Ranking the 6 best Mets players acquired via trade with a division rival

Trades with a division rival were once commonplace in Major League Baseball simply because the league was divided only by American League and National League. Eventually, both leagues were split into East and West. In 1995, we were introduced to the Central Division, too. The New York Mets have stayed put in the National League East since 1969 when the league was first split and we were introduced to an expanded playoffs.

Division rivals for the Mets have changed over the years. The Atlanta Braves spent plenty of years in the NL West despite playing in Georgia which borders the Atlantic Ocean. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals, despite being all of Alabama and half of Mississippi further west than the Braves, were an NL East rival of the Mets.

Whether geography made sense or not, the Mets were able to add some pretty important players in swaps with a division rival. These are the six best players they’ve picked up ranked from the bottom to the top.

6) NY Mets trade with the Marlins for Paul Lo Duca

Paul Lo Duca may be more of an honorable mention for a list like this. He did spend only two years with the Mets but they were a pair of productive seasons. Lo Duca came to the Mets via trade with the Florida Marlins. A deal that took place on December 5, 2005, the price was a pair of minor leaguers who never did reach the big leagues.

Lo Duca’s first year with the team came at the right time. The 2006 Mets were a win shy of making it to the World Series. His big year was a reason why they went so far.

He hit .318/.355/.428 with 39 doubles in the regular season. Against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, Lo Duca batted .455/.500/.545.

There was a little bit of history repeated with this deal. The Mets were no strangers to making big deals with the Marlins. In fact, the next player on our list came from them, too.

4) NY Mets trade with the Marlins for Al Leiter

The lone pitcher to make this list, we have another Marlins trade. Al Leiter was acquired by the Mets on February 6, 1998, in exchange for a lifelong minor leaguer plus Jesus Sanchez and A.J. Burnett. It wasn’t an absolute steal because of what Burnett was able to become, but we should consider this deal a win for the Mets anyway.

Contrary to how many of us may remember his career, Leiter wasn’t actually a very good pitcher until the 1995 season when he made 28 starts for the Toronto Blue Jays. He came into his own in 1996 with the Marlins in his age 30 season. The definition of a late bloomer, his first year with the Mets included a 17-6 record and 2.47 ERA. He finished sixth in the Cy Young vote during a period when the league was dominated by home run hitters.

Leiter stayed with the Mets through the 2004 campaign and would go on to win 95 games with a 3.42 ERA. He was never one of the best pitchers in the league and not even the ace on the Mets’ staff. However, he could be counted on to eat innings and keep runs off the scoreboard.

Notable yet often overlooked, Leiter made 28+ starts in all seven of his years with the Mets. He won 10 or more games each year and never had a below .500 record for the team.

3) NY Mets trade with the Expos for Gary Carter

If you thought referring to the Marlins as representing Florida was a throwback, wait until you see this trade. The now non-existent Montreal Expos who you may know now as the Washington Nationals once sent a future Hall of Fame catcher to the Mets in a trade. The legendary Gary Carter was traded by the Expos to the Mets on December 10, 1984, for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans. Who won this deal? Don’t be so humble. Your team did.

Carter’s importance to the Mets goes beyond the numbers but you already know that. He is regarded as the missing piece of the 1986 championship puzzle. His first year with the team ended with a sixth-place finish in the MVP race. In his second year, the fabled 1986 season, he finished third.

Carter was excellent at the plate and behind it. He drove in 100+ runs in each of his first two seasons and added a whole lot of power to the lineup. Most important of all, he added more veteran leadership to a team already getting plenty of it.

An incredibly important Mets player, we still have two more players who rank even higher than Carter as guys acquired via trade with a division rival.

2) NY Mets trade with the Cardinals for Keith Hernandez

More time spent with the Mets as a player and even after as a broadcaster makes Keith Hernandez a bigger figure in the history of this franchise. His reign as a New York City legend also began with a trade between the Mets and a division rival. What’s fun about including him is that the kids would never believe the St. Louis Cardinals were once division rivals with the Mets.

In the days before the wild card (yep, there wasn’t even one of them!) the Mets and Cardinals battled plenty for supremacy in the National League East. On June 15, 1983, the MLB trade deadline came and went. Blowing the younger generation’s minds further, that date is accurate. The deadline to make trades used to be much sooner.

This famous Mets trade sent Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the Cardinals. A huge win for New York, it was largely reactionary on behalf of St. Louis. Hernandez’s off-field issues became too much for them. He’d get a fresh start in New York where he continued to win Gold Gloves and enter his name into the MVP race.

Hernandez was the MVP runner-up in 1984 and would have two more finishes in the top ten while employed by the Amazins. A terrific hitter with multiple seasons over .300 with New York, he’s the second-best player in franchise history acquired in a deal with a division rival. Who is the best one? It’s a guy who many will argue is the best hitter at his position.

1) NY Mets trade with the Marlins for Mike Piazza

Mike Piazza went from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Florida Marlins on May 14, 1998. Only days later on May 22, 1998, the Marlins traded him to the rival Mets. Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz were the three packaged together for the iconic slugger.

Piazza’s impact was felt immediately. He batted .348/.417/.607 in his first 109 games for the team in 1998. Although they came up short challenging for the playoffs, a new era of Mets baseball was about to begin.

Piazza signed an extension after the season and would stay with the team through the 2005 season. Through some ups and downs with the ball club, he remained a mostly consistent player with some of the best seasons any catcher in MLB history has had at the plate. He’d smash a total of 220 home runs for the Mets while hitting .296/.373/.542. When Cooperstown came calling years later, it was the NYM emblem he’d choose to have on his plaque.

This remains one of the most important trades in Mets history and a whole generation of fans in their 30s and 40s will tear up thinking about it; or maybe that’s just allergies.

Whatever the case is, Piazza is number one on this list for good reason. As important and valuable as some of these other players acquired in a trade with a division rival were, none were as singularly amazing as this guy.