6 best Mets trades for a minor league player

When it comes to the best trades the New York Mets have ever made, there aren’t a whole lot of wonderful deals where the team sold midseason and landed some valuable prospects in return. The club has not had all that much luck at acquiring top talent via trade for a minor league player with the exception of these six instances.

You know these Mets players well. And while we’re not ranking them in terms of how the trade worked for the other team involved, it is a small factor. More important, we’re looking at what they gave to the blue and orange during their tenure with the club.

Players who had already seen some big league action will qualify for this list. Even if they had only a few sips of coffee and saw minor league action with the Mets following the trade, they should be considered a minor leaguer. Maybe one day Drew Smith makes this list. For now, these are the six best Mets minor leaguers acquired in a trade.

6) NY Mets trade for Zack Wheeler

This is the only trade deadline deal where the Mets sold and came away with a pretty good prospect in return.  On July 28, 2011, the Mets traded outfielder Carlos Beltran and cash to the San Francisco Giants for the sixth overall pick from the 2009 draft, Zack Wheeler.

Wheeler was a quality pitcher for the Mets in the five seasons he was able to take the field for them. He went 44-38 with a 3.77 ERA. Injuries were the biggest problem for him. He missed all of the fun in 2015 and 2016 only to return with his poorest big league season of all in 2017—a season where all of the starting pitchers lacked the firepower they had in previous years.

Wheeler’s time with the Mets was short-lived and a lot of great moments were missed because of it all of the time he missed in two seasons. If there truly are multiverses out there, one has Wheeler pitching in the 2015 World Series and re-signing with the club after 2019. Instead, he’s pitching for the rival Philadelphia Phillies and reaching his full potential.

5) NY Mets trade for Jerry Grote

It’s kind of amazing to picture Jerry Grote in any other uniform than a Mets one especially early on in his career. The club’s catcher and the only position player on this list, he saw limited action early on in his career with the Houston Astros in 1963 and 1964.

After not hitting much, he spent all of the 1965 season in the minor leagues to try and figure things out. He ended up traded to the Mets in October of that year for Tom Parsons.

Grote was not a good hitter early on in his Mets career. He batted .237 in 1966 and .195 in 1967. In 1968, a year when pitchers dominated across both leagues, he somehow managed to slash .282/.357/.349 and earn himself a trip to the All-Star Game.

In parts of 12 seasons with the Mets, Grote batted .256/.321/.329. Never an elite hitter, his best attribute was the way he performed behind the plate. Pitching was how the Mets won games back in those days—almost exclusively at times. Grote was a big reason for their success. It’s just a shame that he never was able to win a Gold Glove. He certainly had the numbers to do it. Instead, he’ll just have to settle for being one of the best catchers in Mets history.

3) NY Mets trade for Ron Darling

Ron Darling came to the Mets with zero innings of big league experience. First joining the organization on April 1, 1982, along with Walt Terrell in exchange for Lee Mazzilli, it’s amazing to realize he would end up as the best player either team acquired.

Darling spent all of 1982 in Triple-A where he managed to impress the Mets. He had gone 4-2 with a 4.44 ERA in his 13 starts for the Double-A team of the Texas Rangers the year prior. Things were looking up.

Darling stuck in Triple-A for most of 1983 before a September promotion gave him his first taste of major league baseball. He went 1-3 with a 2.80 ERA in his five starts. From then on, he was a permanent fixture in the show.

Across parts of nine seasons, Darling went 99-70 with a 3.50 ERA for the Mets. He was one of the big pieces to their impressive pitching staff throughout the late 1980s until he was eventually traded to the Montreal Expos in 1991. By then, Darling’s best days were in the past. Fortunately, he would remain a lifer for the Mets organization. Now a television broadcaster for the club, it wouldn’t have been possible if not for the Mets taking a chance on this minor league arm.

2) NY Mets trade for Jesse Orosco

One of the most coincidental trades in Mets history, this one involved the first guy to throw the last pitch of a Mets World Series getting traded for the second guy to do the same. It was February of 1979 and the Mets were continuing to look for ways to reduce their salary. The great Jerry Koosman ended up getting traded to the Minnesota Twins. Orosco was the player to be named later in the deal.

As beloved as Koosman was, the trade made some sense with the team doing very little to build around what they did have. The trade for Orosco would also become the first of many great swaps by the Mets in building their 1986 championship roster.

Orosco had only one year of professional experience under his belt—a successful stint as a Rookie Ball closer with a 1.12 ERA in 40 innings of work. The Mets used him regularly as a starter in Triple-A during the 1979 campaign and even gave him some innings at the big league level later on.

In 1980, Orosco spent the whole year in Double-A working almost exclusively as a reliever. A strong performance in 1981 down on the farm provided him with a call up to the big leagues. He was awesome for the Mets out of the bullpen and it’s where he would remain with the exception of two starts in 1982.

Over the course of the 595.2 innings and 372 appearances he made with the Mets, Orosco went 47-47 with a 2.73 ERA and 107 saves. He was a multi-inning closer as many were in those days. Without him, they may have never captured that 1986 championship. In fact, you can probably guarantee it.

1) NY Mets trade for Sid Fernandez

On December 8, 1983, the Mets acquired Sid Fernandez and Ross Jones from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bob Bailor and Carlos Diaz. If you don’t remember any of the names other than Fernandez, it’s okay.

Fernandez might be one of the most underrated players in Mets history. At 98-78 with a 3.14 ERA, he was a consistent lefty in the 1980s and even into the early 1990s. Like so many other talented Mets pitchers, injuries took their toll on him later in his career.

The owner of the ninth-highest WAR in Mets history, Fernandez would have to receive consideration as the fifth starter in any all-time Mets starting rotation. Only Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Jacob deGrom, and Jerry Koosman have passed him in this statistic. Partly because of his longevity, he still deserves credit for being worth 27.4 WAR in 10 seasons.

At the time of the trade, Fernandez had already logged six innings for the Dodgers but went to Triple-A at the start of the 1984 season. He ended up spending about half the season there. Thereafter, the Mets knew they had to make room for him in the rotation. They should be glad they did. He is one of the best to wear the uniform and played a key role pitching in relief for the club during the 1986 World Series.