15 worst trades in Mets history

What’s the worst trade the New York Mets have ever made? You might already have something in mind. Our line of thinking probably is similar, too.

But what about those other terrible trades in franchise history? Not every trade was like acquiring Yoenis Cespedes in 2015 or Gary Carter in the mid-1980s. Some trades were downright awful.

Considering all elements of trades—what was given up, expectations for the player(s), what was received, and anything else we think of when grading deals—these are the 15 worst the Mets have ever made with one exception: the infamous Seattle Mariners trade is not yet worthy of this list because we don’t really know what the Mets gave up. Maybe in the future, not too distantly, we squeeze it in.

Dishonorable Mention: Everything the Mets did at the 2017 trade deadline

The trades the Mets made at the 2017 trade deadline are like potato chips; I can’t pick just one.

I can’t imagine a team has ever had a worse string of trades with so little in return. It’s not like everything they dumped was complete garbage either. There was some talent dealt away.

It began with trading Lucas Duda on July 27 to the Tampa Bay Rays for Drew Smith. By miles the best trade they did make, things would go on to get worse.

A day later, they actually added AJ Ramos in a trade with the Miami Marlins. A curious move at the time because they were clearly selling, Ramos would go 2-2 with a 5.59 ERA in 38.2 innings for the Mets.

Three days later, closer Addison Reed was dealt to the Boston Red Sox for three prospects that never did much at all.

The trades continued into August with Jay Bruce going to the Cleveland Indians for Ryder Ryan—later traded to the Texas Rangers for Todd Frazier in 2020. They moved Neil Walker to the Milwaukee Brewers for Eric Hanhold.

To top it all off, fan favorite Curtis Granderson went to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Jacob Rhame. Rhame was nobody’s favorite except for Mrs. Rhame.

14) NY Mets Worst Trades: Heath Bell to the San Diego Padres

Another somewhat underrated bad deal in Mets history that goes up there with the Pagan move is one made involving relief pitcher Heath Bell. His career in New York was unremarkable. In parts of three seasons, he threw 108 innings and had a 4.92 ERA.

The Mets decided to move on from him after the 2006 season. Along with Royce Ring, he was traded to the San Diego Padres for Jon Adkins and Ben Johnson. Neither would have any sort of impact on the Mets franchise.

The same cannot be said about Bell in San Diego. The former amateur free agent who had once been drafted in the long-defunct 69th round of the draft way back in 1997 immediately put egg on the face of the Mets. His first year in San Diego included a career-high 93.2 innings of work and a 2.02 ERA. By 2009, he had won his way into the closer’s role.

Bell would become one of the league’s most competent closers from 2009-2011. An All-Star all three seasons with 132 total saves in that time including a league-leading 42 in 2009, it’s quite possible to say he could have helped make a difference in New York.

While his prime didn’t begin until his age 29 season and there were no real signs that he could become such a stud reliever, it doesn’t take back how bad this trade is in team history.

13) NY Mets Worst Trades: Roberto Alomar from the Indians

I wouldn’t be angry if you wanted to rank this one higher. Robert Alomar was one of the greatest second basemen of all-time. He had just hit 20 home runs, driven in 100, and hit .336 for the Cleveland Indians in 2001. Despite reaching his mid-30s, adding him to the roster wasn’t something to really worry about.

But worry Mets fans would each time he stepped up to the plate.

Alomar was half the player he was while in New York. Quite literally, in fact. His home runs went from 20 down to 11 and his RBI total went from 100 to 53. His .336 batting average in 2001 with Cleveland was higher than the .331 OBP he would have in year one with the Mets.

The future Hall of Famer’s complete totals with the Mets included 13 home runs, 75 RBI, and a .265/.333/.370 batting line in 957 plate appearances. So fed up with the results of the trade with Cleveland, the Mets dealt him in mid-2003 to the Chicago White Sox.

