" Sorry Mo - But you didn't make the cut !!"
Well the results of this years Rookie Of The Year voting was released yesterday and needless to sat I was Livid when I saw that Ike Davis came in at number seven with only two votes. Yes both Buster Posey and Justin Heyward were more deserving of the award , but I still think Ike deserved to be number three on the list.
But while I was ranting and raving about this oversight I started to wonder about some of the most overlooked Mets, you know the middle of the road, under the radar players that we remember with fondness – but get lost in the shuffle when it comes to the bigger named players who have graced a Mets uniform such as Seaver, Piazza, Wright and Strawberry. These players either played during infancy of the team ( the ’60′s), the dark days of the ’70′s and early ’80′s and the mid ’90′s when the team imploded due to a front office that was mired in turmoil.
Remember the following players that are listed are in my opinion the most overlooked. If you disagree feel free to list your top candidates.
Catcher : John Stearns. “Nails” was the true poster child of grit and intensity. But he was injured so often that he is more of a after thought when it comes to the being known as one of the better catchers in Mets history.
First base: Rico Brogna. Rico was alot like Ike Davis today,- great fielding good hitting, and had very good power. Unfortunately he was traded in the early ’90′s and his production is mostly a faded memory with the Mets.
Second base: Ron Hunt. I wasn’t born when Hunt played with the Mets but he was our first rookie to ever get a considerable amount of votes for Rookie of the Year ( he lost to Pete Rose)
Shortstop : Rey Ordonez. I know what you are saying – ” My grandmother could hit better that Rey” – and you know what you’re right. But when it came to fielding the ball , very few players at the time were better than him.
Third Base: Hubie Brooks. Hubie was a fringe fan favorite fron ’81-’84. He was a born hitter ( he had a 24 game hitting streak for the Mets) and his was sure with the glove. I think many of us were sad to see him go when he was traded to the Expo’s for Gary Carter in ’85 , but he faded from memory once Ray Knight was obtained to man the hot seat.
Left Field: Bernard Gilkey. Gilkey had only two good seasons for the Mets in the mid ’90′s before his stats plunged off the cliff, But he was one of the brighter spots of some very mediocre Mets teams.
Center Field: Kevin McReynolds.McReynolds was a very gifted power hitting outfielder who played a good outfield. Unfortunately he came off as ” passionless” and gave the impression that he would rather be elsewhere than in New York.
Right Field: Steve Henderson. “Hendu“ was beloved by Mets fans in the late ’70′s. He was a clutch hitter who made highlight reel quality plays. But injuries as well as a decline in his production stamped his ticket out of town.
Pinch Hitter : Lenny Harris . Lenny was as clutch as clutch could be when he he was sent up in the late innings with runners on base. But he will always be overshadowed by Rusty Staub.
Starting Pitcher: John Matlack : Matlack was the second Met to ever win Rookie of the Year honors, and he proved that he could hold his own in a rotation that featured Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. He lasted five years with the Mets before being traded to the Texas Rangers ( another bad trade by M. Donald Grant!) In my opinion he is far and away the most overlooked pitcher the Mets have ever had !
Reliever : Skip Lockwood. When we talk about Mets relievers the names McGraw, Orosco, Franco and Rodriguez get bandied about. But few people remember Skip Lockwood. During the mid ’70′s after the Tug was traded, Skip stepped in and became one of the most over looked closers in Mets history.
So do you agree or disagree with my list? Who would you have kept and who would you have omitted? Who would be on your list ? Remember there are no right or wrong answers – it’s all subjective.
And with that said….. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating birthdays today are:
One of the original Mets of the ’62 season – catcher Harry Chiti is 78 (1932).
Reserve outfielder from’71-74, Don Hahn is 62 (1948).
Back up outfielder during the ’76 season, Leon Brown is 61 (1949).
” Doctor K” himself – Dwight Gooden is 46 (1964) I will always remember him as a rookie and the way he just made batters knee buckle when he threw that 95 plus mile per hour fastball !
Reliever from ’01-’02, Mark Corey is 36 (1974).
New York Mets signed free agent outfielder,Kevin Mitchell on November 16, 1980.He was the original Mets gangsta !
New York Mets signed free agent reliever, Don Florence of the Boston Red Sox on November 16, 1994.
New York Mets signed free agent second baseman,Damion Easley of the Arizona Diamondbacks on November 16, 2006. He was one of Omar Minaya’s better scrap heap pick ups.
And don’t forget – 136 days until the Mets open the 2011 season against the Florida Marlins in Miami.
143 days until the Mets 2011 home opener against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field. – Mo Vaughn is waiting with baited breath !!!
23 comments
TRS86
11/16/2010-7:51am at 7:51 am (UTC -4)
I just can’t think of Kevin McReynolds as a CF. He was a very good LF and played very few games in CF for the Mets. However, assuming this is like the gold glove awards then true position does not matter.
