NY Mets: Five worst December trades the team has ever made

The New York Mets have made some awesome December trades. These aren’t them.

December has been a great month for the New York Mets to add some extremely talented players. Whether via trade or free agency, the month has been very kind to the organization.

However, not all transactions are created equally. The Mets have also had their share of bad decisions in December. Included are some notoriously bad trades.

These swaps were made with the expectation that it would improve the team. Unfortunately, each trade backfired and some became quite notorious for how bad they are in the team’s history.

Not included are trades with no final grades. So, the infamous swap with the Seattle Mariners that brought the Mets Robinson Cano will have to wait in the queue for now.

Honorable Mention: Mets trade Kevin Mitchell to the Padres

The Kevin Mitchell trade with the San Diego Padres was no doubt a bad one for the Mets. However, because the team did get Kevin McReynolds in the deal, I can’t add it to my list of the worst five. Instead, it gets an honorable mention.

The December trade sent the young outfielder, Mitchell, to the Giants with four other players including Stan Javier and Shawn Abner. Along with McReynolds, the Mets received Adam Ging and Gene Walter.

McReynolds was a solid player with the Mets for several years. In 1988, he even finished third in the MVP vote.

This doesn’t compare to what Mitchell did. In 1989, he actually won the MVP. Led by his league-leading 47 home runs and 126 RBI, Mitchell starred with his new club, the San Francisco Giants. Amazingly, the Padres gave up on him just as fast as the Mets. Somewhere out there, a Padres blog may have that trade ranked on a similar list as this.

Mitchell continued to swat home runs and give whatever team he played for production from the middle of the lineup.