Author Topic: Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans  (Read 1233 times)

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Offline EasyAce

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Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans
« on: June 18, 2018, 09:50:20 pm »
By Yours Truly
https://throneberryfields.blogspot.com/2018/06/why-trade-winds-might-nauseate-met-fans.html


Noah Syndergaard (left) and Jacob deGrom,
trade rumour subjects, which is enough to
make Mets fans reach for the tranquilisers.


There are very good reasons why Mets fans otherwise disposed to pushing the plunger on this season that still seems so lost quake at the very idea that the team may be talking trade involving Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. They have too much history on which to fall back when it comes to dealing prime cuts only to get dead meat in return. And it's no comfort that the smart talk has Syndergaard more likely than deGrom to go.

It's not that the Mets have always made deals that came back to haunt them. A lot of their deals did them a lot of good, such as getting Donn Clendenon and Don Cardwell (a pair of erstwhile Pirates teammates) to help solidify their 1969 miracle team; or, getting Keith Hernandez to begin solidifying their mid-1980s barn-burners (and 1986 World Champions); or, getting such excellent players in trade as Rusty Staub, Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda, Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, Carlos Delgado, and even Syndergaard himself.

They even got their first pennant-winning manager in a trade. Hometown hero Gil Hodges, the longtime Brooklyn Dodgers first base fixture, went to the Senators in a trade for outfielder/clown Jimmy Piersall to manage them after an injury-compromised farewell as an Original Met player. He retired promptly as a player to become the Senators' manager. Then, he came back to manage the Mets in exchange for pitcher Bill Denehy, whose minor league promise turned into nothing of the sort in the majors.

But hark now to the history that has Mets fans edgy at minimum about any trades involving deGrom or Syndergaard:

* Winter 1969. The Mets' early history includes an almost tragicomic inability to find something substantially enduring at third base. They cast eyes upon Joe Foy, who'd looked like a comer with the Red Sox and the Royals, and gave up Amos Otis, an outfielder who quaked over Gil Hodges's attempt to make a third baseman out of him, and pitcher Bob Johnson to get Foy.

Otis became a five-time All-Star with the Royals. Johnson struck out 200 in his first Kansas City season. Foy became indifferent and drug-addled despite a few shining moments. The Mets left him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft and the Senators plucked him only to see his career end in 1971.

* Winter 1971. Still desperate for something, anything else to plant at third base, the Mets decided they'd rather have aging shortstop/sometime third baseman Jim Fregosi at the hot corner than a talented but erratic young howitzer named Nolan Ryan on the mound, in part because Ryan was uncomfortable enough in New York and wanted to move to or closer to his Texas roots.

Never mind that Fregosi spent most of the 1971 season sidelined with a foot tumor. Fregosi gave the Mets a year and a half of injury-addled performance; Ryan gave the Angels the first full-time opening act of a long, Hall of Fame career.

* Winter 1975. The Mets must have thought Rusty Staub was going to get awful old, awful fast, despite driving in 105 runs in '75. Marrying that to a need for pitching help, the Mets dealt the very popular Le Grande Orange to the Tigers for aging Mickey Lolich, who'd been the pitching key to the Tigers' 1968 World Series triumph.

It turned out Staub had a lot more life left in his career than Lolich, including a career-closing return to the Mets as a valuable pinch hitter. Lolich pitched in some hard luck for the Mets, then missed 1977 entirely before having a kind of final hurrah in San Diego out of the bullpen.

* 15 June 1977. The Saturday Night Massacre. Hall of Famer Tom Seaver's feud with Mets chairman M. Donald Grant ended in his trade to the Reds for four players of dubious value: Doug Flynn, a good field-no hit second baseman; Pat Zachry, a pitcher who wasn't a Hall of Famer on the best day of his life; Steve Henderson, an outfielder with a good glove and an inconsistent bat; and, Dan Norman, a career pinch hitter who gave more pinch than hit.

Concurrently, the Mets also dealt bombardier Dave Kingman to the Padres, also after a contract dispute. The returns? Paul Siebert, a pitcher whose career would end prematurely despite some solid bullpen work; and, Bobby Valentine, then an infielder/outfielder whose early promise was ruined by a gruesome leg injury . . . but who eventually managed the Mets to the 2000 World Series.

* Winter 1986. Misinterpreting rookie Kevin Mitchell as trouble because of his ghetto background---despite every one of his teammates considering him one of the most stable and fun-loving of the bunch---and being caught literally with his pants down when needed to pinch hit in Game Six of the 1986 World Series (thinking the Series was lost and another player would get the pinch hit call, Mitchell was on the clubhouse phone half undressed making a reservation for a flight home)---the Mets dealt him to the Padres for slugging outfielder Kevin McReynolds.

