Reese Kaplan -- Trades: When GMs Get it Right

During the Mets 57-year history there have been any number of transactions the club has made that have blown up in their face.  You need look no further than the thus far unrewarding Robinson Cano acquisition (including 5 years of financial obligation) while Jared Kelenic is on fire in the Mariners’ minors.  Today, however, I’d like to take a different tack and look at what deals the club has made that were clearly in the win column. 

The rules for this exercise in positivity are simple.  The players acquired should have come over in trade and not been mere free agent acquisitions.  To quality you have to look at a lopsided history that clearly favors the Mets.  A deal like Carlos Beltran for Zack Wheeler would not be on this list as Beltran was a productive player for several years after departing the Mets while Wheeler has yet to string together two in a row. 

In the 1960s perhaps the Tommie Agee and Al Weis acquisition from the White Sox would be a good qualifier.  They did give up a couple of credible pieces in Tommy Davis and Jack Fisher, but both were pretty much done after two years with Davis having averaged just .267 as his last few years as a starting player and Fisher having gone from a 2.99 ERA to north of 5.00 in his second and final season.  Agee was a mainstay for the Mets for several years and Al Weiss played a memorable part in the 1969 World Series.

In the 1970s the Mets sent one of their young star pitchers, Gary Gentry, to Atlanta just in the nick of time.  After making a single start, he was off to the disabled list.  He was accompanied by Danny Frisella, who forgot how to be a quality reliever once he got to Fulton County.  He, of course, was tragically killed at a young age in a dune buggy accident.  In return the Mets got starter George Stone who kind of came from out of nowhere to pitch to a 12-3 record with a 2.80 ERA.  He never did so again, but he helped the surprising 1973 squad go to the World Series.  The longer term benefit of this deal was the arrival of Felix Millan who anchored second base for nearly five years.

In the 1980s the club went from the bottom to the top through a combination of good young ballplayers who came through the farm system and through some shrewd acquisitions.  While a case could be made for Gary Carter transforming the team, the fact is to get him the Mets had to give up some quality players in Hubie Brooks who would play for another ten years, Mike Fitzgerald who served the Expos well for seven years, Floyd Youmans whose promising career was cut short by both substance abuse issues and shoulder problems, and Herm Winningham who spent 9 years in the big leagues with speed being his primary weapon.  However, his teammate Keith Herandez was an even more lopsided deal in which the Mets gave up alcohol-abusing Neil Allen and minor leaguer Rick Ownbey to get the All Star first baseman.  Allen struggled for several more years but never again could handle closing duties while Ownbey only made it up again for a 4-start trial for the Cardinals. 

The 1990s Mets teams were mostly bad but there were some highlights, including the steal of the century when the Mets obtained three-year stellar first baseman John Olerud from the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher Robert Person whose subsequent best season north of the border included a 5.51 ERA.  All Olerud did for the Mets was average .315 with 21 HRs and 97 RBIs per year for his 1997 through 1997 stint in Queens. 

In the 2000s the year opened with the deal that brought Mike Hampton and Derek Bell to the Mets, both of whom were instrumental in the charge towards the World Series.  However, the Mets gave up Octavio Dotel in that deal who lasted a lot longer than either of these other two talents.  Some might point to the Al Leiter deal but the Mets gave up A.J. Burnett who was just as valuable to the Marlins.  Although they gave up some quality in Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit (who is STILL pitching), the Mets obtained cleanup hitter Carlos Delgado who delivered 38 HRs and 114 RBIs in his inaugural NY Mets campaign.  However, just as strong a case could be made that Johan Santana’s acquisition was the real winner with only Carlos Gomez (ironically now again a Met) the only piece leaving town who amounted to much.  I’d give the nod to Delgado.

This decade has been earmarked by a great many salary dump deals and a lot of inertia on the trade front.  The R.A. Dickey deal which brought Noah Syndergaard and former Met Travis d’Arnaud would certainly be a good consideration given that Dickey never again approached his Cy Young level of performance. 

So which Mets trades were the best heists by the GMs in place at the time?