Reese Kaplan -- Worst and Best Reliever Trades

Sometimes trades work out and sometimes they don’t.  The Mets have been involved in a couple of rather high-profile trades of relievers during their club’s existence.  As is true in most things in life, you win some and you lose some.

The Big Loss

Let’s start out with one definitely in the loss column, indisputably so.  Do you remember back in the days when Montreal featured a young outfield of Andre Dawson, Warren Cromartie and Ellis Valentine?  It was one of the strongest triumvirates in the league and was truly a head scratcher (or at least a nose scratcher) when they opted to trade star right fielder Ellis Valentine to the Mets for a little used but solid 25-year-old relief pitcher by the name of Jeff Reardon.  

Reardon had gone 10-9 for the Mets over parts of 3 seasons, appearing in 97 games and pitching to a 2.65 ERA.  He’d only racked up 10 saves, so handing him the reins as closer was not a guarantee of future success.  Accompanying him was the never-was Dan Norman who had the misfortune of being part of the package that Cincinnati sent to the Mets for Tom Seaver.  In five years Norman accumulated just 348 ABs with some power – 11 HRs – but just a .227 average.  Valentine had power, speed, featured a cannon of an arm, and had hit .288 as an Expo.  He was just 26 when the trade happened, so it seemed like the Mets had surely pulled on over on GM John McHale and the Expos’ braintrust. 

Little did the Mets know at the time that Valentine was fighting his own demons in the form of a cocaine addiction.  It started after he was hit in the face by a pitch that required him to wear a protective cage over his face to shield his once-shattered cheekbone.  He did finish strongly in 1982, going .327 over the final few months of the season, but the Mets could find no takers and he was allowed to leave as a free agent.  He was never the same hitter after that and he was out of baseball by age 30. 

Though Norman didn’t amount to much in the majors, Jeff Reardon became a mainstay first for the Expos and then for the Twins as a closer.  He finished his 16-year major league career with a 73-77 record, 367 saves and an ERA of just 3.16.  That’s a loss with a capital L on that trade.

The Big Win

This one will surely have many disagreeing with me, but the numbers make the case easily as a huge W for the NY Mets. 

Back in 1984 a little left hander made his rookie debut as a setup guy in the Cincinnati Reds bullpen, going 6-2 over 54 games exclusively in relief, finishing the year with a 2.61 ERA.  That sensational rookie campaign led to him being handed some more responsibility in 1985, finishing the year with 12 saves and an even better 2.18 ERA while going 12-3.  At the ripe old age of 25 he was anointed the Reds’ closer and made his first All Star Game appearance, appearing in 74 games and saving 29 while pitching to a 2.94 ERA.  During his six years in Cincinnati, John Franco saved 148 games, went 42-30 and had an ERA of just 2.49. 

In 1985 through 1989 the Mets had a volatile closer named Randall K. (Randy) Myers who could throw very hard though not always where he intended it to go.  Still, during these five years he went 17-13, racked up 56 saves and had a 2.74 ERA. 

After the 1989 season the Mets and Reds swapped relievers, with the righty Myers joining Rob Dibble and Norm Charlton to form “The Nasty Boys” power arm bullpen, while the softer tossing lefty Franco made his way back to his hometown of New York City. 

During his first year as a member of the Reds, Myers was sensational, pitching to a 2.08 ERA, accumulating 31 saves and making the All Star team for the first time.  John Franco wasn’t exactly chopped liver for the Mets, notching 33 saves, an ERA of 2.53 and also making the All Star team once again. 

Perhaps it was the fact Myers was a couple of years younger or that he had that whole paramilitary thing going for him which made him seem invincible.  However, it was a career that quickly fell into not quite disarray, but never was he able to replicate anything close to that first year in Cincinnati.  In fact, they only held onto him for one more year whereas Franco spent 14 years in a Mets uninform as their closer and then as a setup guy for Armando Benitez. 

When the dust settled on their respective careers, Myers had nothing to be ashamed of.  He pitched for 14 years, saved 347 games and finished with an ERA of 3.19 although with a losing record of 44-63.  Most Mets fans would love to have a guy like that in the pen right now.

Franco crushed him in every stat.  His career was seven years longer, he finished with an ERA of just 2.89 and he saved 424 games (still the most ever by a lefty), more than Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter as well as the aforementioned Jeff Reardon. 

Although he was never beloved the same way Myers was in his brief Mets career, the trade for Franco was a big W for the Mets front office.