New York Mets: 15 best trades the franchise has ever made

#10 Bob Ojeda

Starting off the top ten part of the best trades in Mets franchise history we have an important pitching piece to the 1986 World Series team in Bob Ojeda. On November 13th, 1985, the Mets acquired Ojeda from the Boston Red Sox with minor league pitcher Chris Bayer and pitchers Tom McCarthy and John Mitchell in exchange for outfielders John Christensen and La Schelle Tarver, and pitchers Wes Gardner and Calvin Schiraldi.

Christensen never played a game for the Red Sox and was traded the following offseason. Tarver only played in 13 games in which he went 3 for 25 at the plate. Gardner pitched in five seasons for the Sox before being traded away. In his five seasons, he had a 4.73 ERA and a 1.439 WHIP over 403 innings pitched.

Schiraldi only pitched in Boston for two years before they shipped him off as well. In his first season, he was fantastic until he had to pitch against his former team in the World Series where he gave up 7 runs in 4 innings. You could say the Mets benefited in more than one way in this trade. In his two seasons overall for Boston pitched to a 3.27 ERA and a 1.233 WHIP over 134.2 innings pitched.

As for the Mets return, they did not get much out of their players besides Ojeda. Bayer never reached the major leagues, McCarthy never played for the Mets before they shipped him out of town the following offseason, and Mitchell only played one “full” season out of four years with the Mets before being traded. In his part of four seasons, Mitchell had a 4.08 ERA and a 1.464 WHIP over 125.2 innings pitched.

Ojeda on the other hand went on to have some solid years in New York. He spent a total of five seasons with the Amazins, with his first one being the 1986 World Series Champion team. Over his five seasons, he pitched to a 3.12 ERA, a 1.182 WHIP, and won 51 games over 764 innings pitched.

His best season was his first one in 1986 where he had a 2.57 ERA, a 1.090 WHIP, and won 18 games over 217.1 innings while finishing fourth in Cy Young voting and 21st in MVP voting with a 4.7 WAR.

Ojeda was even better when it came to the spotlight. In the 1986 NLCS, he had a 2.57 ERA, a 1.357 WHIP, and a complete game over 14 innings pitched. He was even better in the World Series which saw his ERA shrink to 2.08 and a WHIP of 1.385 in 13 innings pitched.

Ojeda was part of one of the best starting rotations the Mets have ever had and was a key part of them winning the World Series as a result. He currently has the ninth-best ERA and WHIP in franchise history. Ojeda’s great stretch while in New York and impact on the 1986 World Series Championship team, in addition to the Mets not giving up a whole lot land the trade for Ojeda as the tenth best trade in franchise history.