The Mets received Joel Youngblood from the Cardinals in exchange for infielder Mike Phillips on June 15, 1977. That same day they also traded away Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman. Hard to believe Youngblood didn’t capture any headlines, right?

 

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In some ways it should have been impossible to ignore Joel Youngblood. He was a good-looking kid, at least until he removed his cap to reveal a prematurely receding hairline. And he had personality too, possessing an amiable-but-intense energy that frequently went over well both with fans and teammates. As Craig Swan said, "He was definitely a character." Like many southern players, he was an avid hunter, and he would grow a beard in September to mark the transition from baseball season to hunting season. Swan once made the mistake of going hunting with him. Upon realizing that Youngblood just wanted someone to flush out turkeys—a task Swan balked at, saying he wasn’t a dog—he never went again. He was even more memorable on the field. Originally a shortstop from a Houston-area high school, Youngblood had been the Reds’ second-round pick in the winter phase of the 1970 draft. We’re often taught that major league utility players are born solely from grit: while short on talent, they always run hard to first base, they slide in to second harder than anyone, and they never fail to eat their Wheaties. They make up for their shortcomings through sheer heart. Youngblood was different; he oozed talent. He was fast and had raw power. He had a real howitzer for an arm. And his best trait of all may have been his batspeed, frequently fawned over by scouts and coaches throughout his development. He could have been a star.

The problem was he was what prospect mavens call a tweener. He was strong, but he was a little on the short side, without a true power hitter’s frame. He was fast, but the speed wasn’t blazing, so he didn’t really grade out as a true center fielder. Nor were his hands good enough or his feet quick enough for any but the most optimistic to consider him a long-term shortstop. In fact, it would have been a stretch to even call him a future second baseman or third baseman. So Youngblood didn’t really have the hands or feet of an infielder, the speed of a center fielder, or the typical power of a corner outfielder or first baseman. At the same time, the bat was special enough to warrant everyday play somewhere. It was just a matter of where, and that is something Mets GM Joe McDonald should have been thankful for; otherwise, he’d never have had the opportunity to trade for Youngblood on that eventful day in 1977.

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"When I said that Carney Lansford was an awful third baseman, I didn’t mean that he was as bad as Bobby Bonilla. Bonilla, listed at 240 pounds, has played about 8,000 career innings at third base, so I suppose that makes him a third baseman, and if you sent him into space a few times I suppose that would make him an astronaut, but apart from that, he was no more a third baseman than he was an astronaut. But he never gave up; he never let the position beat him, like a lot of people do."

That comes from Bonilla’s comment in The New Bill James Historical Abstract, and it’s one of my favorite passages in the book. It’s certainly a funny comment, but that isn’t why I love it so much (well, it’s not the only reason). Here’s what I find so appealing: in one brief comment about his defense, James has somehow encapsulated the entire Bobby Bonilla experience. It was always easy to watch Bonilla and become so absorbed with what he couldn’t do that it was easy to miss all the ways he was actually making the club better.

Problems of perception began following Bonilla before his Mets career even got underway. After top-three MVP finishes in 1990 and 1991, there was a belief that Bonilla was an elite player. In retrospect, this idea was fairly silly. Voters were merely enthralled by high RBI totals generated by playing in the same lineup as stars Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke, as well as solid regulars like Sid Bream, Jay Bell, Jeff King, and Don Slaught. Because of this, when Bonilla hit free agency after 1991, teams seemed to mistake Bonilla for Bonds, a proposition that was as silly then as it appears today.

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He was the odd duck of the 1986 Mets’ rotation, the one who didn’t quite belong. He wasn’t homegrown like Doc Gooden or Rick Aguilera, nor was he a young pitcher shrewdly bought on the cheap, like Ron Darling or Sid Fernandez. And despite being the oldest by three years, he wasn’t a part of the 1985 rotation either, having been brought over from Boston during the offseason. He wasn’t a power pitcher in any way shape or form, unlike each of his fellows—Roger Craig once said that he "couldn’t cut me if he hit me on the lip with a fastball." No, Bob Ojeda didn’t blend in at all, but he might have been the best pitcher the Mets had in their best season.

While the other four starters had relatively easy paths to the big leagues—all were high draft picks who quickly evolved into well-regarded prospects to various degrees—Ojeda had trouble just getting noticed. He was left-handed, but he was also short, slight, and had trouble cracking the upper 80s with his fastball. Scouts weren’t terribly impressed. Two years toiling at a community college in Visalia, California, surely didn’t help, and Ojeda went completely undrafted in 1978. He was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox on a scout’s recommendation based on a performance several years earlier, one in which Ojeda had no difficulty getting noticed for once: "I hit six batters in a row," he recalled years later. "Maybe that’s why he recommended me—I wasn’t afraid to pitch inside."

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Rick Reed was a struggling journeyman with exactly one solid season on his resume when an opportunity for increased playing time presented itself in the form of the protracted labor dispute that canceled the 1994 World Series and threatened the 1995 season as well. In January of 1995, Major League Baseball approved the use of replacement players for the upcoming season. Reed was one of a group of major leaguers who crossed the picket line and participated in spring training games with the intention of playing in the regular season. He was slated to pitch Opening Day for the Reds when the MLBPA agreed to return to work under the terms of the expired collective bargaining agreement. Reed wound up appearing in just four games with the Reds in 1995, spending the rest of the season with their Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis.

