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The Most Impactful Under-the-Radar Deals in Mets History

Around the trade deadline, numerous names are bandied about by everyone around baseball. It might take a haul, but big names like Andrew Miller and Wil Myers could be dealt at just about any time, with notable prospects moving on to different organizations. However, deadline deals don’t affect one season alone. The repercussions reverberate for several years down the road, and young players who were not previously considered important turn out to be pivotal.

The Mets have mostly been on the negative side of these deals, but some of them have turned out well. Hell, they found both outcomes on one day, acquiring then-unknown Jose Baustista from the Royals in exchange for minor leaguer Justin Huber on July 30, 2004, only to send the future superstar away that evening alongside Ty Wigginton in the infamous Kris Benson deal. Since Bautista wasn’t even a Met for 24 hours and might have been part of the Benson plan along, he doesn’t quite qualify for this post, but both trades represent the kind that would fit. The Kazmir/Zambrano doesn’t either since that was a laughable bust from almost the get-go. The rest of these took some time to reveal the impact.

May 19, 1981: Jeff Reardon and Dan Norman to the Expos for Ellis Valentine

Ellis Valentine was a tremendously talented young player with a cannon for an arm on the Expos, but he was unable to conquer his off-field demons during his time in Montreal. Still, the Mets thought that they could perhaps unlock Valentine’s potential, as he was only about 27 years old. So they dealt reliever Jeff Reardon and minor league outfielder Dan Norman to Montreal to acquire him.

Valentine didn’t work out in Queens and was gone from the team a year and a half later. Reardon, however, flourished north of the border. The right-hander had pitched well in New York with a 2.65 ERA in 97 games, featuring high velocity despite a shaky walk rate, but he still had the background of an undrafted free agent. He won the Expos’ trust in the split-season stretch run for the only playoff berth in their history in Montreal, and soon became one of baseball’s most reliable closers. Reardon and his blistering fastball made four All-Star teams and saved 357 games after leaving New York, and he was even the game’s all-time saves leader at one point.

The mid-‘80s Mets found their stopper in Jesse Orosco anyway, but it could have been Reardon throwing his glove in the air after the 1986 World Series comeback. Instead, he moved on to Minnesota after the Expos traded him and closed down the 1987 World Series for the Twins.

August 28, 1984: Gerald Young, Manny Lee, and Mitch Cook to the Astros for Ray Knight

This deal is admittedly a slight reach since Ray Knight was far from an unknown. He was a two-time All-Star with the Reds and the Astros earlier in his career, but his shine was blemished by the time the Mets traded for him. After a strong season in ’83, Knight stumbled in ’84 and by late August, he had a .223/.259/.281 triple slash in 88 games with just 12 extra base hits. He was on the wrong side of the 30 and under contract for another couple years, so GM Al Rosen decided to cut bait. All three men acquired for Knight were simply players to be named later.

While Knight finished the ’84 season with a decent September, ’85 was a nightmare. He platooned with Howard Johnson and did not play well at all, ending the year with a .218/.252/.328 batting line. Then in ’86, everything suddenly clicked again. Knight rediscovered his form at the plate with a .282 TAv, finished 14th in NL MVP voting, and of course won World Series MVP honors with a 1.005 OPS series against the Red Sox, belting the go-ahead homer in Game 7.

Young had a couple good years in Houston, as did Lee with Toronto after they claimed him in the off-season, but I’m sure the Mets will take the trade-off for their last World Series hero. It took two years for the Knight deal to pay off, but it ended with the greatest reward.

August 27, 1992: David Cone to the Blue Jays for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson

The 1992 Mets were an absolute nightmare, and they weren’t going anywhere with pending free agent ace David Cone. It was an obvious move to sell, and though the team put it off for a while, they did find a contender to bring Coney aboard. To their good fortune, one of the players acquired was Jeff Kent. It worked out for Toronto since they won the ’92 World Series with Cone in their rotation, but the Mets had a borderline Hall of Famer on their hands.

The only problem was that no one quite understood Kent’s potential at the time. He was a 20th round pick in 1989, hadn’t been ranked by Baseball America as a Top 100 prospect, and his Mets teammates didn’t like him because he was a loner and refused to deal with hazing. Nonetheless, Kent showed his prowess at the plate with a .279/.327/.453 triple slash in 498 games with the Mets, clubbing 98 doubles and 67 homers.

