Reese Kaplan -- Hated Mets Relievers Part 1 of 4

Everyone is still gnashing their teeth over the disastrous additions to the 2019 bullpen, but any long term Mets fan can quote any number of equally bad or worse performers coming out of the pen.

The Mets annals are chock full of disastrous trades and free agent signings the club has executed over its 57-year history.  Everyone has a “favorite”, but that’s a discussion for another day.  This time around we’re going to talk about one of the very best trades the Mets ever made (and I’m ducking while saying this). 

In the 1998 off season, when General Manager Steve Phillips wasn't trying to have his way with the front office staff, he sent a sore-armed Todd Hundley packing as part of a three-team deal that brought former Dodgers’ outfielder Roger Cedeno and former Orioles’ closer Armando Benitez to New York with Charles Johnson moving from Los Angelese to Baltimore.  During their first season with their new employers Hundley hit 24 steroid-aided home runs but batted a mere .207.  Johnson hit 16 HRs and played his usual stellar defense while hitting .251.  However, the real winners here (for once, it seems) were the Mets.  Dr. StrangeGlove II, Cedeno, hit .313 with 66 SBs and newly arrived Armando Benitez moved out of necessity from setup guy to closer when Franco hit the DL, pitching in 77 games with a 1.85 ERA, and holding opposing batters to a lowly .171 BAA.  Wow!

So what happened between that great start and the end of Benitez’ Mets career in 2003 to turn him from beloved stud closer into one of the most reviled players ever to don the orange and blue? 

Benitez was always a cardiac kid who walked far too many people and relied much too heavily on his fastball when his splitter was his best pitch.  Yes, he did strike out a ton of people, but you always knew the roof could cave in at any moment.  Still, for his Mets career he pitched to a 2.70 ERA with 160 saves and averaged nearly 12 K’s per 9 IP.  (Of course, we walked 4.4 over that same span as well). 

Prior to becoming a Met, Benitez was involved in a couple of well-documented incidents with the crosstown rival NY Yankees in which he drilled Tino Martinez, the second of which turned into an especially ugly brawl during which the entire Yankee bench went after him with Graeme Lloyd and Darryl Strawberry (then with the Yankees) landing the best blows.  Benitez brought it on himself, taunting Martinez as he took first base and after narrowly escaping into the clubhouse, he earned himself an eight-game suspension.  His temper was one of the reasons the Orioles felt he’d never be mature enough to make it as a closer and thus led to them giving him away to the Mets as part of that deal. 

During his 1999 and 2000 seasons it was almost a honeymoon period for Benitez and the Mets fans, though his great regular season work was overshadowed by his post-season implosions.  First came a bad pitch to Jay Bell during the Arizona playoffs that he slammed for a double that gave the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead.  Fortunately the memorable Todd Pratt walkoff homer had most people forgetting what made those heroics necessary. 

Next came the NLCS against the Braves, a team against whom Benitez did not yield a single Atlanta baserunner during the entire 1999 season.  In Game 6 of that series it was Benitez who picked a fine time in the bottom of the 10^th after the Mets had gone ahead to yield a run on a walk and two hits before giving way to Kenny Rogers who didn’t know when or how to hold ‘em.  It was then the hatred of Benitez took root.

History repeated itself in the same ugly fashion in 2000 when he was given a 4-1 lead to protect in the 9^th, only to serve up a three-run homer to JT Snow to tie the game.  The Mets eventually got the win, but it was the guy he replaced – John Franco – who was the bullpen savior that night. 

The Mets did make it to the World Series that year, but Benitez again served up the go-ahead baserunner, this time in the form of a Paul O’Neill leadoff walk in the bottom of the 9^th, a game the Yankees would eventually win in 12. 

From there the hatred festered and grew.  In 2001 after the September 11^th delay, the Mets fought valiantly to get back into the playoff race and again it was the Braves who stood in their way.  Benitez entered a late September game staked to a 4-1 lead.  He quickly retired the first two batters and it appeared the Mets would move to within 2.5 games of Atlanta.  However, Benitez fell apart, giving up a two-run homer to Brian Jordan, then a walk and two consecutive singles allowed the game to be tied which the Mets then lost in extra innings.

In a scary déjà vu moment in Atlanta shortly thereafter, Benitez was this time handed a 5-1 lead.  He quickly gave up three runs before handing it over to his partner in crime that night, John Franco, who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, coughing up a walkoff grand slam to Brian Jordan. 

After that the Mets no longer made any pretense of trying to shield Benitez from the media and fan acrimony.  He was regarded as a prima donna and exceedingly immature.  The only question is why the Mets tolerated him as long as they did when it was clear he was not capable of responding on the big stage when he was needed most.  In June of 2003 the Mets mercifully traded him away (ironically to the Yankees where he’d caused his early-career problems).  After leaving the Mets, Benitez bounced around with stints in Seattle, Florida (twice), San Francisco and Toronto.  He was never the same pitcher.