Reed was granted free agency following the 1995 season and signed a minor league deal with the Mets. During spring training of 1996 Reed quickly learned the penalty for breaking union solidarity when he was banished from team union meetings. Teammate John Franco had no pity for Reed, saying, "He knew what he did, so he has to live with it." For his part, Reed was regretful:

"I decided to do what I did and I had my reasons. But in a way I feel differently now. I don't feel like I'm part of the team. I wouldn't say I've been ignored. But I'm not one of the boys." (source)

Reed spent the entire 1996 season with Triple-A Norfolk, pitching solidly for manager Bobby Valentine. He was given a chance to make the Mets during the spring of 1997 and so impressed Valentine, who was now the manager of the big club, that Reed was named the Mets' fifth starter to begin the season. His addition to the starting rotation was met with mixed feelings from the rest of the team, many of whom still resented his fateful decision two years earlier. It didn't matter to some of them that Reed became a replacement player in part to help his mother pay for insulin; Reed was a scab and would always be one.

Reed went on to have a splendid year in 1997, finishing sixth in the National League with a 2.89 ERA and third in the NL with a 1.04 WHIP. His performance on the field even helped earn him the respect of his teammates. The 88-74 Mets finished above .500 for the first time since 1990 thanks in no small part to "Reeder".

After barely making the team out of spring training the prior year, Reed entered the 1998 season as the Mets' number three starter behind Bobby Jones and Al Leiter, a remarkable turn for a guy who had been a clubhouse pariah just twelve months earlier. Reed turned in another fine year with the Mets, posting an adjusted ERA 21% better than the league and being named to his first All-Star team (he didn't appear in the game, having started just two days earlier in Atlanta). He came within seven outs of a perfect game on June 8 against the Devil Rays and finished the first half with a 2.72 ERA and a WHIP under one. His second half wasn't nearly as impressive, though, as his BABIP ballooned from .258 to .315 and he posted a 4.44 ERA over his final 14 starts.

In spring training of 1999 the Mets made a trip to the Dominican Republic to play a two-game exhibition series against the Expos. Apart from baseball, the sojourn meant something more to Reed and his wife, Dee, who came within a legislative technicality of adopting a boy from the town of Santiago eleven years earlier (go read this article for the backstory and this one for the happy reunion).

The Mets had reason to be optimistic heading into the 1999 season, with Mike Piazza back for his first full season in Queens, Rickey Henderson aboard as a free agent, Armando Benitez's power arm solidifying the bullpen, and Reed back to help anchor a rotation that also featured Leiter, Masato Yoshii and one-time Met-killer Orel Hershiser. After allowing one run in six innings for a win in his first start of the season, Reed left his second start when he suffered a strained Achilles tendon heading to second on a would-be double. He spent the next three weeks on the disabled list while the Mets got off to a 17-9 record.

Upon returning, Reed found that he lacked the trademark control that made him one of the league's best starters the prior two seasons. He walked 47 batters in 149.1 innings, a 2.83 BB/9 that more than doubled his marks from 1997 and 1998. His 4.58 ERA and 1.41 WHIP were the worst of his Met career. Reed wasn't alone in his struggles, though, as only two of the Mets' top five starters bested the league average in ERA and none exceeded it by more than five percent. Fortunately for their pitching staff, the Mets' hitters could mash, so much so that they led the Mets to their first postseason appearance since 1998.

In his first ever playoff start, Reed allowed just two runs in six innings to propel the Mets to a 9-2 victory at Shea in the third game of their NLDS series against the Diamondbacks. The Mets won the series the next day on Tank Pratt's walkoff homerun and went on to face the Braves in the NLCS. After dropping the first three games to Atlanta, Reed tossed a gem to keep the Mets alive (it almost wasn't a gem, as Reed allowed two of his three hits as back-to-back homeruns to Brian Jordan and Ryan Klesko to lead off the eighth). Something awesome followed, but then something awful ended it all.

Reed rediscovered his control in 2000, walking just 34 batters in 184 innings for the third-best BB/9 in the league. He missed the first two weeks of July after he fractured his left wrist on an Andruw Jones liner, just another in a long line of non-pitching injuries for Reed. As he put it:

"It's hard to describe. I've tried to bust my butt, work hard, and get prepared for my turn in the rotation. It's been the wrist. It's been the calf. It's been a stiff neck. It's been this and that, little nagging things. I guess this is the icing on the cake." (source)

Reed was replaced in the starting rotation by Bobby M. Jones, the clearly inferior of the two Bobby Joneses. Reed returned in time to outpitch Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson¹ in a span of three starts. Reed went 4-2 with a 3.29 ERA and 4.30 strikeout-to-walk ratio to finish the season and help the Mets secure the NL Wild Card for the second straight season.

The Mets faced the Giants in the NLDS and, after splitting the first two games in San Francisco (no thanks to Armando Benitez, returned home for the pivotal third game. Reed, the former replacement player², started the game and allowed just two runs in six innings, striking out six along the way. The game remained tied at two until the bottom of the thirteenth when Benny Agbayani, himself a former replacement player, deposited an Aaron Fultz offering over the left-centerfield wall to give the Mets a 3-2 walkoff victory. The Mets won the NLDS the next day on the greatest postseason pitching performance in franchise history.

The Mets went on to battle the Cardinals in the NLCS but Reed didn't fare so well this time around, coughing up five runs on eight hits in just 3.1 innings as the Mets dropped the series' third game 8-2, allowing St. Louis to pull within 2-1 in the process. The Mets didn't need Reed, though, as Mike Hampton's arm and Mike Piazza's bat led them to a 4-1 series win and the team's first pennant in fourteen years. Unfortunately for Reed and the Mets, the Yankees were awaiting them in the World Series.

