they signed them to or, in the case of Fregosi, in the form of the players they gave up in exchange. Only the Mets can compound attitude problems by bringing back the same player a second time (Bonilla) - and, sadly, Bonilla is the lump of coal that "keeps on giving" as he's still on the payroll for the next 25 years, as we said, at about $1.19 mil per season...so, Virginia, it looks like there will be some coal in your stocking for another quarter century!!!
(Let's hope that, by 2012 at the latest, we'll see the current practice of fiscal restraint start to pay off and we can put things like these lists to rest once and for all...or until the next time the Mets go through another period like this...)
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