Remember 1969: Mets Trades - Who Won? The World Series Year of 2000

 

Mets Trades through the years:  Who Won? 

You would think the World Series years would be the years of the best trades.   2000 had quite a few trades, but only one that made the difference.   

November 1999 through October 2000

(1)  New York Mets traded Jermaine Allensworth to the Boston Red Sox for Jon Nunnally  (Nov 12, 1999)

(2)  New York Mets traded Chuck McElroy to the Baltimore Orioles for Jesse Orosco  (Dec 10, 1999)

(3)  New York Mets traded Roger Cedeno, Octavio Dotel, and Kyle Kessel to the Houston Astros for Derek Bell and Mike Hampton  (Dec 23, 1999)

(4)  New York Mets traded Masato Yoshii to the Colorado Rockies for Bobby Jones and Lariel Gonzalez  (Jan 14, 2000)

(5)  New York Mets traded Luis Lopez to the Milwaukee Brewers for Bill Pulsipher  (Jan 21, 2000)

(6)  New York Mets traded Jesse Orosco to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe McEwing  (Mar 18, 2000)

(7)  New York Mets traded Jerson Perez to the Toronto Blue Jays for Jim Mann  (Mar 22, 2000)

(8)  New York Mets traded Bill Pulsipher to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Lenny Harris  (Jun 02, 2000)

(9) New York Mets traded Melvin Mora, Mike Kinkade, Pat Gorman, and Lesli Brea to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Bordick  (Jul 28, 2000)

(10)  New York Mets traded Paul Wilson and Jason Tyner to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Rick White and Bubba Trammell  (Jul 28, 2000)

(11)  New York Mets traded Nelson Cruz to the Oakland Athletics for Jorge Velandia  (Aug 30, 2000)

Notes:  Wow, trade 11 sure turned out not so well!     

Trade 3, on the other hand, was one of the best trades the Mets have ever made.   Mike Hampton was the difference maker in the 2000 season and Derek Bell was solid as well.

It is uncanny how closely Mike Bordick’s Mets stats in the last 56 games of 2000 paralleled his career stats.   I do wonder if Bordick made the difference in the season or what a Mora/Ordonez combo could have done down the stretch.   

Mora certainly had a nice run after the trade to Baltimore.    The 56 games + post season was the only thing the Mets got out of that Bordick trade. 

Joe McEwing seemed to be a fan favorite in New York, but he certainly wasn't the difference maker on the field in 2000 as his OBP was only .248.    2001 was a little better. 

It is too bad that they didn’t keep Orosco to let him play out his career as a Met, but he may not have had the chance to get the last games to be the all time leader in game pitched. 

As a side note to trade 4, Lariel Gonzalez finished his MLB career with a 0.00 ERA and never allowing a baserunner.   He retired all three batters he faced in the one inning he pitched in one game for Colorado at the age of 22.   Unfortunately, he did not pitch as well in AAA after joining the Mets organization and never made it back to the bigs.