After dropping the first two games at Yankee Stadium (thanks again, Armando), Reed kept the Mets alive in game three, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out eight. He left with the game tied at two runs apiece, and the Mets plated two more runs in the eighth against Orlando Hernandez and went on to win 4-2, cutting the Yankees' series lead to 2-1. We all know how that one ended³, so there's no need to rehash the whole thing here.

The 2000 offseason brought Reed his first taste of real free agency. He flirted with the Dodgers for a couple of weeks before eventually re-upping with the Mets for three years and $21.75 million. He got off to a terrific start in 2001, posting a 3.10 ERA and walking just 15 batters in 119 innings to earn his second All-Star selection. Following the break he made just three starts before the Mets dealt him to the Twins straight-up for outfielder Matt Lawton. Reed didn't see it coming:

"I'm a little numb, to be honest with you. What do you do? Life goes on. I enjoyed my time here." (source)

Reed played out his contract with the Twins to mixed results, retiring after an injury-plagued 2003 season. During his time with the Mets he was often referred to as the "Poor Man's Greg Maddux", but Reed did well to evolve from inauspicious beginnings as a struggling replacement player to become one of the better pitchers in the league⁴. He had to earn the respect of his teammates through hard work and strong performances, and it didn't hurt that he was terrific in four of his five postseason starts with the Mets. Never flashy but always workmanlike, Reed was one of the good guys and just so happened to be a fine pitcher to boot.

¹In case you're wondering, Joe McEwing went 2-for-3 with a double and two RsBI against Johnson.
²Former MLBPA chief Marvin Miller did not attend Reed's start, and had some choice words for Reed even five years after he crossed the picket line.
³Poorly, for the Mets.
⁴During his time with the Mets, Reed had the 12th best ERA in baseball (Martinez, Johnson, Brown, Maddux, Smoltz, Clemens, Schilling, Glavine, Leiter, Mussina, Hampton). His 1.60 BB/9 was second only to Maddux.

In 1967, the Mets went 61-101, clearing the century mark in losses for the fifth time in six seasons (the outlier, 1966, saw them lose only 95 games). Looking to shore up their defense and get a bit younger in the process, on December 15, 1967, the Mets completed a long-discussed trade that sent left-fielder Tommy Davis, pitcher Jack Fisher, and two others to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for utility infielder -- and Long Island native -- Al Weis and young centerfielder Tommie Agee. Agee had won the rookie of the year and finished eighth in MVP voting in 1966, but a tough sophomore campaign enabled the Mets to pry him loose.

Year	Age	PA	XBH	BB	AVG	OBP	SLG	EQA	WARP3	VORP
1968	25	391	20	15	.217	.255	.307	.224	1.0	-10.0
1969	26	635	53	59	.271	.342	.464	.293	8.4	27.2
1970	27	696	61	55	.286	.344	.469	.285	8.5	32.1
1971	28	482	33	50	.285	.362	.428	.307	6.5	26.8
1972	29	483	26	53	.227	.317	.374	.263	3.4	3.1

Agee's Met career got off to a suboptimal start. He was nailed in the back of the head by a Bob Gibson fastball in his very first spring training plate appearance, returning six days later, none the worse for wear. Once the regular season finally rolled around, Agee hit just .109/.144/.152 over his first 28 games, spanning 98 plate appearances. He wasn't a whole lot better the rest of the way, hitting .254/.292/.359 in his last 104 games to close the season with a putrid .217/.255/.307 line.

The end result was cringe-worthy, but Agee did pick his game up as the season wore on. He was hitting just .177/.220/.264 after the Mets drubbed the Giants 8-0 at Shea, but over his final 85 plate appearances -- 29 games' worth -- he hit .363/.386/.463, enough of a surge for manager Gil Hodges to all-but-guarantee Agee's place in centerfield for the following season.

Hoping to continue his hot swinging, Agee spent part of the winter with the Mets' instructional league team in St. Petersburg, Florida. It worked. Well, sort of. Agee collected five hits -- two of them homeruns -- and knocked in six runs in the first three games of the 1969 season, but picked up just three hits in his next 28 at-bats as his batting average dropped to .195 and he quickly found himself riding the bench in Hodges's doghouse.

Agee appeared sporadically over the subsequent three weeks, picking up just ten plate appearances over the Mets' next 17 games. Perhaps illustrating the fickle nature of batting average and small sample sizes, Agee raised his average to .265 in those ten times to the plate. He returned to the lineup for good on May 10 against the Astros, and smacked three homeruns in a double-header the next day. He would appear in 131 of the team's final 135 games -- making 129 starts along the way -- and finished with a .271/.342/.464 line, trailing only teammate and fellow Alabamian Cleon Jones for the team lead in OPS among starters.

Thanks in no small part to Agee's terrific season, the Mets shocked the baseball world by capturing the NL East title and stormed into the playoffs to face the Braves in the NLCS. Agee was brilliant against Atlanta, hitting .357/.438/.857 with two homeruns and four RsBI as the Mets swept in three games to move on to the franchise's first World Series appearance. Agee didn't fare quite so well against Baltimore in the Fall Classic, hitting just .167/.250/.333 in the five-game series, but his efforts in the Series' third game made up for any shortcomings otherwise.

