Mets: Remembering the Johan Santana trade and what it meant

Johan Santana has a place in New York Mets history as the only man to ever throw a no-hitter. On the anniversary of this accomplishment, I look back at the trade that brought him to Flushing.

The New York Mets were awarded their sole no-hitter on June 1, 2012, when Johan Santana hurled nine hitless innings on 134 pitchers. In order to remember that splendid game on its anniversary, here is a look back upon the trade the Mets made to acquire him.

The official trade consists of the Mets receiving Santana and in turn giving up Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Philip Humber, and Kevin Mulvey to the Minnesota Twins. The only legitimate asset to come forth for the Twins here was Gomez.

Mulvey ended up only pitching 1.1 innings for the Twins in total, where he pitched to the tune of a 27.00 ERA. He was shipped to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for right-handed reliever Jon Rauch, as a player to be named later. In 2009, Rauch pitched to a 1.72 ERA once he became a member of the Twins. All in all, as a Twin, Rauch hurled over 72 innings and had an overall ERA below 3. While they did not benefit much from this portion of the trade, Minnesota recovered well in shipping Mulvey for Rauch.

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Phillip Humber was a very highly regarded pitching prospect for the Mets, yet he could never find a place in their starting rotation. Humber recorded 20.2 innings for the Twins spread across 2 seasons. In October 2009, the right-hander was released from the Twins and spent time with the Royals, White Sox, and Astros. Ironically, as a member of the White Sox, he was able to complete a perfect game on April 21, 2012- less than two months prior to Santana’s no-hitter.

Guerra ultimately never made it to the big leagues for the Twins, although he had two separate stints with the organization.

Gomez put up 47 stolen bases over two seasons in Minneapolis, yet after batting .229 in 2009 he was shipped to Milwaukee for J.J. Hardy. Hardy spent just one season with the Twins and had one of the most ineffective seasons of his career.

Since the deal, Gomez gained a role as a fourth outfielder for the Brewers. However, upon gaining the proper playing time, he took off and had a great display of speed and power from 2012-2014. During that three-season stretch, he never recorded fewer than 19 home runs or 35 stolen bases. Of course, now he has returned to the Mets.

This trade was made in order to gain an ace to sit atop the rotation after the old guard of Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine had been ushered out in the two seasons prior. It worked exceptionally in the favor of the Mets, as Santana greatly succeeded in New York, despite a plethora of injuries that ultimately cut his career short.

Despite this, he has forever etched himself into franchise history with his no-hit effort.

Further, the Mets did not surrender any impactful prospects that would impact their future. Rather they acquired a special talent that was a thrill to watch and created memories- the no-hitter and the final Mets victory at Shea Stadium in his first season.

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Overall, this trade and date should be looked upon with much fondness for all Mets fans old enough to recall that night.

Johan Santana has a place in New York Mets history as the only man to ever throw a no-hitter. On the anniversary of this accomplishment, I look back at the trade that brought him to Flushing.

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