For pitchers I am going to go with the controversial Al Leiter. I know he has turned a lot of Mets fans against him but the guy was the labeled ace when he should have been a #2 and still performed very well. His first season at 17-6 with a 2.47 ERA and a 1.115 WHIP tipped off a period of 7 years with 95 wins and an ERA of around 3.40.
rustyjr
11/16/2010-8:09am at 8:09 am (UTC -4)
Good point about Leiter – in terms of big Mac we haven’t had that many overlooked centerfielders so I put him in there since he had played there with us
TRS86
11/16/2010-8:47am at 8:47 am (UTC -4)
If you roam the halls of TRDM you might think that Angel Pagan needs to go there. LOL.
How about Lance Johnson? .326 .369 .458 .827 while with the Mets to go along with 27 triples and 67 SB’s.
His 1996 has to be considered one of the better seasons in Met history.
.333 .362 .479 .841 with 21 triples, 227 hits, 117 runs, 327 total bases, 50 stolen bases, and only 40 K’s in 724 PA. That’s f’in incredible.
rustyjr
11/16/2010-8:52am at 8:52 am (UTC -4)
Damn I overlooked him lol
njstuckintx
11/16/2010-8:52am at 8:52 am (UTC -4)
McReynolds… yuk. Didn’t like him coming to the Mets. Didn’t like his style. Liked when he left.
metsfan4decades
11/16/2010-9:44am at 9:44 am (UTC -4)
Yes, we can only wish we had a ‘#2′ today with a 2.47 ERA, winning 17 games, with a WHIP that low….
Prismo
11/16/2010-8:32am at 8:32 am (UTC -4)
*Gilkey gets extra props for his cameo in Men In Black
njstuckintx
11/16/2010-8:52am at 8:52 am (UTC -4)
What about Reed as an overlooked SP?
rustyjr
11/16/2010-8:56am at 8:56 am (UTC -4)
Like I said give me your list it’s all subjective
njstuckintx
11/16/2010-9:03am at 9:03 am (UTC -4)
That was my slow-rolling of a list!
Good choices on Gilkey, Hubie, Harris & Sterns.
I’d probably put Elster in at SS.
I always though Aguleria was under appreciated, but I don’t think he would qualify as being there long enough.
I want to put Olerud at 1B as well. We as Met fans appreciate the hell out of him, but he’s one of those guys that never comes to minds of 1B players if you chat with fans of other teams.
kingman 26
11/16/2010-9:19am at 9:19 am (UTC -4)
Nice topic and nice list!
I would add Willie Montanez, Lenny Randle, Doug Flynn, Craig Swan, and at pinch hitter, the first DH with the initials DH, Danny Heep.
Disagree about Ike though. Did not hit that many HR, terrible plate discipline, and vastly overrated fielding. But has potential.
TRS86
11/16/2010-9:41am at 9:41 am (UTC -4)
So how might one judge that he has vastly overrated fielding?
stickguy
11/16/2010-10:12am at 10:12 am (UTC -4)
19 HRs as a rookie at age 23, after an abbreviated MiL career, and starting the yar in AAA, playing in a big ball park, is not many HRs?
And he had a .351 OBP in the same conditions. That is a pretty darned good number given those conditions.
He is a power hitter, and a rookie, so he K’d more than you would like. Is that all that defines plate discipline, since Wright must be even worse. Along with everyone ele on the Mets with a lower OBP. Which might just be everyone!
and vastly overrated fielding? Really? The guy is the best overall glove they have had out there since Helmet boy.
njstuckintx
11/16/2010-10:16am at 10:16 am (UTC -4)
Would have loved to see him get 20. It has such a nicer ring to it.
metsfan4decades
11/16/2010-10:17am at 10:17 am (UTC -4)
How many HRs did Ike wind up with – 19, I think? Not bad for a rookie who didn’t play all season and had a bad 6-8 weeks coming out of the ASB.
I believe for the most part, the days of 35+ HRs routinely for players is gone. Or at least for a while until players come up with a PHDs that MLB can’t detect.
Can’t agree though on the ‘vastly overrated’ fielding mindset. All stats put him near the top of the list for 1st baseman. Do you think he’ll regress in that area this year?
Me….I think his fielding will likely get even better as he gets more comfortable playing in the majors.
GravediggerHebner
11/16/2010-11:44am at 11:44 am (UTC -4)
Excellent list Rusty. I have to go out for a bit but when I come back I’ll take a stab at my own picks.
rustyjr
11/16/2010-12:44pm at 12:44 pm (UTC -4)
Lookig forward to seeing ur
Mr North Jersey
11/16/2010-1:31pm at 1:31 pm (UTC -4)
Nice list Rusty I see you really put a lot of time into it and it paid off.
Under the radar Mets for me it’s kind of hard but let me try and see what I can come up with.
1b. Rico Brogna (definitely)
]
2b. Jeff Kent (as a Met I seemed to recall he could never do enough for anyone)
ss. Rey Ordonez
3b. I am stuck on
lf. Kevin Mcreynolds (definitely)
cf. Carlos Beltran
rf. stuck again
ph. Chris Carter [ LoL Where's Kingy
sp. Oliver Perez [ wait I think I stole Ceetar's choice]
rp. stuck
cl. and stuck
kingman 26
11/16/2010-1:35pm at 1:35 pm (UTC -4)
LOL!
