Mets Trade History: The Cy Young winners acquired via trade

The New York Mets have acquired some notable former Cy Young winners via trade. We take a look at how they landed in Flushing and their impact with the Amazins.

Bringing a former Cy Young winner to town via trade usually looks like a good idea. Unless the guy is in the twilight of his career, it has worked well for the New York Mets.

Previously on Rising Apple, we took a look at the Cy Young winners the Mets have signed in free agency. It’s the way they put Rick Porcello in the team’s uniform ahead of the 2020 season.

This hardly tells the full story of the history of the Mets and former Cy Young winners. From the earliest days of the franchise through today, we take a look at the four Cy Young winners the Mets brought to Flushing via trade.

Honorable Mention: Warren Spahn – 1957 Cy Young Winner

One of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all-time, Warren Spahn was technically not a trade. Back in 1964, the Mets purchased him from the Milwaukee Braves. This was quite common in the days before free agency. It’s how the Mets landed their first former Cy Young winner in team history.

Spahn only pitched one season for the club. In 19 starts and a relief appearance, he went 4-12 with a 4.36 ERA.

Unfortunately for the future Hall of Famer, he didn’t last the full season in New York. The 44-year-old was released in mid-July and signed two days later by the San Francisco Giants where he wrapped up his career.

Many Mets rosters in the early 1960s included former stars such as Spahn in hopes of adding some star-power to the organization. Spahn was clearly finished after two decades in baseball and his atypically bad numbers with the Mets in 1965 showed the Braves were right to sell him.

Frank Viola – 1988 Cy Young Winner

In the summer of 1989, the Mets were hopeful the end of the glorious late 1980s were not through for the franchise. To give themselves a boost, they pulled off a July 31 trade with the Minnesota Twins for the reigning American League Cy Young winner, Frank Viola.

Viola cost the Mets Rick Aguilera, Tim Drummond, Kevin Tapani, David West, and the player to be named later in the deal, Jack Savage. It was quite a haul, but a pretty fair deal to land a guy who won 24 games a year prior.

At the time of the trade, Viola was just 8-12. He had an ERA of 3.79 for the Twins, a total more than a run higher than the 2.64 posted in his Cy Young season.

Viola wasn’t elite down the stretch. However, it’s hard to get too upset over a 3.38 ERA in 12 starts. Fortunately for the Mets, this trade was more than a rental. Viola would stick around for two more seasons.

In 1990, Viola put together a masterful 20-win season with a 2.67 ERA. He finished third in the Cy Young race and helped keep the Mets as one of the top teams in the National League. He was an All-Star this year and again in his final campaign with the Amazins in 1991.

In total, Viola made 82 starts for his hometown Mets. He went 38-32 with a 3.31 ERA. He was an absolute workhorse for the team, making 35 starts in each of his full seasons with the team.

Sadly, because the team never made the postseason, he’s one of those pitchers many fans forgot about.

Bret Saberhagen – 1985 and 1989 Cy Young Winner

Shortly after losing Viola to free agency, the Mets went out and added another former American League Cy Young winner. The difference with this addition was the guy they were bringing to town already won the award twice. His name is Bret Saberhagen.

On December 11, 19991, the Mets acquired Saberhagen and Bill Pecota for Gregg Jeffries, Kevin McReynolds, and Keith Miller. Once again, it was a haul to give up in order to bring a guy with a gold star on his resume.

Unfortunately, Saberhagen’s best and healthiest seasons were now in the past. He made only 15 starts and a pair of relief appearances for the Mets in 1992 before following it up with a 19-start campaign in 1993. Injuries ravaged Saberhagen’s career in the 1990s. It was fairly obvious early on that he might not capture a third Cy young.

However, in 1994, things began to turn around for the veteran hurler. Saberhagen went 14-4 with a 2.74 ERA in 24 starts. He stayed healthy, only reaching this low total because of the player’s strike.

Saberhagen finished third in the Cy Young vote in a year where he issued only 13 walks in 177.1 innings. This gave him a walk rate of 0.7 per nine. It was one of the best walks per nine season in modern baseball history.

Despite pitching during a weak era of Mets baseball, Saberhagen managed to wrap-up his time in Flushing with a 29-21 record and 3.16 ERA. His marvelous 1994 campaign saved these numbers. And because of the strike, we’re left to wonder if he could have made the year a special one with a few more opportunities to take the mound.