In 2012, Johan Santana removed the Mets from the list of teams that have never pitched a no-hitter. Much less discussed: Teams that have never had a player win the MVP. The National League award has gone to players on every team except the Mets, Miami Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks. That the Mets have a 24-year head start on the Marlins and 29 on the Snakes makes the omission more glaring. Tom Seaver led the majors with 11 bWAR in 1973 (2.08 ERA over 290 IP!) but lost out to NL West-wining Pete Rose (.338/.401/.437, 8.2 bWAR). At least Seaver’s Mets beat Rose’s Reds in the NLCS.

The 2017 Mets are in as good a place as any to produce their first-ever NL MVP winner. Should they dominate the standings, it will almost certainly be due to a range-busting performance from Yoenis Cespedes. PECOTA says Cespedes’s 90th percentile performance would look like .289/.347/.526 with 33 home runs — a 6.4 WARP season. Maybe we’re biased Mets fans, but is it crazy to suggest La Potencia could hit .320/.390/.580 if everything broke right? That looks like an MVP.

The BBWAA awards are, fortuitously, not the only ones awarded each year. There’s no shortage of uncredentialed folks predicting who will win the major trophies. Here at BP-Mets, we’ve created our own Met Awards. As a special bonus, we will also tell you who will win them. — Scott D. Simon (@scottdsimon)

Empty Soup Can

It’s still hard to believe that James Loney, of all people, delivered the key home run to clinch last year’s wild card berth. It’s no surprise that Terry Collins stuck with Loney. Collins loves to stick with veterans, even when they slide below replacement level. Collins’s desperate attempt to bring Bobby Parnell back for a playoff spot in 2015 forced me to leave the stands when he was pitching. I could see the helplessness of lost command from the nosebleeds. I’m not sure if Collins can recognize when the well has run dry and he’s trying to sustain his team with an empty can of soup.

Loyalty is a wonderful thing, but every year it feels like Collins picks a player to shower with playing time no matter how painful the results. It’s maddening because we know we could make better choices. This year’s Empty Soup Can winner seems pretty obvious: Jay Bruce… Come on down to the stadium of boos! — Noah Grand (@noahgrand)

Robert the Rookie (of the Year)

Newly-minted No. 4 starter Robert Gsellman has earned plenty of column ink this spring as the wild card amidst the Mets’ collection of aces. BP’s crack prospect team rated Gsellman No. 17 among all prospects this offseason. This spring, his velo and stuff have looked as awesome as anyone’s in the rotation not named Syndergaard or deGrom. So how far out of the realm of possibility is it that Gsellman follows the former fellow-Mets-prospect Michael Fulmer’s path to a trophy? Well, the biggest hurdle standing between No. 65 and his hardware is the ultra-talented Dansby Swanson, so to get there Gsellman may have to put up a sub-3.00 ERA just like he did over 45 innings last season. It’s certainly possible … just don’t ask him to hit. — Byran Grosnick (@bgrosnick)

The Underdog

I don’t know how, but we’re still underrating Jacob deGrom. It seems impossible that the floppy-haired Florida Man who put up a 2.30 ERA in 133 innings and 21 starts before his elbow started acting up – his season ended on Sept. 1, just a few weeks after giving up eight runs to the Giants – can be underappreciated. Yet here we are. He’s stable: he’s not blazing a 97 mph fastball like Noah Syndergaard or breaking spin rate records like Seth Lugo or making a (hopefully) triumphant return after two years like Zack Wheeler. He’s just there, doing his thing. deGrom won’t be the staff ace – that title will still go to Thor, barring a national disaster. But on a team full of studs, he’ll finally get the respect he deserves. — Kate Feldman (@kateefeldman)

The Future Freaks Me Out

“[Terry] won’t stop [sending Jay Bruce] to [the outfield] / How [the Mets refuse] to [start Michael Conforto]”

At the end of last season, one assumed 2017 would be the year Michael Conforto got a good amount of MLB playing time. Even, potentially, a starting role. That assumption was halted around late January, when we discovered the Mets couldn’t find a trade partner for Jay Bruce.