Oddly enough, one of the guys they got in the trade was Royce Ring. If you’ve been paying attention, you may have seen his name appear in the Heath Bell trade one bad transaction prior to this.

The only reason the Alomar trade isn’t higher is because the Mets actually didn’t end up losing anything all that important to Cleveland in exchange for him. Thank goodness. Otherwise, this might have ended up in the top five.

12) NY Mets Worst Trades: Rick Reed to the Twins for Matt Lawton

A somewhat curious move in mid-2001 as the Mets were making a playoff push, they dealt Rick Reed to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for outfielder Matt Lawton. Reed was having a fine year for the orange and blue at the time of the deal, owning an 8-6 record and 3.48 ERA. He wouldn’t be so successful in Minnesota but that’s not what made this deal a bad one.

Lawton joined the outfield mix at Shea Stadium after posting a productive .293/.396/.439 slash line in Minnesota. Like Reed, he didn’t translate well with his new team. Lawton hit .246/.352/.366 for the Mets.

And to continue our theme of members of bad trades appearing in more than one deal, he would be one of the players later traded to the Cleveland Indians for Roberto Alomar. So, really, this trade hurts twice as bad.

Fortunately, Lawton wouldn’t be so great with the Indians either until 2004 when he was an All-Star.

There’s also a matter of looking at what Reed would do in Minnesota. In 2002, he went 15-7 with a 3.78 ERA. Clearly still armed with innings left to give, this is one of those Mets trades that was as unnecessary as it was bad.

What’s more, Reed was such a steady presence in the Mets rotation for several seasons. It seemed like they were immediately ready to start searching for a replacement the very next year.

11) NY Mets Worst Trades: Acquiring Oliver Perez from the Pirates

Just outside of our top ten is a deal many fans still have gripes about. I can understand why. Even with hindsight, it feels like a bad move from the start.

On July 31, 2006, the Mets were a few weeks away from clinching the division title and going on what could have been a run to the World Series. One of their moves at the trade deadline was to call up the Pittsburgh Pirates and inquire about Oliver Perez and Roberto Hernandez. In exchange for outfielder Xavier Nady, the deal was executed.

Speaking of executions, Perez was having the kind of year to forget about in 2006 as a member of the Pirates. At the time of the trade he was 2-10 with a 6.63 ERA in 15 starts. Things hardly got better in New York. Year one with the team resulted in a 1-3 record and 6.38 ERA in 7 starts.

This trade had a few layers to it because of where it eventually led. Still a very young pitcher with promise, the Mets saw better performances from Perez in 2007 and 2008 despite some continued struggles to find the plate. When he reached free agency after the 2008 season, the club invited him back. From there, things just got worse.

Perez was 3-4 with a 6.82 ERA in 2009 during his 66 innings as a starter. The following year, which included a move to the bullpen at one point, saw him go 0-5 with a 6.80 ERA. Those last two years were especially rough with Perez averaging 8 walks per nine innings, beating out the 7.9 strikeouts per nine he posted.

None of this disaster would have been likely if not for the original trade that first brought him to Queens.

As for Nady, he was a .301/.353/.482 hitter in parts of three seasons with the Pirates. You can’t tell me he wouldn’t have been a valuable piece to keep around in some way.

10) NY Mets Worst Trades: Jeff Kent goes to Cleveland for Carlos Baerga

Prior to Francisco Lindor joining the Mets, the trade history with the Cleveland Indians has been centered on two major deals involving second basemen. We already covered the Roberto Alomar trade. That one was bad but not so devastating because it didn’t cost the team a whole lot in terms of young talent.

This 1996 trade with Cleveland was a bit worse. Occurring on July 29, 1996, infielders Jeff Kent and Jose Vizcaino were dealt to the Indians for Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza. Vizcaino would continue to have a good yet not great big league career, possibly even highlighted by a big hit against the Mets in the 2000 World Series. Espinoza was good for a bad Mets club in 1996 but retired after the 1997 campaign.

