Mets Offseason Retrospective: The stars brought in between 1991 and 1992 weren't nearly enough

The big offseason additions for the 1992 Mets season

In many cases, when a team goes out and adds a future Hall of Famer, a two-time Cy Young winner, and a guy that had been in the MVP conversation several times in recent seasons, you’re going to build a winner. This wouldn’t be the case for the 1992 Mets. The offseason prior to the start of their season, they were putting a Band-Aid on a much larger wound.

The first of their big winter transactions was the free agent signing of Eddie Murray. Now in his mid-30s, his days of crushing baseballs with the Baltimore Orioles were a little more distant than I think the Mets had realized. However, he did hit .330 with 26 home runs only two years earlier with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The two years deal with Murray gave the club a .274/.330/.446 performance with 43 home runs and 193 RBI. In 1993, he even had one of the franchise’s rare 100 RBI seasons.

Murray’s time with the Mets was okay but not great. At this point of his career, he would have been a nice finishing touch to an already great roster. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the best players around him.

Only days after inking Murray to a deal, the Mets made a much more notorious signing when they brought Bobby Bonilla to town.

Bonilla finished third in the MVP vote in 1991 and was the runner-up in 1990. His years with the Pittsburgh Pirates were fantastic. In his first year with the Mets, he batted only .249/.348/.432 with 19 home runs and 70 RBI. He wasn’t the same well-rounded player he was during his Pittsburgh years. Bonilla would manage to salvage some competency with the Mets, representing them in the 1993 All-Star Game. In a lot of ways, this turned out to be a decent signing but not nearly enough to make them contenders again.

Finally, of major note, the Mets made a trade to try to improve their starting rotation. Gregg Jefferies, Kevin McReynolds, and Keith Miller were shipped to the Kansas City Royals for Bret Saberhagen and Bill Pecota.

Saberhagen was the big grab in this trade. He would miss a ton of time in 1992, making only 15 starts and a pair of relief appearances for the club. Injuries continued to limit his action and by the time he left the Mets in mid-1995, Saberhagen was 29-21 with a 3.16 ERA.