“We waste away the days with [veterans] and [scuffling hitters] / From an era we hate to admit we embrace”

So, now here we are. Bruce, who owns a .288 TAv at his 90th-percentile PECOTA projection, is slated to be the Mets’ starting right fielder — over Conforto, who owns a .281 TAv for his 50th-percentile PECOTA projection. You could say it’s more a fault of roster construction than thinking Bruce is better than Conforto, if it makes you feel better. Nevertheless, the Mets still appear to be shunting off one of their potential key-stones in favor of a veteran. For that reason, Conforto takes home this somewhat conciliatory award for a young player the Mets appear afraid to give a full-time job.

“[Terry], I need you [to start him] / [We] miss [him] / [We’re a worse team] without [him] / To [see plugged in the lineup] with [our] cellular phones”

These are actual quotes from the song “The Future Freaks Me Out” by Motion City Soundtrack. Do not attempt to use the Google to verify. Just take my word for it. — Shawn Brody (@ShawnBrody)

Third Time’s the Charm

The well-traveled Kelly Johnson has been part of a mid-summer trade from Atlanta to New York each of the last two years. This summer will make it three in a row, as he will sign an early-season deal with the Braves only to be sent back to the Mets for their annual intra-division sacrifice of a decent pitching prospect. Mets fans will let out a collective sigh of “meh.” But late ’90s Mets reliever and known superstitious personality Turk Wendell will publicly offer a characteristically unique spin on the deal: “The Mets have traded for Kelly the last two years. They’ve made the playoffs the last two years. I don’t think they can get there without this yearly acquisition. Plus, he’s played in Yankee Stadium.” — Zane Moran

Photo Credit: Jerry Lai – USA Today Sports

Perhaps if Familia does finish off a National League victory, he can mark another awesome Mets All-Star moment. The team only has one All-Star MVP in its history, but their players have sure made strong impressions. With a hat tip to Tug McGraw’s heroic two-inning relief effort in 1972 and David Wright’s smashing All-Star debut in 2006, these are the Mets’ finest All-Star highlights.

Tom Seaver – 1970

Where else would a retrospective on any of the Mets’ top moments begin other than on Seaver? Fresh off a Cy Young Award-winning championship season in 1969, the game’s best pitcher was handed the ball at the start of the 1970 All-Star Game in Cincinnati. Four of the American League’s first five hitters were Hall of Famers: Luis Aparicio, Carl Yastrzemski, Frank Robinson, and Harmon Killebrew.

No matter—Seaver blew the AL away with three dominant innings. He surrendered just one baserunner on a Yaz single that barely went past the diving attempt of shortstop Don Kessinger. Seaver’s strikeouts were on brand names, too, as Aparicio, Robinson, Killebrew, and slugger Frank Howard all whiffed. Meanwhile, Jim Palmer matched Seaver with three scoreless innings of his own, but they were far from as dominant as Seaver’s effort. Although the game went 12 innings and the story was Pete Rose’s controversial take-down of Ray Fosse with the winning run, Seaver’s tremendous start will go down in the Mets’ record books.

Jon Matlack – 1975

The Mets’ lone All-Star MVP didn’t even get to keep the award for himself. 1975 was the only occasion in the 44-year history of the award that it was shared by two players. Matlack can safely say that he did his part first though. The former Rookie of the Year winner entered a tight 3-3 game in the bottom of the seventh inning. His teammate Seaver actually had a poor outing for once, giving up a booming two-run homer by Yastrzemski into the Milwaukee night that tied it up in the sixth.

Tasked with stemming the tide, Matlack did just that. He struck out Hall of Famer Rod Carew, picked off Claudell Washington after a single, and then fanned Bucky Dent. The southpaw worked a scoreless eighth as well, yielding just an infield single. Thanks to Matlack’s performance, Cubs third baseman Bill Madlock was in the position to break up the tie in the top of the ninth. He singled off Goose Gossage to score Reggie Smith with the go-ahead run, and Randy Jones closed out the victory with a perfect frame. Matlack and Madlock shared the All-Star MVP honors, no doubt inspiring the future TV series Matlock.

Lee Mazzilli – 1979

Mazzilli is the lone Mets hitter to make this post, with all due respect to Wright and Lance Johnson’s three-hit showing in ’96. However, neither of them were the primary reasons for a NL victory. The center fielder pinch-hit for Gary Matthews, Sr. in the top of the eighth inning with the NL trailing by one run in Seattle. Facing the Rangers’ Jim Kern, Mazzilli smoked one the other way down the left field line just over the wall for a game-tying solo homer. He became the first Met to ever homer in an All-Star Game.

