Remember1969: Who Won? Deals of History 1977-1978

 

Mets Trades through the years:  Who won?

November 1977 through October 1978

 

Leader:  This week's trade journals will make all of us sad again.   I will be doubling up years every post this week to move back through the very dark days of the 1970s a little quicker.    The fact that there were not that many trades didn't make any of them any better.   By the time we get to Saturday this week, I'll have traded off pretty much everybody that was part of my 'growing up with the Mets' through their first World Championship and second World Series.  

Notes:   First (or last, as we go backwards), two of my favorites in the '70s were off to Texas* to complete a completely disasterous 1977.    Matlack went on to pitch 6 pretty average years with the Rangers, compiling a .500 record with a more decent 3.41 ERA.   Milner played another 5 years with Pittsburgh and Montreal with less success than his Mets years.   Montanez had a decent 1978 and a lousy 1979 before being traded to Texas in summer 1979.    Ken Henderson played in 7 games for the Mets and Grieve had a forgettable year with them. 

Getting started:  

(1)  New York Mets traded Jon Matlack and John Milner to the Texas Rangers for Willie Montanez, Ken Henderson and Tom Grieve  (Dec 08, 1977)

 (2)  New York Mets traded Roy Staiger to the New York Yankees for Sergio Ferrer  (Dec 09, 1977)

 (3)  New York Mets traded Bud Harrelson to the Philadelphia Phillies for Fred Andrews (Mar 24, 1978)

 (4)  New York Mets traded Jackson Todd to the Philadelphia Phillies for Edward Cuervo  (Mar 27, 1978)

 (5)  New York Mets traded Leo Foster to the Boston Red Sox for Jim Burton  (Mar 29, 1978)

 (6)  New York Mets traded New York Mets traded Ken Henderson to the Cincinnati Reds for Dale Murray (May 19, 1978)

 Trivia:   * side note from above.  Milner was actually traded to the Pirates in that trade.  It was a complex four team trade involving the Mets, Pirates, Rangers and Braves with at least 12 players changing locations.   Most of the 12 were 'big names' as Bert Blyleven and Al Oliver were also included.   

Losing everybody's favorite shortstop was tough and for Fred who?    Andrews never played for the Mets (or anybody else in MLB) after the trade.   Buddy went on to be a part time player for two years with the Phils and one more with the Rangers.  

Sergio Ferrer ended up with 3 career RBIs in 178 at-bats, along with 41 runs scored.   

No point delaying the inevitable.    On to the worst year in Mets history:   

November 1976 through October 1977

 Notes:   The only positives I can come up with this year are a few decent years from Youngblood (emphasis on decent) and introducing Valentine to the organization where he would go on to be a much better manager for them than player. 

I do remember rooting hard for the three guys the Mets go back from Cincinnati (Norman was a minor leaguer at the time).   That had to have been a brutal time for those guys, although all three of them ended up playing fairly well in New York for multiple years. 

The damage: 

(1)  New York Mets traded Leon Brown and Brock Pemberton to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ed Kurpiel  (Dec 09, 1976)

 (2)  New York Mets traded Hank Webb and Richard Sander to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Rick Auerbach  (Feb 07, 1977)

 (3)  New York Mets traded Benny Ayala to the St. Louis Cardinals for Doug Clarey  (Mar 30, 1977)

 (4)  New York Mets traded Rick Auerbach to the Texas Rangers for Lenny Randle  (Apr 26, 1977)

 (5)  New York Mets traded Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds for Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Pat Zachry, and Dan Norman (Jun 15, 1977)

(6) New York Mets traded Dave Kingman to the San Diego Padres for Bobby Valentine and Paul Siebert  (Jun 15, 1977)

(7) New York Mets traded Mike Phillips to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joel Youngblood  (Jun 15, 1977)

(8)  New York Mets traded Jerry Grote to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Dan Smith and Randy Rogers  (Aug 31, 1977)

Trivia:   Doug Cleary should be in the Hall of Fame.   Not many second baseman carry a career 242 OPS+ into retirement.   A small sample size must be the issues.   His only MLB hit was a homer in one of his four at-bats.   He never played with the Mets after the trade.  

Jerry Grote played a very part time role for a year for the Royals in 1981 after having been out of baseball for two years after signing as a free agent.   He only played 22 games, but had a game in June of that year with a 3 for 4 falling a triple short of the cycle and driving in 7 runs in the game.