With the Series tied at a game apiece and Shea hosting its first World Series game, Agee led off the bottom of the first with a clout to centerfield that put the Mets ahead, 1-0. The rest of his Game 3 heorics came with the glove, with which he made two incredible catches, including this one that robbed Paul Blair of an extra-base hit with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the seventh. The Mets went on to win that game -- and the next two -- to capture their first World Series title against the heavily-favored Orioles (here is a photo montage the New York Times ran on 8/15/1969).

Fresh off his World Series celebration, Agee finished sixth in the NL MVP voting and was awarded a $40,000 contract for 1970. Continuing a pattern he established in his first two seasons with the Mets, Agee got off to a slow start again, hitting just .227/.310/.333 after the team's first 20 games and his first 84 plate appearances. Also like his first two seasons, Agee just took a little while to get going, as he hit .294/.349/.487 over his final 135 games. He also walloped eleven homeruns in June, setting a club mark for longballs in a month, had a 19-game hitting streak at one point, and won a game in tenth inning on a walk-off steal of home. He also picked up his second Gold Glove award for his play in centerfield. The Mets were tied for first place as late as September 14, but lost eight of their last eleven games to finish at 83-79, in third place in the NL East and six games behind the first-place Pirates.

Agee actually got off to a solid start in 1971, but was derailed by a right knee injury that cost him 20 games in June. He hit .287/.373/.439 for the 62 games that followed his return, but his season was halted again on September 4 when he "had 70 cubic centimeters of blood drained from his right knee" (New York Times, 9/5/1971). He missed fifteen more games recuperating, and the Mets finished the season tied for third, this time fourteen games in back of the Pirates.

Agee was reportedly healthy after an offseason of rest and light exercise, and the Mets signed him for the 1972 season for around $55,000, the same figure he earned in 1971. Agee's performance belied his assertion, as he struggled with the bat for much of the season. He missed a week with a groin strain at the beginning of July, came back for two games, then suffered a strained intercostal and missed the next three weeks. Agee muddled along -- much like the Mets -- for the remainder of the season, and finished with a disappointing .227/.317/.374 line.

Weary of Agee's growing list of injuries, the Mets dealt him to the Astros that offseason for Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris, who went on to do little and nothing for the Mets, respectively. Agee hit a collective .222/.281/.398 with the Astros and Cardinals in 1973, but by that time injuries had sapped almost all of the speed and power from his once-athletic body. He was cut by the Dodgers during spring training of 1974 and that was it for Agee, who, at just 30 years old, was officially out of baseball.

Tommie Agee went on to sell title insurance after his playing career ended, and he died following a heart attack on January 22, 2001 at the age of 58.

Though it took him some time to get rolling, Tommie Agee turned in three excellent seasons for the Mets from 1969 thru 1971. He was terrific in the 1969 NLCS and owned Game 3 of the World Series, his miraculous diving catch in the latter having left an indelible imprint on a generation of Mets fans. The rigors of the game wore him down far too soon, and though his life was cut tragically short, the images and vivid memories of his time spent in Queens live on.

In the seven years from 1984 through 1990, the Mets had an incredible run of success during which they averaged better than 95 wins per season. Manager Davey Johnson had been dispatched a quarter of the way through the 1990 season, and his replacement, Bud Harrelson, was similarly replaced midway through a 1991 season that saw the Mets go 77-84. Frank Cashen's successful run as General Manager came to an end as he was replaced by Al Harazin following the 1991 season. Harazin's game plan: Resign Frank Viola and add a big bat to protect Howard Johnson and replace the declining Kevin McReynolds.

The prize hitter of that 1991 free agent class was Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder/third-baseman Bobby Bonilla. After flirting with fellow free agents Wally Joyner and Danny Tartabull, the Mets outbid the Phillies and Angels, among other teams, to secure the services of Bonilla for a then record-breaking contract worth $29 million over five years. Despite signing the biggest contract in team sports, many acknowledged that Bonilla wasn't exactly the best hitter in baseball, but figured his personality and intangibles would make up the difference.

Bonilla may not be a colossal talent, but his acquisition registers an enormous impact on the Mets, the shifts that result likely to be felt in everything from the club's public perception to its daily lineup. For Bonilla is both an engaging personality -- his charisma can infect a clubhouse, his unaffected self-confidence can defuse the pressures of performance -- and an intriguing offensive force.

-- New York Times, 12/3/1991

Whatever the perception of Bonilla the player, everyone wanted him and the Mets got him. He finished in the top three of the NL MVP voting in his final two years in Pittsburgh and was an All-Star in his final four seasons with the Pirates. Born in the Bronx, Bonilla took the Mets' money and hunkered down for a spell in Queens.

Year	Age	PA	XBH	BB	AVG	OBP	SLG	EQA	WARP3	VORP
1992	29	506	42	66	.249	.348	.432	.291	5.8	20.4
1993	30	582	58	72	.265	.352	.522	.300	5.7	37.5
1994	31	460	45	55	.290	.374	.504	.298	7.5	30.8
1995	32	351	47	31	.325	.385	.599	.325	5.1	33.6
1999	36	141	9	19	.160	.277	.303	.200	0.0	-10.4

In addition to Bonilla, the Mets also imported free agent first baseman Eddie Murray and second baseman Willie Randolph, while trading McReynolds and Gregg Jefferies to the Royals for Bret Saberhagen. Harazin had remade the Mets into a potential playoff contender, but in the difficult transition from page to field would the Mets be able to translate that potential into positive results? In a word: No.