That would have been a fine day anyway, but Mazzilli wasn’t done yet. By the ninth inning, the NL had gone through the order to send Mazzilli back up to the plate. The bases were loaded with two outs and the game still tied from his earlier blast. Facing defending Cy Young Award winner Ron Guidry, Mazzilli patiently waited out a walk that scored Joe Morgan with the go-ahead run. One vintage Bruce Sutter inning later, the NL clinched another victory. Perhaps dazzled by Dave Parker’s amazing throw, the MVP went to him, but it really seems like it should have gone to Mazzilli. Alas.

Dwight Gooden – 1984

It is still almost unfathomable to consider how good Doc Gooden was at such a young age. Selected fifth overall in the 1982 draft, Gooden stormed through the system and made his MLB debut at age 19 on April 7, 1984. Despite being a mere teenager, Gooden showed no sign at all of his age and became the youngest All-Star in MLB history when he was selected for the NL squad in San Francisco. Fernando Valenzuela struck out the side in the top of the fourth inning and handed the slim 2-1 lead off to Gooden.

The precocious right-hander led the majors in strikeouts, and he was up to the task of matching the famous Fernando. Down went eight-time All-Star Larry Parrish. Down went Chet Lemon and his 215 career homers. Down went Alvin Davis, his future AL counterpart for 1984 Rookie of the Year. All three batters flailed at Gooden’s preposterous arsenal. He followed it up with another scoreless inning, the lone blemish coming on a weird pop-fly double by Eddie Murray. No matter—Gooden retired Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Jr. and Dave Winfield to escape the threat. The man was a wunderkind.

Matt Harvey – 2013

No Mets fan will ever forget the excitement that came with Matt Harvey’s 2013 first half. After a promising showing in his 2012 debut, Harvey broke out as perhaps the new face of New York baseball with a dominant showing. He had a 2.35 ERA, 147 strikeouts in 130 innings, a 0.915 WHIP, and a mere .542 OPS against. With the All-Star Game right in Queens at Citi Field, NL skipper Bruce Bochy granted Harvey the starting assignment, much to the home crowd’s delight.

The incomparable Mike Trout welcomed Harvey to the All-Star stage with a leadoff double on the first pitch, and the amped-up righty then accidentally drilled Robinson Cano. He faced a daunting task with Miguel Cabrera up next. Harvey returned to form with a strikeout on a diving 92 mph pitch that the Triple Crown winner chased out of the zone. He then retired Chris Davis on a routine fly to center and Jose Bautista on another strikeout. The NL went down in order against Max Scherzer, but Harvey returned the favor in the second with a perfect frame, fanning Adam Jones in the process. Two innings, one hit, no runs, and three strikeouts. If the national audience didn’t know who Harvey was before the game, they did now.

Jacob deGrom – 2015

It would have been enough to write about five memorable Mets All-Star memories, but the list simply would not be complete without mentioning deGrom’s mastery from last year in Cincinnati. Fortunately, BP Mets’ own Brian Duricy already recounted deGrom’s outstanding All-Star effort last week in the group post on our favorite Mets highlights, so I’ll turn it over to him:

The word “highlight” often connotes one event, a flash-in-the-pan occurrence that exists as a singular exemplar of excellence. But pitching has the ability to stretch highlights so that they encompass a series of events, to show that repetition can be brilliant in its own right. When Jacob deGrom began the sixth inning of the 2015 All-Star Game, 74 pitchers had compiled an immaculate inning.

None had ever done so in an All-Star Game, against a three-man stretch of some of the best hitters the game has to offer. In deGrom’s 2015 All-Star performance, he fired eight straight fastballs — the velocity of which increased from 96 to 98 mph between the first and eighth pitch — seven for strikes, and finished with two nasty cutters low for swinging strikes. Though he missed immaculate status by one errant fastball, and though this highlight came in a Mets jersey but not in a Mets game, it’s imperfect; but dominance like that is its own form of perfection.

Photo Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

But by 1991, the Mets were a team that felt 50 years removed from a title rather than just five. The roster was an awesomely weird amalgam of people. They were prospects that hadn’t developed as expected and aging stars from ’86 on the freeway out of town. They had players who would later become clubhouse leaders—both in Queens and elsewhere—but were still too young to know their true potential. And there were the free agent signings stuck in an unfortunate limbo, too late for the mid-’80s glory years but who simply couldn’t stick around the late ‘90s rebirth.

