Remember 1969 - Mets Trades Through the Years: Who Won? 1997

 

Mets Trades through the years:  Who Won? 

We're making progress:  we're back to Bobby V's first year at the helm and the first year of the short era of success to end the century.  1997 is also the year of Edgardo Alfonso accumulating 6.2 bWar.

November 1996 through October 1997

 (1)  New York Mets traded Paul Byrd to the Atlanta Braves for Greg McMichael  (Nov 25, 1996)

(2)  New York Mets traded Jerry DiPoto to the Colorado Rockies for Armando Reynoso  (Nov 27, 1996)

(3)  New York Mets traded Rico Brogna to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ricardo Jordan and Toby Borland  (Nov 27, 1996)

(4)  New York Mets traded Robert Person to the Toronto Blue Jays for John Olerud  (Dec 20, 1996)

(5)  New York Mets traded Hector Ramirez to the Baltimore Orioles for Manny Alexander and Scott McClain  (Mar 22, 1997)

(6)  New York Mets traded Tim Bogar to the Houston Astros for Luis Lopez  (Mar 31, 1997)

(7)  New York Mets traded Toby Borland to the Boston Red Sox for Rick Trlicek  (May 12, 1997)

(8)  New York Mets traded Lance Johnson, Mark Clark, and Manny Alexander to the Chicago Cubs for Turk Wendell, Mel Rojas and Brian McRae  (Aug 8, 1997)

(9)  New York Mets traded Pete Harnisch to the Milwaukee Brewers for Donnie Moore  (Aug 31, 1997)

 

Notes:   There was one outstanding and one very good trade in ’96-’97.   John Olerud was a terrific player in his three years with the Mets and certainly worth a person at the time.   

 Steve Phillips first trade after becoming the GM in mid-1997 was the deal with the Cubs in August.  It was tough giving up Lance Johnson, but Turk Wendell was a cornerstone of the bullpen for four and a half years, sticking around for their World Series appearance in 2000.     

I was a fan of Brian McRae at the time and he had a very nice 1998 for the Mets.  Mel Rojas had some nice years early in his career with the Expos, but they didn’t translate once he got to the the Mets.    He did have a cousin named Luis that led the Mets for the last couple years. 

The rest of the trades don’t merit much discussion.    The Brogna for Borland trade was the biggest loser of the year.    Pete Harnisch was not very good with the Mets, but went on to have a couple quite good years with the Reds in 98 and 99.   Donnie Moore never pitched in the Mets organization (or anyone else after that trade).  

Interesting trivia tidbit for the day:   The 'other' Donnie Moore - the one that actually pitched in the majors (or higher than single A) - was a cousin of Hubie Brooks.     Donnie Moore was the cover story of 'baseball is more than a game'.   One more strike and he would have been playing against the Mets in 1986, and perhaps still alive today.