First off I would like to congratulate Rex Ryan and his New York Jets on their dominating performance of the Cincinnati Bengals last night. Hopefully this will quiet alot of the talking heads that were claiming that the Bengals were not trying very hard the week before and would spank our Jets. Do I believe the jets will actually get to the Super Bowl let alone win it ? Honestly I highly doubt it – but many people dismissed the ’07 Giants , and look what happened.
I have a question. Did you have a player that the Mets acquired via a trade, free agency or even through the rule five draft that you wanted to see succeed even though this player might have seen better days , was a career journeyman or was not a prospect for his previous team ? Well for me that player was second baseman Carlos Baerga. The Mets obtained Baerga in July of ’95, when we traded malcontent second baseman Jeff Kent and “Jack of all trades” utilityman Jose Vizcaino to the Cleveland Indians. Baerga was in the middle of a down season and I guess then G.M. – Steve Phillips felt all that he a needed a change of scenery. So Phillips took on the remaining three years of Baerga’s salary and was immediately installed as the everyday second baseman on a rather anemic Mets team. I being the optimistic Mets fan that I am had pie in the sky dreams that this one time offensive threat would return to his glory days once he donned a Mets uniform, and I rooted for him hard whether it when he stepped up to the plate or a screaming line drive was heading his way. Sadly my optimism ( as it usualy does) couldn’t help Carlos produce. In his three years with the Mets his line was in 306 games he sported a batting average of .267 with 18 home runs and 116 R.B.I’s.He put Fernado Tatis to shame when he led the ’98 Mets in grounding into double plays with 21. Once his contract was up in ’98 the Mets immediately granted him his freedom and he went on to play in parts of seven more seasons, never coming close to re-obtaining the magic that he had flashed in his hey day with the Indians. So now I ask you who was your favorite player that never made it with he Mets?
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                                                             ” What faded star or scrub did you root hard for?”
And now on with the INFAMY !!!!
Happy Birthday wishes go out to outfielder from the ’90-’91 teams, Kelvin Torve (1960) Torve will always be known in Mets lore as the only person – other than Rickey Henderson to be allowed to wear Willie Mays’ number 24. Here’s a little background for you people too young to remember, after the ’73 season had ended, Willie Mays had retired as a Met and then Mets owner, the Late Joan Payson unofficially retired Mays number. But somehow someone seemed to forget and issued Torve that jersey.
Power hitting outfielder (before he came to the Mets that is) , Jim Lindeman turns 48 today (1962) .
Utility infielder, Mario Diaz is also 48 today (1962) .
One time touted Mets prospect,Kevin Baez is 43 today (1967) . He is better known as being one of the players traded to the Baltimore Orioles for David Segui in ’94
New York Mets signed free agent back up catcher, Mike Bishop on January 10, 1983.
Houston Astros signed utility infielder, Bill Spiers of the New York Mets as a free agent on January 10, 1996.
Colorado Rockies signed relief pitcher, Rick White of the New York Mets as a free agent on January 10, 2002. I always liked Rick White , he reminded me of a thinner, less talented David Wells.
New York Mets signed free agent utility infielder Miguel Cairo of the New York Yankees on January 10, 2005. Cairo was a solid back up for the Mets. He was wayyy better than Shane Spencer and Karim Garcia !!
And while you are braving the cold, don’t forget that there are only 85 days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.
17 comments
GravediggerHebner
1/10/2010-10:54am at 10:54 am (UTC -4)
Great question Rusty. I had to think about that for a while before settling on one, 4-part answer:
Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Dan Norman & Pat Zachry.
I was only 11 at the time of the Tom Seaver trade but even then I realized these 4 guys would be up against it trying to overcome being the return for “The Franchise.” This isn’t entirely fair to Hendu, I believe he truly did “make it” but that only 1 of the 4 guys did IMO was not a good return for Seaver.
I think perhaps I rooted hardest for Zachry, because he was the only pitcher that came back and therefore right or wrong I felt most of the burden to try and replace Seaver rested with him. He had his moments, some decent ERAs, but never made a full season’s worth of starts let alone did really well in them.
The Met teams that all these guys played on were terrible whether despite or because of their presence. That trade was a disaster and had the Mets not won the World Series in 1986 I think we might be discussing a “Curse of The Franchise” today.
saltygary
1/10/2010-11:01am at 11:01 am (UTC -4)
I so glad I was born in ’75 and didn’t get to witness that era.
GravediggerHebner
1/10/2010-11:15am at 11:15 am (UTC -4)
Think about it this way. I was born in ’65 so the decade that took me from age 11 through my teenage years to age 21 started with the Seaver trade and ended with 116 wins and a World Series victory over the Red Sox.
You were born in ’75, so depending on when your exact date of birth is the decade that took you from age 11 through your teenage years to age 21 started with 116 wins and a World Series victory over the Red Sox and ended with 4 years of below .500 baseball and the Dallas Green era.