Then at the 1996 trade deadline, the Mets decided to flip Kent to Cleveland in the ill-fated Carlos Baerga deal. He broke out for 29 homers with the Giants a year later and by the time he retired in 2008, he had 377 career dingers, the most ever by a second baseman. My step-dad always rued that trade, saying “Jeff Kent was too good for the Mets.” The Mets stole a future MVP from the Blue Jays and never truly reaped the benefits.

Half a decade later, the Mets made a similar mistake surrendering a steal. They swiped a 22nd rounder from the Expos named Jason Bay in spring training 2002 for infielder Lou Collier. Then they sent Bay packing after four months in a deadline deal for pitchers Steve Reed and Jason Middlebrook. In 2004, Bay was NL Rookie of the Year for the Pirates and became an All-Star three times that decade, only to flop upon signing a $66 million deal to return to the Mets in 2010. Naturally.

July 28, 2000: Melvin Mora, Leslie Brea, Mike Kinkade, and Pat Gorman to the Orioles for Mike Bordick

The Mets were cursed by a late bloomer, and it was partially the fault of the magnificent Rey Ordonez.

The nonpareil defender broke his arm in a late May game in 2000, forcing him to miss the entire season. So for the next two months, the Mets filled shortstop with a 28-year-old utilityman from Venezuela named Melvin Mora. Like Kent, it was somewhat fortuitous that the Mets even had Mora in the first place. He was originally signed by the Astros at age 19, and they cut him loose after the ’97 season. GM Steve Phillips picked him up, stuck in their minor leagues, and he made his big league debut as an occasional bench player in 1999.

Mora didn’t hit a lick in 39 plate appearances in ’99, but he did a capable job filling in for Ordonez, batting .260/.317/.423 in 79 games, good for a .260 TAv. Although it wasn’t spectacular, it seemed fine for an emergency replacement. Phillips didn’t quite believe in Mora though, so at the trade deadline, he elected to package him with three other players for Orioles shortstop Mike Bordick, who made his only All-Star team that year. Bordick never displayed that form upon joining the Mets, mustering a mere .236 TAv the rest of the way and being a non-factor during the postseason run. A free agent that year, he rejoined the Orioles in 2001.

On a terrible Orioles team, Mora was given regular playing time. He played just about everywhere and maintained steady though unspectacular numbers through the end of 2002. Then in 2003, everything clicked. Mora became an All-Star, hitting .317/.418/.503 in 96 games before injuries cut his season short in the second half. The next year, he led the AL in OBP with a .419 mark and won the Silver Slugger at third base. He was an All-Star again in 2005 and eventually ended his career in 2011 with 283 doubles, 171 homers, and 31.2 WARP.

To be fair, no one saw Mora’s breakout coming and that didn’t arrive until his age-31 season. On the other hand, Mora played perfectly fine for the Mets filling in for Ordonez, and they didn’t think a helpful utilityman could capably cover shortstop for a few more months. Instead, Mora covered multiple positions elsewhere for the next decade.

August 30, 2000: Nelson Cruz to the A’s for Jorge Velandia

You might ask “Who is Jorge Velandia?”

The answer is no one, really. He was an infielder who played 174 major league games for six different teams between 1997 and 2008. Velandia didn’t even report to the Mets when they acquired him; he was sent to Triple-A for a few days before becoming a September call-up. He played 15 games and didn’t get a hit. Velandia only spent 47 games total in Queens from 2000 through 2003. He was just a random bench guy.

The cost for the random bench guy was Nelson Cruz, a 20-year-old outfielder who had not yet played professional ball for the Mets. Still, he had tremendous tools and the Mets just gave him up for no one. It’s 16 years later, Cruz has 264 career homers and four All-Star Games to his name, and even now at age 36 has a .328 TAv for the Mariners. Would the Mets have given up on him just as the A’s and Brewers did before his Texas breakout? Perhaps not, but they never even gave him a chance. Howard Megdal summed it up best:

So yes, I hold Steve Phillips responsible for trading away Nelson Cruz. If he had done so for some kind of certainty at a position of need, fine. But wasting a prospect for a third, unpalatable alternative at a position? No, that’s not what a good GM does.

2000 was an unforgettable season at the major league level for the Mets, but they sure made some bad mistakes with prospects. C’est la vie.

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