This trade is focused on Kent and Baerga. Either one you want to headline the move, it was a raw deal for the orange and blue.

In 1997, Kent went from a good second baseman to the eighth-place MVP vote-getter. In 2000, he would win the award during a stretch which saw him hit 20+ home runs and drive in 100 from 1997-2002. One of the greatest offensive second basemen in the history of baseball, one has to wonder if the Mets traded him a little too prematurely.

The other big half of this trade, Baerga, was actually quite the opposite of Kent. He had been an All-Star second baseman multiple times already. Unfortunately, those days were long in the past. He hit just .193 in 1996 and despite raising it up to .281 in 1997, he was a big disappointment.

There is just way too much in common with Alomar for Baerga. How they got to the Mets and how, in retrospect, their numbers weren’t legendarily bad, this one is far worse because of what left the Amazins.

9) NY Mets Worst Trade: Dave Kingman to the Padres

I feel like the Padres are making a lot of appearances on this list. Our number nine trade is yet another featuring the Land of Ron Burgundy.

The June 15, 1977 trade which sent Dave Kingman to the Padres for Paul Siebert and Bobby Valentine was a rough move for two reasons. Firstly, could they not get a little more for the longtime slugger? I know Kingman was having a rough year (.209/.263/.370 with only 9 home runs) but I can’t help but feel there was a little more to acquire than the two players they did.

Worse is what this trade represented. Taking place during the infamous Midnight Massacre—which we’ll revisit again—this was a symbolic white flag waving move by the franchise. Kingman was one of the team’s highest profile players at the time. Shipping him out meant the rebuild was, indeed, in full effect. As if there were any doubts with a few other moves made by the team that same day.

Kingman would eventually return to the Mets but not before earning two All-Star bids with the Chicago Cubs in 1979 and 1980 while also smashing a league-best 48 home runs in 1979. Kingman wasn’t a match at the time for what the Mets were looking to do: save a lot of money and lose even more games.

8) NY Mets Worst Trades: Rusty Staub to the Tigers

Following the 1975 season, the Mets made the decision to trade fan favorite Rusty Staub to the Detroit Tigers. Staub had already been traded to the Mets several seasons early from the Montreal Expos in a trade that cost them young outfielder Ken Singleton. However, because Staub was one of the better Mets hitters during his first stint with the club, we can’t really criticism them too harshly.

Instead, it’s this deal with Detroit that lands on our list. Just one year after becoming the first player in franchise history to reach 100 RBI in a season, Le Grande Orange was dealt away and ready for a Renaissance in the Motor City.

A pair of Williams were involved in this trade. Bill Laxton went with Staub to Detroit and Billy Baldwin (no relation to Alec) came to the Mets. They were small pieces in the deal. It was pitcher Mickey Lolich who helped headline it.

A runner-up in the Cy Young vote and a third-place finisher in 1971 and 1972, Lolich was nearing the end of his career with an age 35 campaign ahead of him in 1976. He was actually pretty good for the Mets, going 8-13 with a 3.22 ERA. However, there was some background turmoil from the start. Lolich tried vetoing the deal but was eventually convinced to agree to it. Disagreements with coaches led to a lot of unhappiness for Lolich and he would retire after the season ended, only to later come back in 1978 with the—you guessed it—Padres!

7) NY Mets Worst Trades: Mo Vaughn to the Angels

Certain trades have red flags immediately. This is one of those.

Mo Vaughn was a top slugger in the 1990s and someone many Mets fans would have welcomed with open arms—in his prime. This deal, however, would take place prior to the 2002 campaign. The signs were present before Vaughn even arrived that this wasn’t the move to make. After all, he missed all of 2001 with an injury.

Vaughn would stay mostly healthy in 2002, hitting 26 home runs, driving in 72, and hitting .259/.349/.456. It wasn’t what he had done in recent seasons with the Angels but it wasn’t horrific.

