The New York Mets made news last week by acquiring Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins. The New York Mets are notorious for making some of the worst trades in Major League Baseball history. They are well deserving of that label but they’ve also made some good trades over the years too. These are the 10 best trades in the history of the New York Mets.
We won’t count Johan Santana just yet. Even every New York Mets hater and the most cynical of New York Mets fans know the Twins got robbed on this deal. It’s simply a matter of Johan Santana staying healthy and this is a trade in the good trade section. Still let’s wait and see if that happens, you never know with the New York Mets.
December 15th, 1967
New York Mets trade Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, Billy Wynne and Dick Booker to the Chicago White Sox for Tommie Agee and Al Weis
During the 1969 and 1970 season Tommie Agee was a big contributor to the New York Mets. Tommie Agee scored 204 runs, had 151 RBI and hit 50 homeruns in those two seasons.
April 5th, 1972
New York Mets trade Ken Singleton, Tim Foli and Mike Jorgensen to the Montreal expos for Rusty Staub.
Rusty Staub had one of his best seasons just at the right time. In 1975 Rusty Staub had his best RBI season to date and his second best number of runs to help be a key piece of the “Ya Gotta Believe” team.
June 15th, 1983
New York Mets trade Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the St. Louis Cardinals for Keith Hernandez
The acquisition of Keith Hernandez might be the best in New York Mets history. Keith Hernandez had a great combination of hitting and defense that very few Mets ever have.
December 7th, 1984
New York Mets trade Walt Terrell to the Detroit Tigers for Howard Johnson
Before 1987 the New York Mets never had a 30/30 player. In 1987 Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson would both reach the feat and HoJo would do it two more times in his career.
December 10th, 1984
New York Mets trade Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans to the Montreal Expos for Gary Carter
The New York Mets get a lot of flack for their bad trades but the Mets teams that won the World Series in 1986 World Series and went to the National League Championship Series in 1988 would not have been the same without the trades for Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter.
March 27th, 1987
New York Mets trade Ed Hearn, Rick Anderson and Mauro Gozzo to the Kansas City Royals for David Cone
David Cone’s second season with the New York Mets resulted in a 20 – 3 record and a third place finish in the Cy Young. Cone’s numbers would actually get worse each season after that but was still a good pitcher.
December 20th, 1996
New York Mets trade Robert Person to the Toronto Blue Jays for John Olerud
I always thought the 1999 Mets team that lost in the NLCS was actually better than the team that went to the World Series in 2000 and the main reason is John Olerud. Olerud only played three seasons in New York but he hit a team record .354 one season and anchored the first base position for the best defensive infield in history. .
February 8th, 1998
New York Mets trade Jesus Sanchez, A. J. Burnett and Robert Stratton to the Florida Marlins for Al Leiter.
The Mike Piazza trade would’ve been pretty moot without Al Leiter. Al Leiter was basically the go to pitcher for the Mets in the late 90’s.
May 22nd, 1998
New York Mets trade Preston Wilson, Geoff Goetz and Ed Yarnell to the Florida Marlins for Mike Piazza
Mike Piazza will retire as the best offensive player in the history of his position. That’s a pretty good trade. Maybe it’s not enough to erase the memories of all the bad trades but it also shouldn’t be swept under the rug like the Mets have never made any good deals.
November 24th, 2005
New York Mets trade Grant Psomas, Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit to the Florida Marlins for Carlos Delgado
This good trade could still be pending. Carlos Beltran struggled mightily in his first season but once Carlos Delgado showed up and gave him some relief, Beltran took off. Delgado had a disappointing season last year but I think he’ll bounce back this year and Delgado, Beltran, Wright and Reyes should be the offensive power we think they can be.
