NY Mets: Five fabulous Sandy Alderson moves as Mets GM

2012: Blockbuster trade with Toronto Blue Jays

Sandy Alderson was a busy man during the month of December in 2012 as he would swing a blockbuster trade with the Toronto Blue Jays and acquire right-handed pitcher Noah Syndergaard, catcher Travis d’Arnaud, catcher John Buck, and outfielder Wuilmer Becerra in exchange for Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey as well as catchers Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas.

The two big prizes of this trade for the Mets were Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud as both were highly regarded as two of the top prospects in the Blue Jays Minor League system, and were now inserted to be part of the future Mets core for seasons to come.

Many executives and media around the league believed that the Mets had pulled a robbery on the Blue Jays by acquiring two of their prized prospects in exchange for a knuckleball pitcher and a couple of underwhelming catchers. At the end of the day, you can certainly argue that the Mets won that trade, as Dickey did not perform as well as he did in a Mets uniform for the Blue Jays and Syndergaard, as well as d’Arnaud, have gone on to have successful careers thus far.

When this move was made Alderson had already had a vision for how the Mets organization was going to be built and he envisioned the team being built through pitching. While d’Arnaud had a mixed bag of results for the Mets during his time, especially due to various injuries, and is now thriving with the Atlanta Braves, Syndergaard has gone on to establish himself as one of the top of the rotation stalwarts for the Mets since his debut in 2015.

The results of this trade will certainly continue to play out over future seasons with both Syndergaard and d’Arnaud currently active players in the Major Leagues, but looking back on this trade it was one of the biggest wins Sandy Alderson had as General Manager of the Mets when building his vision for the organization.