3 popular free agents the Mets turned out to be right to let leave during their prime

2) Edgardo Alfonzo was a popular Mets player whose back got the best of him

Edgardo Alfonzo put up some monstrous numbers in the late 1990s. He regularly hit over .300 for the Mets. Somewhat overlooked by those who weren’t around to witness it or know how to navigate Baseball-Reference, he hit for some pretty good power. His 41 doubles, 27 home runs, and 108 RBI in 1999 all set new personal highs.

Alfonzo became a free agent after the 2002 season. He was coming off of two straight years where he missed some time, but a very productive year featuring a .308/.391/.459 slash line in 135 games for the Mets.

The San Francisco Giants ended up signing Alfonzo. His performance went downhill in the first year before he was able to get a little closer to his prime years in season number two. Unfortunately, Alfonzo missed a lot of time in 2005. He appeared in 109 games for the Giants. It was his lowest following his rookie season in 1995.

He ended up traded in December of 2005 to the Los Angeles Angels for Steve Finley. He’d appear in only 18 games for the Angels, batting .100/.135/.120 in his 52 plate appearances. After cutting ties, he finished off with the Blue Jays putting up only slightly better numbers in those 12 games.

The Mets certainly could have used Alfonzo for a few years but given the way their team was performing from 2003-2005, he would’ve been more of a payroll burden on a losing squad than an actual contributor.