Things got worse in 2003. Vaughn played only 27 games and hit a lousy .190. He didn’t officially retire but he would never play again. The burden on the payroll included $17+ million in 2003 and 2004.

Meanwhile, the player New York traded to the Anaheim Angels (the name they were going with at the time) would produce at a high level in 2002—matching Vaughn well from a pitcher’s standpoint. Kevin Appier, the man in the deal, went 14-12 with a 3.92 ERA for the Angels. It was pretty much the equivalent to what Vaughn gave the orange and blue.

What makes the deal so bad, then? Appier won the World Series with the Angels that year.

6) NY Mets Worst Trades: Scott Kazmir to the Devil Rays

What makes a trade so legendarily awful? There are many factors to consider. This trade made on July 30, 2004 has a little bit of everything.

Hoping to contend in 2004, the Mets acquired Bartolome Fortunato and Victor Zambrano in a deal with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Fortunato would only ever throw 21.2 more big league innings after the trade, in large part due to injuries. Zambrano was the bigger addition, posting mediocre numbers with the Mets in 2004 and beyond. His addition in 2004 was especially notable because he only made 3 starts for the Mets that season. Injuries completely derailed his career as well.

Then there’s the big reason why this trade was so bad for the Mets. Along with Jose Diaz, the franchise shipped former first-round pick Scott Kazmir to Tampa Bay.

Kazmir would go on to become a three-time All-Star and win over 100 games in his career. A rather up-and-down time in the big leagues, he also got bitten by the injury bug quite often.

His story is quite different, though. Kazmir has managed to successfully come back from several major injuries and pitched yet again as recently as 2021 at age 37. We couldn’t have expected him to stay with the Mets for all of those years, but if they had his arm in the rotation from 2006-2008 when he was 35-25 with a 3.41 ERA with the Devil Rays, who knows what the Mets could have done?

5) NY Mets Worst Trades: Mike Scott to the Houston Astros

This is kind of a weird entry but an important one to mention. It’s weird because the man the Mets traded to the Houston Astros for Mike Scott, Danny Heep, would have a lot of success as a role-player in Queens. He would even help the team win the 1986 World Series.

With this in mind, maybe the trade wasn’t so bad for the orange and blue after all.

Not so fast. Long before the name Mike Scott became synonymous with regional managers, this guy became one of the great late-bloomer starters in baseball during the 1980s. His days with the Mets weren’t so great, but in Houston, he reinvented himself into a stud.

In 1986, Scott was the National League Cy Young winner. He led the league with a 2.22 ERA, 5 shutouts, 275.1 innings pitched, and 306 strikeouts! As luck would have it, Scott would clash with the Mets in the NLCS. He was absolutely dominant, winning both of his starts and going the distance both times. Scott allowed only a single run in his 18 innings of work. Luckily, he couldn’t pitch every day and the wild bunch from Flushing was able to advance and become victorious in the World Series.

Scott was more than a one-season wonder. During his time in Houston, he went 110-81 with a 3.30 ERA with three seasons of finishing in the top ten of the Cy Young vote—including his 1986 campaign when he won it.

4) NY Mets Worst Trades: Amos Otis to the Royals

The name Amos Otis might be one of the more obscure names on this list because of when he actually did play for the Mets. Believe it or not, he had 102 plate appearances for the 1969 club. After the season, he was traded alongside Bob Johnson to the Kansas City Royals for Joe Foy.

Foy was nothing spectacular. He joined the Mets for one year in 1970 where he hit .236/.373/.329 in 399 trips to the plate. The third baseman was then selected by the Washington Senators in the Rule 5 Draft, ending the story of this trade—expect for one factor. Otis was becoming a fast star in Kansas City.

It didn’t take Otis long. In 1970, he led the American League with 36 doubles, made the first of five All-Star teams, and took home a Gold Glove. Throughout the 1970s, Otis’ name would come up in the MVP conversation. In 1973, he finished third.

