The Mets trade that added the punch of a rising star to the lineup

As dominating as the 1986 New York Mets were, the front office didn’t hesitate to seek to make the club even stronger by making a huge off-season acquisition of San Diego Padres star outfielder Kevin McReynolds.

McReynolds had been a first round pick (6th overall) by the Padres out of the University of Arkansas. He quickly established himself as reliable hitter and exceptional centerfielder for the Padres, helping them to a World Series victory in 1984.

The New York Mets and San Diego Padres completed an eight-player trade, with the Mets getting three players and the Padres getting five in return.

The main part of the trade, though was McReynolds coming to the Mets for a still developing Kevin Mitchell.

The Mets, who had rid themselves of George Foster during the ’86 season, really didn’t need McReynolds and could have just as easily have slid Mitchell into the left field slot that McReynolds would end up playing.

Mets fans are fully aware of what would become of Mitchell…moving on to the San Francisco Giants and earning himself an MVP with a few monster seasons. McReynolds was productive and reliable and put up some nice statistics. But, for some reason, he couldn’t win over Mets fans.

Coming off the 1986 season, Mets fans had become accustomed to the arrogance and brashness that defined the mid to late 80’s New York Mets. While Kevin Mitchell epitomized that culture, Kevin McReynolds was not comfortable with that and just wanted to blend into the woodwork.

So while McReynolds paid some dividends, he was never appreciated by the media and the fans and was constantly looked at as being too carefree and aloof. He would spend five seasons with the Mets – 1987 through 1991 – and average .273 with 24 HR and 87 RBi and 13 SB (He went 21-21 in SB in 1988). He never struck out more than 74 times in a season.

McReynolds was the perfect compliment for guys like Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, and Gary Carter. But his laid back personality just didn’t fit at the time. He would be traded off with Gregg Jefferies, another misfit in the Mets clubhouse, for Kansas City Royals ace Bret Saberhagen. Another trade that didn’t work out, but that’s another story.

This story continues with McReynolds returning to the Mets before the 1994 season, when the Mets dumped malcontent and yet another bad Mets signing, Vince Coleman, on the Royals. That, too, did not work out as McReynolds appeared in a mere 51 games and was soon out of baseball at the age of 34.