New York Mets: All-time top five December trades in franchise history
The month of December has included some fantastic trades for the New York Mets. These are the very best.
For the New York Mets, December has always been a fruitful month in the trade market. Over the years, they have frequently picked up other teams’ top players while unloading players from their own roster at precisely the right time.
It is always exciting for Mets fans when the winter hot stove picks up during one of the coldest months of the year. Fans spend the entire offseason wondering about who will be on next season’s roster and which “dream acquisition” might actually come true. Thanks to the new regime under Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson, the Flushing Faithful might be doing less dreaming and more celebrating in the coming years.
The Mets have made plenty of questionable trades in previous offseasons, but here, I’d like to highlight some of their all-time best December swaps. Honorable mentions include the R.A. Dickey trade and the acquisitions of Mike Hampton and John Franco. Though Franco has a claim to the title of “best closer in Mets history,” I decided to go with a trade for another closer who helped the Mets bring home an actual World Series title.
5) Mets get a steal for John Olerud, one of the best hitters in all of baseball
In the early 1990s, the Toronto Blue Jays were on top of the world, winning two World Series titles in 1992 and 1993 with John Olerud as their star first baseman. Meanwhile, the Mets were floundering near the NL East basement almost every year. Then, on December 20, 1996, the Mets acquired Olerud and $5 million in exchange for right-handed pitcher Robert Person. Olerud replaced Butch Huskey as the new everyday first baseman, and immediately elevated the Mets infield to new heights.
Olerud had been originally drafted by the Mets out of high school in the 27th round of the 1986 amateur draft, but he did not sign with them. The Blue Jays then drafted him in the third round three years later, which led to him spending the first eight years of his career in Toronto.
Though Olerud only spent three years in Queens, he etched his place in franchise lore by excelling at his position and setting several franchise records. His .354 batting average in 1998 is the highest single-season BA in Mets history (teammate Mike Piazza’s .348 from that same season is the second-highest). His .447 on-base percentage that same year is also a Mets single-season record (the next closest OBP was Olerud himself, the next year).
Olerud also set a franchise record in 1999 by walking 125 times, which was nearly twice as many as his 66 strikeouts that same season.
Meanwhile, Person had an unremarkable two-plus seasons in Toronto before rebounding somewhat after being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. He retired after the 2003 season with a career 4.64 ERA.
Olerud may not be as historically revered as other Mets players due to his lack of hardware. His .354 average did not lead the NL, as Larry Walker outpaced him by hitting at a .364 clip in 1998. Olerud also did not win a Gold Glove or make the All-Star team as a Met, though he accomplished both of those feats multiple times elsewhere in his career.
Nonetheless, for three seasons, Olerud was a cornerstone in New York. Considering what little the Mets gave up, this trade has to be considered one of the best in franchise history.
4) Mets say goodbye to Jerry Koosman, but welcome Jesse Orosco to the bullpen
In 1978, the iconic pitching core of the ’69 Mets was officially obliterated when the Amazins traded lefty starter Jerry Koosman to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Greg Field and a player to be named later. On February 7, 1979, that player was named, and it was pitching prospect Jesse Orosco. The Twins had drafted Orosco early on in 1978 but decided to part ways with him in favor of the proven talent of Koosman. In the end, the Mets got the better half of this deal.
Orosco debuted with the Mets in 1979 and was a workhorse in their bullpen for eight seasons. He compiled a 2.73 ERA in those years in Flushing, which is third all-time among Mets pitchers. Orosco also ranks ninth all-time in Mets history with a FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) of 3.20.
His most iconic moment in a Mets uniform was, of course, securing the final out in the 1986 World Series. Orosco struck out Marty Barrett swinging to seal the deal in glorious fashion for the Mets and famously threw his glove in the air to celebrate. It’s unclear whether that glove ever landed.
However, Orosco’s best individual season in a Mets uniform occurred three years prior in 1983. That season, he pitched to a microscopic 1.47 ERA in 62 games, notching 17 saves and allowing only 18 earned runs in 110 innings. For his efforts, he was rewarded with an All-Star selection, a third-place finish in NL Cy Young voting, and a top-twenty finish in NL MVP voting.
The one blip in this trade is that the Mets did trade Orosco away to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 1987 season, presumably thinking that he was on the downside of his career. He proved them wrong by pitching for sixteen more years, winning another World Series title with the Dodgers in 1988. Despite this miscalculation, Orosco was still one of the most valuable December trade pickups in Mets history.
3) Mets bring in Sid Fernandez, the lefty anchor of their ’80s rotation
No offense to Ross Jones, but the real star of this trade was clearly the lefty pitcher Sid Fernandez. When the Mets acquired him and Jones in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers on December 8, 1983, in exchange for Bob Bailor and Carlos Diaz, Fernandez had barely pitched in the major leagues and was still finding his way after putting up eye-catching numbers in the minors. Once he came up to the majors for good with the Mets, he quickly found his footing.
If Dwight Gooden was the righthanded anchor of the Mets’ rotation throughout the mid-1980s, Fernandez was the lefty anchor. He pitched in Queens from 1984 all the way through the 1993 season, never putting up an ERA above 3.81 during that ten-year span. His most memorable appearance might have been his scoreless relief outing in Game 7 of the 1986 World Series, when he shut down the Boston Red Sox after Ron Darling had allowed three runs. The rest, as they say, was history.