While that ’91 club still retained some of the DNA from the Series-winners just five years prior, it was a roster ultimately doomed to mediocrity, stuck in a time of confusion and soul-searching. The Mets were no longer the powerhouse of their recent past, yet their path to a rebuild was still far from obvious.

So it’s no surprise they finished 77-84, fifth in the NL East, but this team was so much more interesting than that, at least in hindsight. A 10-game winning streak that spanned the All-Star break pushed the Mets to 49-34, just 2.5 games behind Pittsburgh for first. Hope abounds! But then they finished the year 28-50, the worst record in all of baseball during that time. In those final 78 games, they averaged an MLB-worst 3.48 runs per game. (For comparison’s sake, this year’s Mets are only scoring 3.69 a game. How times have changed.)

An up-and-down team struggling to find an identity? A team full of hope that’s maybe over-reliant on pitching and has great trouble scoring runs? Stop me if you’ve heard that one before.

Yes, we joke lovingly about the baaaaad Mets teams of the past, but if this year’s iteration is more akin to the ’86 champs than the ’91 schlubs, from now until the All-Star break is when that transformation has to happen. Otherwise, they could be remembered alongside this magnificent, ragtag bunch of hapless underachievers:

Ron Darling – Dumped in a midseason trade to Montreal, Darling was by then no more than a middling fifth starter, even in his age-30 season.

David Cone – Acquired in spring training of 1987, Cone was the rotational stalwart of the post-’86 hangover. Led the league in strikeouts (243) and FIP (2.52) in ’91, his last full season with the Mets. This was also his age-28 season and yet all five of his World Series titles (plus the perfect game) had yet to happen. Life comes at you fast.

Sid Fernandez – Bryan did a great roundup of El Sid’s career not long ago, but 1991 was, as he writes, a lost year for the hefty lefty with the smooth curve. At least Fernandez had one more full season left in him for ’92.

Gregg Jefferies – There was no prospect hyped in that post-’86 wake quite like Jefferies. Third in ROY voting in 1989, buoyed by one epic charge at Roger McDowell. Led the league in doubles in 1990. Always a high-contact hitter, Jefferies never quite put up the big power numbers people expected, and he was traded after the 1991 season in the ill-fated deal that brought Bret Saberhagen to Queens.

Howard Johnson – This was peak HoJo in all his glory: Holding down third base, socking 38 dingers, swiping 30 bases, maintaining that magnificent beard! It was all downhill in ’92, but this ’91 season was one to remember. Johnson finished in the top 10 in MVP voting three times in his nine seasons with the Mets. This was the last of the three.

Kevin McReynolds – Traded away with Jefferies to Kansas City in the Saberhagen deal, McReynolds was the first big pick-up after ’86, a fresh bit of energy in the intervening years. And in 1988, as a seven-year-old who was newly cognizant of baseball, his game-winning grand slam at Wrigley Field (and the gaping maw it induced in Cubs manager Don Zimmer) became a seminal moment in my life.

Dwight Gooden – Doc’s final season in Queens with a winning record (13-7). Still only 26, but his days of averaging more than nine strikeouts per nine were effectively over by then. Dumped after the 1994 season.

John Franco – After coming over in the Randy Myers trade after the ’89 season, Franco missed out on a ring with Cincinnati in 1990, but his consolation was spending the next 14 seasons with his hometown Mets, through eras both putrid and sublime. His earlier Mets teams skewed more toward the former, but Franco (when healthy) was as reliable as they come. Weird to think that he would survive long enough to concede the closer’s role to Braden Looper and witness the rise of a young David Wright, but Franco remains the modern-day Mets answer to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Frank Viola – Still only 31 by then, Viola actually finished fourth (2.6) in team bWAR, behind Cone, Gooden, and Johnson. You know who finished tied for fifth? Jeff Ennis and Rick Cerrone (1.7). This was a weird Mets team. They let Viola walk after the season.