I will take Danny Heep as my pinch hitter!!
GravediggerHebner
11/16/2010-2:33pm at 2:33 pm (UTC -4)
OK world you can stop holding your breath here’s my version of Rusty’s Overlooked/Under appreciated Mets (I’m only considering players who’ve been on the team since I started watching in ’74). As I put this together I realized a theme of “guys on crappy teams” developed so I guess my prism was “players that contributed to teams that failed to succeed” if you will.
C – John Stearns. I agree with Rusty on this one. I can forgive him for 2 ABs in Philly otherwise his entire MLB career was as a Met during one of the worst periods in franchise history (1975-1982 with token appearances in ’83 & ’84 as things were turning around finally). Hardly a world beater but The Dude was a 4 time All-Star who stole over 10 bases 4 times and handled the rough work behind the dish with attitude. Extra credit for “The Monster is out of the Cage.”
1B – John Olerud. Living in BOS at the time he was acquired I’d seen lots of AL baseball and was stoked he was a Met. His consistently good approach at the plate and stellar defense helped usher the team out of a dark period but then he was allowed to leave just when things were getting good. Many Mets fans think of 1B and just automatically jump all the way back to Keith, perhaps we should all pause and give this guy his due, or maybe I’m just fond of his wearing a batting helmet on the field.
2B – Doug Flynn. Arrived under unfortunate circumstances and couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag but improved a bit every year with the bat while provided stellar defense including 1 Gold Glove.
3B – Hubie Brooks. Gets credit from me for coming from “City of Compton” CA. 3B was a position that was “cursed” for much of the franchise’s existence, played over 500 games there, many of them quite poorly (I was at Shea one afternoon when he made 3 errors in the same inning) but held the fort admirably on some terrible teams and showed enough promise to be included as a piece to acquire Gary Carter. Can’t thank him enough for that. HONORABLE MENTION: David Wright for being the 2nd best position player this franchise has ever developed he takes a ton of undeserved sh*t.
SS – Frank Taveras. I was psyched that the Tim Foli era, however brief, was over and that the Mets had what my 13 year old mind deemed a legit MLB shortstop. That he stole bases prolifically was cool and I always dug that the year the Mets acquired him he played in 164 regular season games. Hey those teams sucked I had to have something to latch onto. HONORABLE MENTION: Jose Reyes. Unfortunately he’s not perfect in every way but the guy is still young and still very good yet many people just want to kiss him goodbye. In some ways I think he and Wright are victims of the (too much) information era.
LF – Steve Henderson. The phrase “Hendu can do” was a pivotal part of my youth. I spent too much time wishing he’d had more power instead of appreciating him for what he did offer, an ability to get on base and to run. Like Flynn arrived in the unfortunate circumstance of the Seaver trade but can tell his grand kids he was traded separately for Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman (he’s free to omit that he was also traded for Rich Bordi). ATTN METS: he has MLB batting coach experience.
CF – Mike Cameron. All the guy did was put up 30 2B, 30 HR & 22 SB and the team rewards him by signing Carlos Beltran and moving this stellar defender to RF. We all know how that worked out.
RF – Bobby Bonilla. Don’t hit me. We all think about the stupidity, of which there is plenty, but he did have an OPS of .851 with the Mets while hitting 91 HR in his 1st 4 year stint. Plus those among us that don’t have high opinions of beat writers surely must embrace his willingness to treat them with contempt. I’m doing this one last maybe I just need some lunch.
PH – Rusty Staub. Served primarily as a pinch hitter for the final 5 seasons of his career, a difficult task, and did so admirably. He’s more than just a cherubic nice guy who treats civil servants well you know.
SP – Bret Saberhagen. Wasn’t here very long, just 3 1/2 interrupted seasons, but the man could pitch. 77 bases on balls in 524 Mets innings pitched combined with allowing less that 9 hits per 9 innings, he just kept people off base which seems like a good thing for a pitcher to do. 1.079 WHIP and 5.04 K/BB ratio as a Met. I wish he’d been here longer or that the teams around him had been better because I loved to watch this guy pitch.
RP – Neil Allen. He wasn’t very good but he was brought up to a crappy team at age 22 and saved 69 games for that crappy team over 4 1/2 seasons before the thing I most appreciate him for, getting traded for Keith Hernandez. Can’t thank him enough for facilitating that.
njstuckintx
11/16/2010-3:28pm at 3:28 pm (UTC -4)
My only quibble is that when you think of PH for the Mets, I automatically think of Staub. I’d almost put Franco in that spot, but Mongo is but a pawn in the game of life.
GravediggerHebner
11/16/2010-3:41pm at 3:41 pm (UTC -4)
I think that’s a fair criticism and despite the fact that it comes from someone who didn’t mention a PH at all in his comments above I humbly accept it because that someone probably has a job or something.
njstuckintx
11/16/2010-3:56pm at 3:56 pm (UTC -4)
It’s closer to something than a real job, at least it seems that way.