Fernandez also rather quietly vaulted up the Mets franchise leaderboards while he pitched in Flushing. Among all Mets pitchers since 1962, Fernandez is sixth in pitcher WAR, fifth in wins, fourth in WHIP, fourth in strikeouts, and fifth in innings pitched. He never seems to make the “Mount Rushmore” of iconic Mets pitchers (nowadays, many would put Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Dwight Gooden, and Jacob deGrom ahead of him in that category).
Yet, Fernandez was a reliable, clutch pitcher in Queens for many years, for a franchise that has had very few players stay with the team for ten years or more. He was never the most athletic-looking guy on the team, but Fernandez was sneaky, deceptive, and dominant on the mound.
Currently, Fernandez is not as present in Metsland as other members of the ’86 team who work for the team in some capacity or frequent alumni gatherings. Given all that he gave to this franchise through his outstanding pitching season after season, I would love to hear more from him in the years to come.
2) Mets acquire Howard Johnson, multiple-time member of the 30/30 club
While other general managers in the National League were playing checkers in the 1980s, Frank Cashen was playing chess. He managed to pull off trade after trade for quality players that all became instrumental to the Mets’ success in 1986. One of those notable transactions occurred on December 7, 1984. Just three days before they traded for Gary Carter (more on him later), the Mets traded righty starting pitcher Walt Terrell to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Howard Johnson.
Johnson, better known as “HoJo,” was fresh off of a World Series title with the Tigers in 1984, but his greatest individual years came with the Mets. From 1985 through 1993, HoJo put up three 30/30 seasons in which he hit at least 30 home runs and stole at least 30 bases. There have been only 62 individual 30/30 seasons in baseball history, and the Mets had two in one year in 1987 when HoJo and Darryl Strawberry both reached the mark.
Johnson was one of the most prolific power hitters and base stealers in all of baseball during the late 1980s. His 157 home runs from 1987-1991 ranked fourth in MLB during that time span, and his 160 stolen bases in those years was 13th in baseball.
Since Johnson started out as a part-time player on the Mets and shuffled between several defensive positions during his time in Flushing, his contributions at the plate sometimes get overlooked. Based purely on numbers, HoJo was one of the most productive offensive juggernauts in Mets history. On the all-time franchise leaderboards, he ranks eighth in position player WAR, seventh in games played, fifth in doubles, fourth in home runs and RBI, third in stolen bases, and fourth in walks.
As for Walt Terrell? He bounced around the league for a few years, spending some time with the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, and San Diego Padres before returning to Detroit to finish out his career. Going by his ERA year over year, he was never again as effective at preventing runs after he left the Mets.
Johnson was an integral part of the 1986 team, but his best years in Queens came after that championship season. With some of the other ’86 pieces gone by the later 1980s, Johnson gained more playing time and got the chance to show off his full skillset for many more years in Flushing.
1) Mets bring in “The Kid,” aka future Hall of Famer Gary Carter
The Mets have had, by my estimate, three iconic catchers in their history: Jerry Grote, Mike Piazza, and Gary Carter. Of these three, Carter came to Flushing at perhaps the most perfect time. The Mets’ future was looking up after the emergence of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden in 1983 and 1984, respectively. But even in those years, they still had an obvious hole behind the plate.
All of that changed on December 10, 1984. The Mets acquired Carter from the Montreal Expos, where he had built a Hall of Fame-caliber resume, in exchange for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Willingham, and Floyd Youmans. According to a book by Jonah Keri, the Mets nearly included Mookie Wilson in that trade, which might have lessened its overall value somewhat. Luckily, the Mets hung on to Wilson throughout the 1980s and still managed to trade for Carter.
Carter brought instant gravitas to the organization, and his confident play and clutch hitting helped vault the Mets into contention almost immediately. His walk-off home run against former Met (and Keith Hernandez trade partner) Neil Allen on Opening Day in 1985 quickly made him a hero in New York. Undoubtedly his most important on-field moment in Flushing was his single to begin the fabled 10th-inning rally of Game 6 in the 1986 World Series.
Carter enjoyed several more solid years in New York before signing with the San Francisco Giants for the 1990 season. He finished his career in 1992 where it had all started, in Montreal with the Expos.
So, what premier talent did the Expos get in return for Carter? Brooks had some successful seasons in Montreal, even notching a top-20 finish in MVP voting in 1985, but his career overall was not nearly as memorable as Carter’s. No one else in the trade came close to making up the value that Carter had provided to the Expos for a decade.
As many Mets fans have recited fondly to their friends over and over, acquiring Carter was the final piece of the puzzle for creating the World Championship 1986 roster. Fingers crossed that the Mets will soon be acquiring another “final piece” en route to their next World Series title.
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All five of these trades brought in pieces that became integral parts of Mets playoff runs. The Mets have been on the short end of plenty of trades in their history, but sometimes lost in the shuffle of the “Midnight Massacre” of 1977 and the lopsided trade of Nolan Ryan in 1971 are the many outstanding trades that this team has made. April may be the cruelest month, as the poem goes, but December certainly hasn’t been the cruelest month for the Amazins.