Todd Hundley – Still five years away from breaking the single-season record for most dingers by a catcher and 16 years away from the Mitchell Report that named him and teammates Chris Donnels and Mark Carreon as suspected PED users, Hundley was simply another 22-year-old, late-season call-up in 1991. His first career homer came that year in the bottom of the 14th in a late September game against Pittsburgh. Hundley’s tater tied the game, but Wally Whitehurst gave up a run in the top of the 15th and the Mets lost. (It was the first game of a doubleheader.)

Anthony Young – I would never tell anyone to not chase their dreams, but I might make an exception for Young. This season wasn’t terrible for the 25-year-old rookie, but oh the pain that was to come. He pitched a shutout in his first start of 1992—a six-hitter in St. Louis—then won again 10 days later in a late-game mop-up appearance. Of course, as we all know, he then didn’t win another game for another 465 days, losing a MLB-record 27 straight decisions. The day he broke the streak? Maybe the only time I was ever happy to see Eddie Murray in a Mets uniform.

Pete Schourek – To this day, my father and I maintain all young prospective pitchers (read: babies) should be taught to throw left-handed simply because of Schourek. His reverse splits were maddening, and yet somehow he once finished second in Cy Young voting to Greg Maddux. But in 1991, he was simply a 22-year-old rookie with his whole career ahead of him. He pitched his only career shutout that season, a one-hitter over the last-place Expos in September. Oh what hopes he must’ve had.

Hubie Brooks – Talk about bad timing. You play for the unwatchable Mets from 1980 to 1984, only to return for one more go-around in 1991? Like getting to the barbecue early, then volunteering to go pick up some ice for the cooler, only to come back, see the grill cooling off, and wonder why no one saved you a cheeseburger.

Garry Templeton – Will always be known more as the shortstop St. Louis traded to San Diego for some guy named Ozzie Smith. To Mets fans, he’ll always be the guy who was acquired for Tim Teufel. The speed that once led the NL in triples three straight years was long gone by ’91, and Templeton retired after the season.

Tim Teufel – Despite never playing more than 100 games in a season following ’86, Teufel stuck around as a utility infielder who could get on base in a pinch and supply some pinch-hitting pop if needed. He spent two more full seasons in San Diego before retiring in 1993.

Tom Herr – Like Templeton, another infielder more known for his days with another NL team. Herr was the starting second baseman on Opening Day but was reduced to a bench/utility role by June. Traded to the Giants in August and retired after the season.

Dave Magadan – In 1990, Magadan challenged for a batting title and received actual, real MVP votes after the season. (He finished better than worst!) The year after, he was a solid fourth of an infield that was low-key super-enjoyable for Mets fans to watch. Magadan at first, Jefferies at second, Johnson at third, and Kevin Elster at short was a group that was, at its best, definitely not old and terrible.

Mackey Sasser – Everyone remembers the throwing yips that nearly derailed his career in 1990—14 errors in 87 games—but what many forget is that Sasser largely overcame those issues in 1991, committing just one error in 179 chances over 43 games at catcher. Regardless, his career was more or less headed in its natural downward trajectory by that time, even at 28. I talked to him years ago for a magazine story on the yips that never ran. He was coaching community college ball down in Alabama. He’s now also the athletic director there. Good for him.

Kevin Elster – I was a catcher in youth ball, but if I’d had a better throwing arm, I probably would’ve played shortstop and Elster would’ve been the reason. He made the position look easy and fun, 88 games without an error and all that. Little did we know that it would all come to an end after ’91. Shoulder surgery just a week into the ’92 season ended his Mets tenure, but he would go on to appear in Little Big League, so it worked out OK for him.

Vince Coleman – In 1992, Coleman, along with teammates Gooden and Daryl Boston, was brought up on a rape charge that was later dropped. He also physically assaulted manager Jeff Torborg on the field. In 1993, he was charged with a felony for tossing a lit firecracker at fans outside Dodger Stadium. (His attorney? A pre-OJ Robert Shapiro.) But in 1991, he was merely injured and terrible, clocking in a sub-zero WARP over 72 games.

Oh wait, nah, he also fought with coach Mike Cubbage on the field before a game in July. Manager Bud Harrelson chose not to discipline Coleman and instead chalked it up to a “moment of insanity.” GM Frank Cashen (himself facing retirement) later fired Harrelson before the home finale at Shea. Cubbage took over for the final week of the season, went 3-4, and never managed again.

What a team.

Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports