Reese Kaplan -- MLB Hitters Who Thrived Post-Mets

On Saturday we discussed a couple of pitchers who didn’t fare too well with the New York Mets while given multiple opportunities to bring across some wins.  After all, the Mets were known primarily for their rich history of pitching and it is always somewhat surprising to see guys who struggle then turn around to flourish once they catch a jet plane out of LaGuardia.  

By contrast, the club has not enjoyed nearly as much success on the offensive side of the register with a great many players coming to the Mets with a great reputation and then face-planting upon their arrival.  For example, do the lack of achievements of ex Indians Carlos Baerga and Roberto Alomar remind anyone how painful it is to become a Met?

Every now and then there are guys who did either poorly or who functioned at a good but not great level who take leave of the Mets and then kick it up several degrees.  Two immediate examples that come to mind are still playing (as if we had MLB games to enjoy).

Justin Turner was an extra man in the lineup, utility work and bench player, but never a firm starter for the Mets.  He had come over to Queens from the Baltimore Orioles by way of the Cincinnati Reds who drafted him originally.  The Mets took a chance on him when the Orioles put him on waivers after he didn’t produce at the major league level.  He had hit in three straight years in the minors for the Reds, .300 averages with modest power and speed, but in his two brief Oriole trials he hit .300 for the 4th straight season as a 24 year old in AAA but was sub-Mendoza in parts of the next two years.  Baltimore kicked him out of town.

With the Mets he was a bit better, hitting .260, .269 and .280 in a variety of playing roles during his three-year occupancy of a Mets roster spot.  Note that the numbers were produced that way, increasing each year.  Still, the sometimes questionable front office decided he was a little too playful and not dedicated to the dignity of the game, so at age 28 he was sent packing, non-tendered when he stood to make about $800K.  

Off he went to the Dodgers and it became painful Mets history.  During his six years there he is a career .302 hitter with renewed power as primarily a third baseman.  He had made an All Star appearance and thrice been in the top 14 MVP voting.  Ouch. 

A similar career trajectory evolved with the positional challenge, Daniel Murphy.  He was a very popular player with the Mets and had worked his way around from 2B to 1B with limited appearances at 3B and in the outfield.  What was indeed making him valuable was his seven-year batting average with the Mets of .288 with a best-ever output of 14 HRs and best-ever production of 78 RBIs while stealing as many as 23 bases in a season.  Those are very nice numbers but not great, though he did land on the All Star Team from the Mets during a losing year of 2014 when the team was just 79 and 83.  

By the time he was ready to hit free agency, the Mets lived in fear of the league’s QO -- the Qualifying Offer -- which would have netted them back a high draft pick had they extended one to Murphy and he declined to remain in the orange and blue.  They let him go for absolutely nothing and in his first year with the Washington Nationals (as part of a $37 million deal) he was second in the league in MVP voting.  His surprising power in the 2015 post-season was just the beginning for Murphy as his 2016 rookie season in Washington, DC included a .347 AVG with 25 HRs and 104 RBIs worth 4.5 WAR.  In his second season he dipped to a mere .322 and was traded in the middle of year three to the Cubbies when he was struggling to hit .299.  From there he moved onto Colorado where he kind of struggled in his first year between injuries and age catching up a bit.  He was hitting similar to his Mets days but is earning an average of $10 million per year for three years, two more yet to come.  

A lot of noise is being made about future baseball stars like Jarred Kelenic who went as part of the thus far poor trade to Seattle initiated by BVW to bring aging PED abuser Robinson Cano and former studly closer Edwin Diaz to the Mets.  Kelenic did very nicely across multiple levels in 2019, finishing with 23 HRs and a .291 batting average, though his production tapered off significantly the higher he went in the Mariners organization.  

Are there any other highly productive hitters you can point to in baseball today who were major flubs for the Mets?