Bonilla got off to a fast start with the Mets in 1992, hitting .333/.472/.548 with two homeruns and ten RBI in his first twelve games. Unfortunately, the Mets were 5-7 in those games and quickly found themselves in fifth place in the NL East. Bonilla then went into a prolonged slump, hitting just .172/.300/.194 over the next 27 games. The Mets were a respectable 21-18 at that point, and a few days later they had actually crept to within a game of first place.

One streak replaced another for Bonilla, who went on a tear to the tune of .284/.369/.502 over the next 63 games. Unfortunately, the rest of the team went in the tank and the Mets were 5.5 games back of the Pirates on August 2nd when Bonilla landed on the disabled list with a fractured rib. Prior to the injury, during Bonilla's hot stretch the Mets' other key hitters were conspicuously dormant. Murray hit .243/.296/.391. HoJo hit .230/.341/.315. Daryl Boston hit .200/.250/.411.

Bonilla missed thirteen games on the DL, and the weight of the expectations carried by his unprecedented contract started getting to Bonilla. Teammate Willie Randolph explained Bonilla's situation as clearly as he could.

"I don't think he realized," Randolph said, "that the whole focus could end up on him. Getting off to a slow start at home, what was said -- that bothered him. I don't think he really enjoyed the position he was in. He said he knew what to expect, but, until you're there, you can't really know."

-- New York Times, 8/18/1992

Bonilla returned to action on August 19th after missing 13 games, but really struggled to get his bearings, hitting .207/.284/.457 over the next 26 games before ending his season on September 17 when he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder. During the surgery, the damage to Bonilla's shoulder area turned out to be considerably worse than initially thought. Team physician Dr. David Altchek had to repair a torn bicep and a "tear and detachment of the labrum in the shoulder". Following surgery, some were amazed that Bonilla carried on as long as he did given the extent of the damage in his arm and shoulder (not to mention the cracked rib).

Bonilla made a full recovery that offseason, but he ran into trouble with the New York media during spring training of 1993. Tired of the constant criticism that plagued him during his freshman season with the Mets, Bonilla made it clear to reporters that he wasn't going to sit idly by while they tore him apart.

"No one is going to tell me how to play the game," he said before going 0 for 3. "And the media definitely won't dictate what I can do and can't do."

Asked if one of the things he expected to do was wear earplugs again at Shea Stadium, Bonilla said: "It depends on how I feel, depends on what mood I'm in. Last year the opinions of others might have had an effect on what I chose to do. Not this year. I'm going to do what it takes to win."

-- New York Times, 3/12/1993

Bonilla got off to a slow start in 1993, hitting just .213/.304/.389 through his first 29 games. The rest of the team was with him all the way, though, as they got off to an 11-18 start, good for last place in the NL East and already 11.5 games back of the Phillies. Something clicked after that, though, and Bonilla hit .279/.365/.558 through his final 110 games of the season before a shoulder injury -- the left one this time -- caused him to miss the team's final 23 games. The Mets went 12-11 in those games, finishing the season 38 games behind Philadelphia.

That offseason, the Mets entertained offers for Bonilla from the Orioles, but decided to hang onto their enigmatic slugger when Baltimore declined to offer anything better than a package involving outfielder Mike Devereaux and first baseman David Segui. The Mets wound up trading for Segui anyway, parting with two minor leaguers to fill the hole at first base left by the departed Murray.

The Mets were awful again in 1994, but Bonilla had little to do with that, hitting .290/.374/.504 before everyone's season was derailed by the players' strike that canceled the last seven weeks of the season as well as the playoffs and the World Series. The strike lasted into the 1995 season, wiping out the Mets' first 18 games before play resumed on April 26. The time off must have done Bonilla some good, because he got off to a blazing start, hitting .349/.412/.642 through his first 30 games. He was hitting .325/.385/.599 on July 28, 1995, when he was finally shipped to Baltimore for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa. Interestingly, the Orioles were initially reluctant to include Ochoa, preferring to package reliever Armando Benitez with Buford instead. But Mets general manager Joe McIlvaine held fast to his demands for Ochoa, and after watching their AL East rival Yankees deal for David Cone and Ruben Sierra, the Orioles pulled the trigger.

News of Bonilla's departure was met with mixed emotions.

Bonilla, who was brought in under a different regime, had a tumultuous three and a half years with the Mets. But he was also easily the Mets' best and most consistent player. And when news of the trade was flashed over the Shea Stadium scoreboard, the cheers and boos were evenly divided through the crowd of 17,354.

-- New York Times, 7/29/1995

Bonilla was mostly great with the Orioles and eventually the Marlins over the subsequent few seasons, and eventually found his way back to the Mets in the 1998 offseason when he was acquired from the Dodgers in exchange for Mel Rojas. He wasn't much of a hitter during that second tour of duty in New York, hitting .160/.277/.303 in 141 plate appearances. He almost didn't even make it through the season, as general manager Steve Phillips considered releasing Bonilla in order to diffuse the growing animosity between his outfielder and manager Bobby Valentine.

The Mets wound up hanging onto Bonilla, and they made the playoffs for the first time since 1988. Bonilla didn't see much playing time, however, going 0-for-1 with a walk in the LDS against the Diamondbacks and 1-for-3 in the NLCS against the Braves. The Mets lost the NLCS in six games and Bonilla was released the following offseason, drawing Phillips' ire by playing cards in the clubhouse with Rickey Henderson during the waning innings of that sixth game with the Braves. Bonilla spent 2000 with the Braves and 2001 with the Cardinals before hanging 'em up for good.