McReynolds performed respectably as a Met but obtained a reputation as an indifferent player. The Padres shipped Mitchell to the Giants, where he became a two-time All-Star and a Most Valuable Player winner as a slugger far more feared than McReynolds. Mets manager Davey Johnson, who first backed the Mitchell trade, later admitted the deal was a big mistake. It was the first trade in the gradual breakup of the Mets' great mid-1980s teams.

* 18 June 1989. Being fed up with Lenny Dykstra's act when his performance became inconsistent was one thing, but the Mets didn't necessarily have to include relief ace Roger McDowell when they decided they absolutely had to have Phillies second baseman Juan Samuel.

Samuel, who'd had decent if unspectacular statistics with the Phillies, collapsed as a Met, while Dykstra became a batting champion and a cog in the Philthy Phillies' 1993 pennant winner and McDowell enjoyed eight more seasons of effectiveness out of the bullpen.

* 31 July 2002. Again faced with an apparent pitching need, the Mets cheated themselves out of Jason Bay's best seasons: they dealt him out of the minors in a trade to the Padres that brought pitchers Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed, neither of whose careers was destined to last very long.

The power-hitting, outfield gazelle Bay became a force with the Pirates (the Padres swapped him with Oliver Perez for Brian Giles) and the Red Sox in due course, but when the Mets brought him back as a seasoned veteran Bay suffered concussions and rib fractures enough to damage him despite his herculean efforts to play. When he and the Mets agreed to terminate his contract after 2012, Bay had one final try with the Mariners in 2013 before calling it a career.

You could just about win a pennant with most of the players the Mets dealt away in their worst deals. The Mets even won a pair of World Series with a few of them while watching a few of them play in a couple of World Series. Now do you get why thoughts of dealing deGrom and Syndergaard have Mets fans reaching for the tranquilisers?
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"The question of who is right is a small one, indeed, beside the question of what is right."---Albert Jay Nock.

Fake news---news you don't like or don't want to hear.

Offline Polly Ticks

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Re: Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2018, 10:53:57 pm »
Good article, @EasyAce .  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

It was also interesting to watch my Braves beat the Mets (including deGrom) again this past week when my son and I made our annual pilgrimage to Atlanta.   :laugh:
Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too. -Yogi Berra

Offline EasyAce

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Re: Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2018, 11:15:22 pm »
Good article, @EasyAce .  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

It was also interesting to watch my Braves beat the Mets (including deGrom) again this past week when my son and I made our annual pilgrimage to Atlanta.   :laugh:
@Polly Ticks
You got to see the big problem with the Mets especially when deGrom pitches---he could sue them plausibly for non-support. The guy's the best pitcher in the National League this year, and either a) the bats turn to jelly, or b) the bullpen comes in carrying gas cans instead of pitches. It's not implausible that deGrom could break Felix Hernandez's record for winning a Cy Young Award with the lowest won-lost record.


"The question of who is right is a small one, indeed, beside the question of what is right."---Albert Jay Nock.

Fake news---news you don't like or don't want to hear.

Offline Sanguine

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Re: Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2018, 12:32:56 am »
Thanks, Ace.

I always think of this when I see your posts:


Offline EasyAce

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Re: Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2018, 01:11:12 am »
Thanks, Ace.

I always think of this when I see your posts:


@Sanguine
You're welcome!

I should only aspire to look that good . . .


"The question of who is right is a small one, indeed, beside the question of what is right."---Albert Jay Nock.

Fake news---news you don't like or don't want to hear.

Offline Polly Ticks

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Re: Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2018, 01:46:27 am »
@Polly Ticks
You got to see the big problem with the Mets especially when deGrom pitches---he could sue them plausibly for non-support. The guy's the best pitcher in the National League this year, and either a) the bats turn to jelly, or b) the bullpen comes in carrying gas cans instead of pitches. It's not implausible that deGrom could break Felix Hernandez's record for winning a Cy Young Award with the lowest won-lost record.

Oh, I understand.  It's a flashback to the Shelby Miller days of 2015 Braves baseball.
Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too. -Yogi Berra

Offline EasyAce

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Re: Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans
« Reply #6 on: June 19, 2018, 01:58:13 am »
Oh, I understand.  It's a flashback to the Shelby Miller days of 2015 Braves baseball.
I was always surprised he didn't haul them into court for non-support that year.


"The question of who is right is a small one, indeed, beside the question of what is right."---Albert Jay Nock.

Fake news---news you don't like or don't want to hear.

Offline Applewood

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Re: Why the trade winds might nauseate Met fans
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2018, 03:59:58 pm »
@EasyAce

Your article makes me think of some of the boneheaded roster moves and trades the Pirates have made over the years. The last several years have seen talented players dumped in favor of has-beens, never-wases and rookies who would never live up to their hype.  A friend of mine, who was once an avid Pirates fan, now cheers for the Cardinals.  She says she believes the owners aren't really interested in fielding a winning team. I guess they believe they can continue to take advantage of diehard fans and take their money. I don't know.  Seems to me if the Pirates can't come up witna winning team soon, even the most diehard fans are going to bolt.