The Offseason of the 1973 Mets-A Cautionary Tale

Forty years ago, the Mets entered the offseason as pennant winners. I wasn’t around to be a fan but thought it would be interesting to step into what that experience may have been like for those who were. 

Imagine you’re a Mets fan waking up on the morning October 22^nd 1973. Sure, your favorite team just lost in seven heartbreaking games to the Oakland A’s, but the A’s are a powerhouse, and an 82 win Mets team took them to the limit. 1973 was a wild ride: the Harrelson/Rose fight,knocking off a 99 win Reds squad in a 5 games NLCS, storming back from being 12 games under .500 on August 16^th, 9 games out heading into September, a rash of injuries, and Ya Gotta Believe, yeah Ya Gotta Believe. 

So as a Mets fan, you enter the 1973 offseason bloodied but unbowed. You’re confident that with a couple additions like a power bat at 3B and an upgrade in CF, a healthy Jerry Grote, Cleon Jones, and Buddy Harrelson adding to the core of Rusty Staub, John Milner, and Felix Millan, not to mention the top shelf rotation of Seaver, Matlack, Koosman and Stone-1974 could be “the year.”

Even though you’re five years removed from the ’69 Miracle Mets, on the whole the team is still fairly young.

1b-John Milner 24

2b-Felix Millan 30

SS-Buddy Harrelson 31

3b-Wayne Garrett 26

LF-Cleon Jones 31

CF-Don Hahn 25

RF-Rusty Staub 30

C-Jerry Grote 31

Rotation:

P-Tom Seaver 30

P-Jon Matlack 24

P-Jerry Koosman 31

P-George Stone 27

Since it’s 1973 Free Agency or Arbitration doesn’t exist because you’re in the waning years of the reserve clause era. Players are essentially owned by their team and sign one year contracts, with terms of said contract made by that team’s owner and GM.

Fast forward to December and the Winter Meetings have came and went with no additions to the team. OK.so maybe you can live with Hahn in CF, he does have a strong glove, and well Garrett goes back to the Miracle Mets so, ok, not perfect but maybe something will happen before the New Year.

The only problem is your competition in the NL East, namely the Pirates and Cardinals, were busy at those meetings and beforehand. The Redbirds added Reggie Smith in October and John Curtis as well as the highly touted young hurler Lynn McGlothen from the Red Sox in two separate trades. “Smith, wow, he would’ve been a huge upgrade in CF for us. Why didn’t we go after him?,” you probably would’ve asked yourself.  You're also thinking that Hahn’s bat might come around and if not you do have Rich Chiles as well as Dave Schneck too. Heck they’re all under 25. One of them will emerge.

As for their other arch-rival? The 1973 Pirates endured the tragic death of Roberto Clemente, the failed experiment of Manny Sanguillen in Right Field and the implosion of their ace Steve Blass. To remedy this the Bucs put the misery of ’73 behind them by bolstering their rotation with the additions of Ken Brett and Jerry Reuss from the Phillies and Astro’s. They’re good pitchers but the Mets staff is still the class of the division.

That pitching could be enough too, especially if the starting nine perform up to their expectations. 

“Hammer” Milner smacked 23 roundtrippers with 74 ribbies last season. You’ve gotta believe he has legit shot of 30 HR’s with 85-90 driven in this upcoming season. At 2B, Millan really solidified the position, hitting .290 in ’73, and with everyone healthy again he possibly could score 100 Runs and hit .300. Buddy’s the glue of the team at SS, he just needs to stay healthy, and after two-injury plagued years he’s due for a healthy one. If he can get close to what he was in 1971, then that’s an All-Star SS right there. It would’ve been great to have upgraded at the hot corner, it’s been a problem for way too many years now. But maybe Garrett’s finally figured it out. He’s shaky with the glove but you can’t argue with 16 longballs. That’s the most from a Mets 3B since Charley Smith knocked 16 out of the park way back in 1965. Wayne should hit 20 this year.

A healthy Rusty Staub in RF made a huge contribution to the pennant winners. His power’s dipped  

some, but he’s still only a few seasons removed from hitting 30 HRs. CF seems to be a glaring weakness. The “Say Hey Kid” has retired and now Don Hahn has the position all to himself. Smith, among others would’ve been a great addition here. But Hahn’s slick with the glove and that can never be undervalued.-especially on a pitching dependent team like the Mets. Like Harrelson, a healthy Cleon Jones is crucial to a repeat pennant in 1974. He’s been bit by the injury bug the past couple of seasons and like his Miracle Met teammate at SS, the LF is still in his prime at 31 and should stay healthy, bouncing back to around his 1971 numbers.

Behind the plate it would be great to get another 30-40 games out of the back-stop Jerry Grote. He’s incredibly underrated, but keeping on the field has always been a challenge since 1971 as well. Dyer needs to step it up behind him because this kid Hodges looked good when he played last season.

As for the pitching, nothing to worry about there, it’s easily the class of the division, and the league as well. Possibly that team in the green and gold is the only one to match the Mets starting four. All are capable of 20 wins: Seasver, Koosman, Matlack, Stone. 

Parker and Sadecki do a nice

job when the team needs a 5^th starter but this kid Capra could challenge

and overtake them this coming season. Adding him to the formidable four in front would make the Mets, even if the hitters regressed, difficult to beat.

Tug had a weird season but closed strong. He and the two swingmen mentioned above do a nice job of supporting the starters, when they need it, out in the bullpen.

After coming so close against a more talented A’s team. As a Mets fan you would’ve really had to like this team’s chances of hoisting another pennant above Shea and possibly capturing their first World Series ring since the Miracle Mets of ‘69. Much of the core of that team is still in its prime, and having a healthy Jones, Harrelson, and Grote will at the very least make taking the pennant away from the defending the 1973 champs a difficult task for the powerful Pirates and pesky Cards.   

As the calendar turned to 1974, and winter turned to spring you would’ve been pretty excited about the upcoming season. It held a lot of promise.

Instead it was a disaster.

Unfortunately, it all unraveled quickly in 1974. The team stumbled to a 3-11 start and unlike the 1973 squad this one didn’t rebound. How bad was it? Their high water mark was 17-19 after back to back shutouts of the Expos. They finished 71-91.

1974 turned into the last hurrah for much of the’69 holdovers. That offesason the purge began with the trading of McGraw, Dyer, and Boswell. Jones and his “love van” was released early in ‘75. The window of opportunity for another ring for the ’69 crew was closing fast. After a promising 86 win season in 1976 and the disastrous Seaver trade it had slammed shut.