Mets have made more trades with the Braves than anyone else

Whether in Milwaukee or Atlanta, the New York Mets have made more trades with the Braves than any other organization.

Who says you can’t make trades within your own division? Out of all 29 teams, the New York Mets have made more deals with the Atlanta Braves than anyone else.

Of course, the Braves weren’t always in the same division as the Mets. Despite being in a state that borders the Atlantic Ocean, the Braves were in the National League West in the pre-Wild Card era.

The 39 trades made with the Braves are more than any other team. Since the division change though, they’ve only made five of those deals.

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The 1996 trade which sent Paul Byrd and Andy Zwirchitz to the Braves for Greg McMichael was the first. The pair wouldn’t strike another deal until 2009. In this deal, Ryan Church was swapped for Jeff Francoeur.

The Mets and Braves were at their most active in 2015. In July, veterans Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe went to New York in exchange for John Gant and Robert Whalen. A month later, the Mets purchased Eric Young Jr. from Atlanta. While this isn’t technically a player-for-player trade, it still constitutes as a deal between the two.

Most recently, they made yet another trade involving Johnson. In June of 2016, Johnson and cash went back to Queens. Akeel Morris went in the other direction to Atlanta.

Back before expansion was rampant in baseball and free agency was non-existent, these two teams made a lot more deals. In the 1960s, when teams would purchase players and return them a lot more regularly, these two often made deals.

The first actual trade these two squads made occurred on November 28, 1961. The Braves, at the time playing in Milwaukee, dealt Frank Thomas to the New York. Thomas was one of the few players on the 1962 squad who had a good year.

Prior to this, the Mets made their first post-expansion draft moves by purchasing Ken MacKenzie and Johnny Antonelli from the Braves. This took place only a day after the October 10 draft which helped shape the team’s first roster.

The trade relationship between these two teams isn’t a very good one and for obvious reasons. They are rivals and neither wants to help out the other.

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Deals like the recent ones involving Johnson-level players are the type we should continue to see. Baseball has expanded and with it are fewer changes to see this list grow.