There were a lot of reasons for the failures of those early nineties Mets teams, but Bobby Bonilla wasn't one of them. He wasn't the perennial MVP candidate the Mets hoped they were getting when they opened the vault to bring him to Shea, but they really should have known that all along. His numbers weren't those of a terrific hitter. A very good hitter, sure, but his production at the plate paled in comparison to those of his former Pittsburgh teammate Barry Bonds. The Mets thought they were getting more than just a ballplayer in Bonilla, and perhaps that's where the biggest evaluative failure lies. Bonilla was being paid like an outstanding hitter even though everyone knew -- even at the time -- that he was merely a very good hitter whose personality was supposed to bridge the gap between goodness and greatness. When it didn't, the backlash was aimed at Bonilla instead of the more appropriate target, Al Harazin.

Bonilla is best remembered for his massive contract (that the Mets continue to bear the financial burden of), and is most often thought of unfavorably as a result. The reality is that the Mets shoved that money in front of Bonilla and he took it, and all he could manage in return was to be the best hitter the Mets had in each of the four years he served with them from 1992 through his deadline trade to the Orioles midway through the 1995 season. Bobby Bonilla wasn't a great player, but he was a very good player, even if he couldn't quite live up to the lofty expectations placed on him.

With the ninth pick in the first round of the 1981 June amateur draft the Texas Rangers selected a 6'3" power right-handed pitcher out of Yale named Ron Darling. Twelve rounds and 306 picks later the Mets selected Lenny Dykstra out of Garden Grove High School in California. Five feet, ten inches and 167 pounds, Dykstra established himself in the minor leagues as someone who played much bigger than his size, and he carried that attitude and reputation into the big leagues.

Year	Team	Lg	Age	Lvl	AB	XBH	BB	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
1981	Shelby	SAL	18	A	157	9	37	15	5	.261	.400	.331
1982	Shelby	SAL	19	A	413	23	95	77	11	.291	.425	.378
1983	Lynchburg	Caro	20	A+	525	46	107	105	23	.358	.472	.503
1984	Jackson	Tex	21	AA	501	38	73	53	17	.275	.372	.389
1985	Tidewater	IL	22	AAA	229	15	31	26	6	.310	.392	.410

As an eighteen-year-old, Dykstra joined the Shelby Mets of the Sally League mid-season and made an immediate impact. Despite being younger than most of his competition, Dykstra posted a respectable .261 batting average to go along with 37 walks and 15 stolen bases in just 157 at-bats. Considering his age relative to the league, his plate discipline was very highly-developed, a trait that can often portend future success against stronger opposition.

Dykstra displayed very little in the way of power in the early going, and that would remain largely true throughout his baseball career. He returned to Shelby in 1982 and did his best to prove that his short time in pro ball the prior year was no flash in the pan. He drew 95 walks and swiped 77 bags in 88 attempts over a full season of A-ball, posting a gaudy .425 on-base percentage to go along with an underwhelming .378 slugging percentage.

As a 20-year-old the following season he was promoted to High-A Lynchburg of the Carolina League and showed a devastating combination of patience and speed that would make Rickey Henderson proud. Dykstra drew 107 walks and stole 105 bases (in 128 attempts, an 82% success rate), and posted an astounding .358/.472/.503 batting line. The season would prove to be an outlier in the power department when considering his entire minor league career. The following year he slugged just .389 at Double-A Jackson, though his .372 on-base percentage was still very strong.

He began the 1985 season with Triple-A Tidewater, showing a strong walk rate and little extra-base ability. When infielder Ron Gardenhire was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a pulled hamstring on May 2, the Mets called Dykstra up to take his place on the big league roster. While Mookie Wilson rested a sore right shoulder, Dykstra started three straight games in center for the Mets, picking up five hits in his first twelve at-bats including a homerun in his second big league plate appearance (he struck out in his first).

Dykstra's first big league stint lasted barely a week, as he was promptly returned to Tidewater when the Mets recalled Sid Fernandez on May 11. Dykstra spent the next month in Triple-A before again being summoned by the Mets -- this time for good -- when they sent struggling starter Calvin Schiraldi back to the minors.

Dykstra appeared in 85 games with the Mets in 1985, platooning with Wilson in center field. Facing mostly right-handed pitchers, Dykstra hit a nothing-special .254/.338/.331 over 273 plate appearances. The Mets won 98 games that season, falling just three games shy of the Cardinals for NL East supremacy.

Year	Age	PA	XBH	BB	AVG	OBP	SLG	EQA	WARP3	VORP
1985	22	273	13	30	.254	.338	.331	.270	3.2	4.6
1986	23	498	42	58	.295	.377	.445	.308	8.3	32.7
1987	24	479	50	40	.285	.352	.455	.290	6.0	24.3
1988	25	466	30	30	.270	.321	.385	.281	6.0	16.5
1988	26	192	16	23	.270	.362	.415	.311	2.9	13.6

When Spring arrived in 1986, Dykstra was preparing to split time again in center when Wilson was struck in the eye with a ball during a routine baserunning drill. Dykstra got most of the playing time in Wilson's absence, though he was still benched against tough lefties in favor of Kevin Mitchell. For his part, Dykstra saw Wilson's injury as an opportunity.

