A look at the Mets' recent history with the trade deadline.
The trading deadline is just days away, and all is quiet thus far on the Mets front. Compared to last few years, when names like Roy Oswalt and Manny Ramirez were being floated around the rumor mill in Flushing, most of the players today are more of a mundane character-like Mark Loretta of the Astros or Chad Cordero of the Nationals. But this year, the Mets are not only fighting to keep their first place spot in the NL East, they are fighting to get quality in return that can help them for the next few years going foward. So let us now analyze some of the past Mets deadline deals and how they affected the team for the years to come:
1999: Acquired Kenny Rogers for minor league prospect Terrance Long (Athletics)
The Mets were fighting for a playoff spot that year, and Kenny pitched reasonably well for the Mets down the stretch (4.03 ERA). However, for a third to fourth starter who blew up in the playoffs, the Mets gave up a centerfielder who put up OPS+ seasons of 102 and 100 the following two years while making a high of just over $240,000 in '01. When the Mets were looking for someone to replace the injured Derek Bell in the '01 season, Long would have been a cheap and adequate replacement.
Grade: C
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2000: Acquired Mike Bordick for Mike Kinkade and Melvin Mora (Orioles)
Talk about an overreaction. The Mets were looking for a replacement SS in 2000 when Rey Ordonez got hurt, but they never tried Melvin Mora. Bordick had a 78 OPS+ for the Mets in 00', while Mora wound up becoming a two-time All-Star, and has a career line of .279/.357/.442 for Baltimore. He also didn't make more than $3 million until 2005. Kinkade also served as a pretty good bench player and AAA slugger himself.
Grade: D+
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2002: Acquired Steve Reed and Jason Middlebrook for prospect Jason Bay and MR Bobby Jones (Padres)
Ouch. Bay hit three dingers against the Mets this past series, and has become a superstar in baseball, hitting for power and always maintaining a high OBA. He might've made the difference for the Mets in terms of a WS victory last season. While Reed pitched well for the Mets (2.08 ERA), the team went nowhere, and Reed was gone after the season.
Grade: F
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2004: Acquired Bartolome Fortunato and Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir (Devil Rays)
No explanation necessary.
Grade: F-
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2006: Acquired Oliver Perez and Roberto Hernandez for Xavier Nady (Pirates)
A great deal for the Mets, not only because they got Perez, but also received two compensation draft picks when Bert became a free agent. Nady has played well for the Pirates, but Perez has been solid this year, and could be a long term contributor. The best Minaya trade to date.
Grade: A-
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2004: Acquired Kris Benson for Jose Bautista and Ty Wigginton (Pirates)
This one is a tough, only because this deal also got the Mets El Duque and John Maine, two of the top three guys in the rotation today. However, I doubt Duquette was thinking that when he made that deal, and Wigginton has turned into a pretty good player, and Bautista is an OK utility guy with good defense at second base. So, I will have to judge this on the trade itself, and not the ramifications, which yielded the Mets a pitcher with around a 4.20 ERA during his time with the Mets. We also have to take into account that to get Jose Bautista, it costed the Mets Justin Huber.
Grade: B-
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2002: Acquired John Thomson for Mark Little and Jay Payton (Rockies)
I honestly COMPLETELY forgot Thomson was ever even on the Mets, and he was pretty lackluster with a 4.31 ERA in a 9 starts. Just what Jay Payton did at Coors in 2003 trumps Thomson's time at Shea.
Grade: C-
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2001: Acquired Matt Lawton for Rick Reed (Twins)
Reed had a few average seasons with the Twins, while Lawton had a pretty bad few months with the Mets.
Grade: C
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In the end, we see that while the Mets have made some major deadline flops (Kazmir, Bay), we also can't overlook the little mistakes they have made as well. If the Mets are hoping to buy big time at the deadline, it might be worth trading some mid-level prospects like Kevin Mulvey and Mike Carp for guys they know can contribute for a few years to come, and not just some rentals. However, if the rentals can preform and the help the Mets win a title, whatever they give up will have little consequence. Let's just hope Milledge isn't involved.
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