3 once popular Mets players the fans grew sick of seeing

2) Armando Benitez

The Mets were looking for a huge, intimidating presence on the mound, actually, as a set-up man for veteran John Franco, and acquired Benitez in a three-way trade from the Baltimore Orioles prior to the 1999 season.

Benitez had some problems during his time with the Orioles. He had begun to build a reputation as a strong arm out of the bullpen, but he also began to build a rep as a head hunter. In fact, after hitting the Yankees Tino Martinez for a second time, not only did his teammates not defend him, but his manager actually issued a formal apology.

Once he got to the Mets, Benitez began to flourish. He had the best five years of his career as a member of the Mets winning 18 games and saving 160 and pitching to an ERA of 2.70. He struck out 456 batters in 346 innings, around 12 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

Mets fans loved the big guy blowing people away. Guys who post a lot of K’s in the K Korner tend to do that. He was so good that he actually pushed John Franco, Mets captain and fan favorite, to the set-up role.

Well…everyone THOUGHT he was so good. Until he began to blow saves…and lose games…big games…important games. He somehow became…unreliable. Yes…unreliable. Like when he showed up late to a 1999 playoff game and, when he was summoned into the game, blew it. And he blew two important games in the 2000 post season as well.

Benitez would save a lot more games for the Mets over the next three seasons. But nothing he did, no matter how many games he would save, would save him from the wrath of Mets fans. He was subjected to a lot of booing and he was finally, mercifully, sent to the Yankees during the 2003 season.

3) Noah Syndergaard

Syndergaard came to the Mets from the Toronto Blue Jays in the trade R.A. Dickey following his Cy Young Award-winning season. But Syndergaard wasn’t even the main player the Mets coveted…that was Travis d’Arnaud.

Syndergaard was thought of as an afterthought but was soon looked upon a super hero. “Thor” burst onto the scene and was big, and threw hard. He made his presence known as a rookie in Game 3 of the 2015 World Series when he threw a pitch way up and in to Royals lead-off batter Alicides Escobar. And then afterwards Syndergaard made some brash statements about “settling things” on the mound. Mets fans love the brash talk.

In his six seasons with the Mets, Syndergaard went 47-30 with a 3.32 ERA, while striking out nearly 10 batters per nine innings. He was bothered by injuries in 2017 which limited him to seven starts. And then in 2018, he had some nagging health issues which took him out of action, but he still managed to start 25 games and finish at 13-4 and a 3.03 ERA.

Mets fans were still clamoring for the dominance promised by Thor. But while Jacob deGrom was clearly establishing himself as the ace, and himself being quite the dominant pitcher, Thor was proving a mere mortal and, thus, frustrating fans.

In 2019, Syndergaard went 10-8 with a 4.28 ERA. His strikeouts were down and his walks were up. And he led the National League in earned runs allowed. That’s not how the role of a super hero plays out. And no matter what Syndergaard could have done, nothing less than complete and utter dominance would be acceptable to Mets fans. And they let him know it.

Mets fans beg for management to sign players who have had careers with lesser stats and skill sets than Syndergaard produced during his Mets tenure. Doesn’t matter. You want to be viewed upon as a super hero, carry yourself as a super hero, then you better produce as a super hero.

And things would only get worse from there. Syndergaard would be diagnosed with an ulnar collateral ligament injury and would lose the entire short season of 2020 as well as 2021, with the exception of one single game at the end of the season. That would be all she wrote for story of Thor in a Mets uniform.