7 former All-Stars who had a recent cup of coffee with the Mets

Héctor Santiago (All-Star season: 2015; Mets career: 2019)

I must confess that I remember Santiago being on the Mets, but I had absolutely no idea he had been an All-Star. The lefty hurler began his MLB career with the Chicago White Sox in 2011 and peaked with the Los Angeles Angels in his All-Star campaign of 2015. That year, he was stellar in the first half for the Halos, pitching to a 2.33 ERA over 18 games (17 starts). During the second half, however, he came down to Earth, delivering a 5.47 ERA in 15 starts.

Santiago is somewhat infamous in Metsland, though not entirely by his own doing. When the Amazins signed him in January 2019, then-general manager Brodie Van Wagenen made the bold proclamation that this transaction signified good things to come for the Mets.

Since then, this statement has become a meme among Mets fans. It looks even worse in retrospect because Santiago appeared in just eight games in Queens, allowing six earned runs in eight innings for a 6.75 ERA. He was released on June 18, 2019, which ended his Mets tenure. Contrary to what Van Wagenen pronounced, Santiago's arrival did not end up representing "improvements to the roster."

Santiago was back in the spotlight in 2021, when he was the first MLB pitcher to be suspended for using foreign substances on his glove. Soon after returning from that absence, he was suspended 80 games after testing positive for PEDs.