I guess it depends on your preference to start or finish a decade well.
saltygary
1/10/2010-5:49pm at 5:49 pm (UTC -4)
Good way to think about it. My cousin (who was a yankee fan) got me watching the team in ’85 because of Gooden and Straw and I was hooked. Luckily I was in boarding school by the end of the Dallas Green era and my TV time weren’t wasted on that but on Sega and NHL ’94.
metsfan4decades
1/10/2010-11:18am at 11:18 am (UTC -4)
Worst trade ever. Cheap, SOB was the M. Donald Grant. I can still remember reading the headlines of the sport section in the Star Ledger on that trade. I just could not believe it. And I can’t remember the words but I do remeber the concept of the spin Grant tried to put on that trade. Something about it was time, it was best for all involved, and the level of talent we were getting in return. Level of talent? As a young teenager, I had all the time in the world to follow baseball back then and I remember thinking ‘you’ve got to be kidding me. Just exactly who are these 4 guys again?’
Hazmet
1/10/2010-12:08pm at 12:08 pm (UTC -4)
I still have the newspaper from that day. Yes, I still need to get over it. I also always wonder how the Met’s fates may have turned out if Herzog continued to ascend from Mets Player Development instead of having his falling out with Grant & Payton. Then on the flip side under his oversight they won one in 69 and reappeared in 73 so he could be considered their most successful GM. God that thought makes me sick.
Hazmet
1/10/2010-12:15pm at 12:15 pm (UTC -4)
** Payson not Payton. I had Jay Payton on the brain as another guy I pulled for given the injuries he had to overcome.
rustyjr
1/10/2010-12:29pm at 12:29 pm (UTC -4)
pulling a cerrone on us huh hazmet !! lol
saltygary
1/10/2010-11:00am at 11:00 am (UTC -4)
My favorite player that never made it was Butch Huskey. Growing up on the coast of CT I traveled a lot up north to see the New Britain Red Sox AA club/Rockcats Twins affiliate (i think there something else at this point now). One night Butch was playing there, and off a hit he shattered his bat. I went down to the wall and was able to score most of the pieces (there was the barrel and the handle was about 4 pieces).
Bee Hive field was really old, so the players had to make their way through the fans to get to the bus, so I stalked him. The weird thing was on his bat it had the name Nelson Liriano on it (former Royals player) and I knew who that was so I was pretty curious about why he was using it. Butch made his way out, I tracked him down for an autograph and the guy proceeded to have a 5/10 minute conversation with me while he was signing other autographs. He discussed how he met Nelson and how the trained together and that he liked his bats so much that Nelson gave him a whole bunch. I explained I was a Mets fan so he talked about the other players on the team and the organization. I was a teenager at that point and was really pumped that the guy gave me the time to have a baseball conversation.
metsfan4decades
1/10/2010-11:12am at 11:12 am (UTC -4)
Call me delusional but I was secretly hoping we’d be on the receiving end of good luck when we picked up the soon to be 25 year old Ollie as a thrown in to that trade b/c of that ill fated taxi cab ride by Duaner. Thought maybe b/c he was a lefty, who sometimes take longer to develop, and he showed some nasty stuff when on, we’d get lucky in getting a solid lefty for years to come.
We all know how that’s turned out so far…..
On a smaller scale, I was especially happy that we picked up Lee Mazzilli for that magical run down the stretch in ’86. To me, he was always a solid player and just the kind of hard nosed OF that would fit in with that team. I remember some fine timely hits from Maz that year and the next, even though they weren’t numerous.
Hazmet
1/10/2010-11:51am at 11:51 am (UTC -4)
In no specific order I always had a soft spot for: Don Hahn, Danny Heep, Steve Henderson, Anthony Young. Tip of the hat to my better half’s guy being Doug Flynn. I gotta here about him every year when someone shows up wearing his number.
rustyjr
1/10/2010-12:30pm at 12:30 pm (UTC -4)
lets not forget mike cubbage tucker ashford tommy herr glen davis larry bowa bruce bochy jose cardenal jerry morales alex trevinio junior ortiz tom pachorick etc lol
metsfan4decades
1/10/2010-1:55pm at 1:55 pm (UTC -4)
Danny Heep was another of my favorites too. I forgot about him…
wannybackstra
1/10/2010-12:38pm at 12:38 pm (UTC -4)
I really wanted Roberto Alomar to succeed here as he was always one of my favorite MLB players. Bret Saberhagen was another. Of course, Alex Ochoa came with a lot of expectations of “five tool” greatness that was never achieved as did Ryan Thompson.
Though you didn’t ask about draftees, I really pulled for Paul Wilson because it would have been significant for the team to have drafted its own homegrown ace. The Wilson debacle has soured my enthusiasm and expectations for Pelfrey, although Wilson’s problems were largely injury related.
rustyjr
1/10/2010-12:42pm at 12:42 pm (UTC -4)
i thought i inferred that oh well put shawn abner stanley jefferson etc on the list lol
stickguy
1/10/2010-2:36pm at 2:36 pm (UTC -4)
my older sister (the one primarily responsible for getting me hooked) had a major crush on Duffy Dyer, back n the day.
I always thought Pepe Manquel was going to be a start. Oops.
CaseStreet
1/10/2010-5:57pm at 5:57 pm (UTC -4)
Umm, JJ Putz