"Two days ago I was looking at Wilson being ready to play at the start of the season. Now they're counting on me to do the job. Not to pinch-hit or pinch-run or get in the game every fourth day."

[...]

"Last year, I was watching the guys on TV in the minor leagues. Then I was the rookie. Well, that's gone. I feel for Mookie, but I'm not going to lay back. I'll go twice as hard and force [manager] Davey [Johnson] to make a decision when Mookie comes back".

-- New York Times, 5/6/1986

Dykstra made good on his word, putting together a tremendous season at the plate and hitting .295/.377/.445 as the Mets coasted to their first NL East title in thirteen years. Dykstra's 32.7 VORP was the second-highest among National League centerfielders, trailing only future Met -- and then-Padre -- Kevin McReynolds.

Dykstra was even better during the Mets' 1986 postseason run, hitting .304/.360/.565 in the NLCS against the Astros, including a game-winning two-run homer off Dave Smith in the second game of the series. Of the home run, Dykstra said:

"The last time I hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to win a game I was playing my Strat-o-matic baseball game, rolling dice against my brother Kevin".

-- New York Times, 10/12/1986

Dykstra also played a pivotal role in the Mets' ninth inning rally in Game 6, leading off the frame with a triple and eventually scoring the first of three runs that would tie the game and send it to extras. Seven innings later, Dykstra scored Wally Backman with a single that gave the Mets a 7-4 lead in the top of the sixteenth. What seemed like a tack-on run at the time turned out to be the game-winner after Jesse Orosco allowed two Astros to score in the bottom of the sixteenth before striking out Kevin Bass to send the Mets to the World Series.

Dykstra continued his torrent hitting in the World Series, batting .296/.345/.519 in 27 at-bats, including a leadoff homerun in a must-win Game 3 and a second put-away blast that extended the Mets' lead to 5-0 in Game 4. He also contributed a pinch-hit single and a run in a three-run seventh inning of Game 7 that propelled the Mets to the series victory.

With a terrific season under his belt and a World Series ring on his finger, Dykstra arrived at spring training in 1987 as the Mets' starting center fielder and a raise in salary from $92,500 to $202,500. A rough spring left his starting aspirations in doubt, though, and Davey Johnson made it known that Dykstra's hold on center field was becoming tenuous. Johnson put Dykstra on notice:

"What I was really saying is that Lenny oughta get his stuff together. Maybe he was thinking about all the banquets and worrying about selling too many posters."

-- New York Times, 3/29/1987

Mookie Wilson did get a bunch of starts against lefties in 1987, but Dykstra shouldered most of the load in center. His production fell off a bit from his '86 numbers, but he still hit a solid .285/.352/.455 and was again one of the better hitters at his position in the National League. The Mets finished with 92 wins, sixteen less than the previous year and three fewer than the NL East Champion Cardinals.

Dykstra bulked up during that offseason and showed up for training camp in 1988 with an extra twenty pounds added to his 5'10" frame. The irony is that his training diligence didn't impress his manager, but rather infuriated him. Further, Dykstra actually had his worst full season in the power department, collecting just 30 extra-base hits (eight homeruns) and slugging a wimpy .385. Though his regular season was less than stellar, Dykstra turned it on in the NLCS against the Dodgers, hitting .429/.600/.857 in 14 at-bats.

Dykstra won his salary arbitration case prior to the 1989 season and was awarded a $575,000 contract, a hefty raise from the $305,000 he made in 1988. Despite the raise, Dykstra had grown frustrated with the center field time-share he was still involved in with Mookie Wilson. After voicing his concerns to management, Dykstra asked to be traded so that he could become a full-time starter elsewhere. The Mets had trade discussions with the Yankees in spring training that would have ultimately shipped Dykstra to the Bronx, but nothing ever materialized from those conversations.

Dykstra hit pretty well to start the 1989 season, batting .270/.362/.415 through June 18. That day would turn out to be Dykstra's last as a Met, as he was sent packing to Philadelphia along with Roger McDowell in exchange for center fielder Juan Samuel. Dykstra was excited about the change of scenery:

"For me, this isn't that sad. This is the time for me to make a move. I'm 26 and I've been here nearly five years. Maybe it's time to show I can hit those left-handed pitchers."

-- New York Times, 6/19/1989

The trade would turn out to be a bad one for the Mets, as Samuel hit an incomprehensible .228/.299/.300 in 333 at-bats over the remainder of the 1989 season before getting traded again, this time to the Dodgers for Alejandro Pena and Mike Marshall.

Dykstra was thrice an All Star for the Phillies, finishing in the Top-10 in MVP voting twice, including a second-place finish in 1993 when he hit .305/.420/.482 for the National League pennant-winners. Injuries cut his career short, as he appeared in just 40 games as a 33-year-old in 1996 and retired two years later after a couple of unsuccessful comeback attempts.

Always a fan-favorite at Shea, Dykstra's reputation has recently taken a hit following his inclusion in the Mitchell Report, which alleged that he had used anabolic steroids during his Major League career. If steroids indeed helped Dykstra add muscle following the 1987 season, Met fans can find some solace in the fact that his best years in Flushing actually came before he began his workout regimen. Regardless, Dykstra was terrific for one season as a Met and very good in two others, and he was a key component in the team's World Series Championship in 1986.

Long live "Nails".

