Mets trades with the Cubs have a noticeable gap between the deals

1990s trades between the Mets and Cubs

The 1990s replicated what these two organizations did in the 2000s as far as trades are concerned. After many years of never doing a deal, they struck with three over the course of the decade.

It all began on March 30, 1994, when Chicago traded infielder Jose Vizcaino to New York for a minor leaguer plus Anthony Young. It was a relatively innocuous trade although Vizcaino did play well for the Mets.

The two teams made a deal a little over two years later and got the most traded player in MLB history involved—the player to be named later. On April 8, 1996, Matt Franco was sent to the Big Apple for the player to be named later. It ended up being a minor leaguer named Chris DeWitt.

Franco enjoyed a few years in New York mostly as a pinch-hitter. This was far from a blockbuster deal. The final trade the two teams made in the 1990s, however, could be considered one.

This trade took place on August 8, 1997. Once again, a player to be named later was included in the deal. It ended up actually being two players, Mark Clark and Manny Alexander. They were paired with Lance Johnson on the journey to Wrigley Field.

In return, the Mets got Brian McRae, Mel Rojas, and Turk Wendell. Those three had mixed results during their time in New York. Wendell is remembered most fondly as the eccentric reliever the Mets could call upon to get some big outs.

Following this major deal between the two teams, they closed for business until the 2006 purchase of Pagan. The gap between deals nearly matched the current one dating back to 2009.