Sources

Lenny Dykstra at Baseball-Reference.com
Lenny Dykstra at Baseball Prospectus
Lenny Dykstra at The Baseball Cube
Lenny Dykstra at Fan Graphs

After spending sixteen mostly-splendid seasons pitching for the Braves, a stretch that included two Cy Young awards, five top-three finishes and eight All-Star appearances, 36-year-old Tom Glavine was a free agent looking for one last big-money deal to get him to 300 wins and baseball immortality. After a dramatic courtship and intense competition from the Phillies and Braves, the Mets and their persistent owner Fred Wilpon had landed their prized free agent target. Glavine was officially a Met, signing a complicated three-year, $35 million deal on December 5, 2002.

Even after inking with the Mets Glavine had mixed emotions about the deal:

"It's almost surreal that it happened. I never thought I would play for someone else. I thought I would play my whole career with the Braves. I held out hope that things would work out, but they didn't. There's a lot of emotions. It's a tough time.

In the end, there was just something telling me in my gut that New York was the right choice."

--New York Daily News (12/6/02)

Year  Age    IP   ERA    H   HR  BB   SO  ERA+  WARP3  SNLVAR
-------------------------------------------------------------
2003   37  183.1  4.52  205  21  66   82   94    4.3     4.2
2004   38  212.1  3.60  204  20  70  109  119    7.3     4.9
2005   39  211.1  3.53  227  12  61  105  118    6.8     5.4
2006   40  198.0  3.82  202  22  62  131  113    5.6     5.0
2007   41  131.2  4.51  139  18  44   60   91    3.4     3.0

Glavine came aboard to anchor a veteran rotation that featured Al Leiter, Steve Trachsel, David Cone (in his second tour of duty with the Mets) and youngster Jae Seo, and to help the Mets rebound from their first losing season since 1996. Glavine's Met career began inauspiciously as he got roughed up in his very first start. In front of a Shea Stadium crowd of 53,586 Glavine allowed five runs on eight hits and four walks in just 3.2 innings in a game the Mets would eventually lose 15-2 (Cub centerfielder Corey Patterson belted two homeruns and drove in seven runs; Mike Bacsik allowed nine runs in two innings of relief for the Mets). Glavine did well to put his disastrous Opening Day start behind him by allowing just two runs in eighteen innings covering his next three starts. He was 5-3 with a 3.41 ERA through his first ten starts while the Mets struggled to a 19-25 record overall. From that point until the end of the season Glavine was occasionally brilliant but generally terrible, posting a 4-11 record to go with a 5.10 ERA over his last 22 starts of 2003. The Mets finished with a 66-95 record, good for last place in the National League East and 34.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves. Needless to say this wasn't what the Mets had in mind when they signed Tom Glavine to be the ace of their pitching staff.

Glavine's second season with the Mets went far better than his first, pitching to a 2.66 ERA and an All-Star appearance in the first half. His 5.06 ERA and 43-to-37 strikeout-to-walk ratio in the second half was eerily reminiscent of the way he tailed off in 2003, but he finished with a solid 3.60 ERA for the season, 19% better than the league. As a team the Mets were still lousy, going 71-91 and finishing fourth in the division, a result that contributed to the firing of Art Howe as the team's manager and the demotion of general manager Jim Duquette to assistant duties. Howe would be replaced by first-time manager Willie Randolph and Duquette was usurped by former Met executive Omar Minaya, happily released from front office purgatory in Montreal.

In 2005 the Mets reloaded via free agency, adding superstars Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran to a team that already featured up-and-coming stars David Wright and Jose Reyes. The presence of Martinez in particular took some pressure off of Glavine as he was no longer looked upon to be the ace of the starting rotation. For Glavine, the changes made for a much more competitive team which in turn pushed him closer to his ultimate personal goal, three hundred career victories. He came to the Mets just 58 wins shy of the milestone but accumulated just twenty victories in his first two seasons in Queens after averaging better than seventeen wins per season in his last twelve years with the Braves.

Now the Mets' bona fide #2 starter, Glavine came out and pitched about as well in 2005 as he had in 2004: His innings pitched, ERA, strikeouts and ERA+ were all virtually identical. He put thirteen more wins into his portfolio and the Mets as a team showed plenty of improvement, finishing better than .500 for the first time in three years.

Glavine continued to chew up innings in 2006 and made his second All-Star appearance in a Mets uniform. His 5.95 K/9 ratio was the best it had been since he struck out 6.16 batters per nine innings back in 1998 and his 2.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio was his highest since 2000. He went 15-7 on the season and helped the Mets reach the postseason for the first time in six years. Glavine was terrific in the playoffs, shutting out the Dodgers for six innings in the second game of the LDS and allowing just three earned runs in eleven innings in two LCS starts. The Mets eventually lost the NLCS to the Cardinals in seven games, but that had more to do with the Mets' lack of hitting than anything else.

The 2006 offseason brought free agency for Glavine again. After entertaining a return to Atlanta he eventually signed a one-year deal to return to the Mets.

"I can't tell you how good it makes me feel that they gave me the respect they gave me and the time they gave. I don't care what you do in life, there's a value to feeling you're appreciated and wanted somewhere. The Mets certainly made me feel that way and treated me that way. I'm not saying the Braves didn't have an interest in me. They said they did. But, in the end, nothing ever materialized.

That pull to come back to New York was a very strong pull. In the end, it's where we felt like we needed to be."

--New York Daily News (12/2/06)

What would 2007 hold? To be continued...

Sources

Tom Glavine at Baseball-Reference.com
Tom Glavine at Baseball Prospectus
Tom Glavine at Fan Graphs