Something I’m not so sure people who weren’t around for it remember—the Royals were really good during many of Otis’ years. They lost to the New York Yankees in three straight ALCS from 1976-1978. In 1980, they finally won and got to the World Series. Otis put together one of the best World Series performances you could imagine. He hit .478/.538/.957 with 3 home runs against the Philadelphia Phillies in the losing effort. Had the Royals won, he would have been an easy MVP selection.

3) NY Mets Worst Trades: Lenny Dykstra to the Phillies for Juan Samuel

I think our top three reaches a whole new level of pain. In mid-1989, the Mets were still competitive but looking for a change. They made the decision, on June 18, to make a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. It sent Roger McDowell, a player to be named later (Tom Eden), and Lenny Dykstra to Philadelphia. The Mets got back Juan Samuel in return.

Where do we start with this one?

McDowell and Dykstra were important members of the Mets in the 1980s. Each would find success with their new team, Dykstra even more so. He was the runner-up in the MVP vote in 1993 during the Phillies’ march to the World Series. All the while, Samuel was long gone from New York and the Mets were spiraling through several seasons of attempting to rebuild their glory.

This was the epitome of a bad trade without a single notable prospect involved. Samuel was already struggling with the Phillies and the midseason change didn’t help matters. He hit only .228/.299/.300 in 370 plate appearances for the Mets in 1989. While he did steal 31 bases, it was a massive decline from what the team was getting out of Dykstra and platoon-mate Mookie Wilson for the last several seasons.

Hoping to erase the deal any way they could, the Mets traded Samuel before flipping to their 1990 calendars. As luck would have it, Samuel would become an All-Star again in 1991.

2) NY Mets Worst Trades: Tom Seaver to the Reds

I’ll debate this trade with any fan. The Tom Seaver trade is not the worst in franchise history. I can defend this simply by stating how useful the players the Mets got back from the Cincinnati Reds in return for him. Even if none came close to measuring up to what The Franchise brought to the organization, at least they got productive years from Steve Henderson, Pat Zachry, and Doug Flynn to a lesser extent.

Still, there’s no defending how dreadfully awful this trade remains in the history of baseball. More symbolic for its awfulness, it was a slap in the face to loyal fans and the greatest player to ever wear their uniform.

You know a trade is infamous when the day it took place has its own nickname, the Midnight Massacre. The second of those deals to make our list of the worst trades in Mets history, the Seaver deal is one fans have never forgiven. And as the story goes, Seaver wasn’t so happy about it either.

There’s not much explaining needed for anyone to grasp just how poor of a decision this was. From intent to result, the trading of Seaver remains a classic bad front office decision in sports.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, after Seaver return, the front office flubbed by leaving him unprotected in the free agent compensation draft following the 1983 season. How do you treat such an icon like this?

1) NY Mets Worst Trades: Nolan Ryan to the Angels for Jim Fregosi

You knew it was coming. In my opinion, this is indeed the worst trade of all made by the Mets franchise. Nobody knew at the time like they did with the Seaver deal. However, based solely on results, this one has so much in between what the two teams received.

The deal sent four player to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi, an obviously fading star from the 1960s. The day was now December 10, 1971, so you can see where this is headed.

Frank Estrada, Don Rose, and Leroy Stanton all went westward. Oh. And they had a companion by the name of Nolan Ryan.

Ryan would only go on to become the all-time strikeout king in baseball history. Over 27 years, he would struck out 5714 batters. The Mets must have gotten something good in return for him, right?

Fregosi was a shell of his former self. After hitting .233 with the Angels in 1971, he downsized to a .232 average in 1972 with the Mets in a year which saw him play only 101 games due to injury. Then there was some improvement in 1973 with a .234 batting average. Hooray!

Unimpressed with this light-hitting infielder who seemed to lose his baseball abilities after the 1970s season, the Mets cut bait in mid-1973 when he was purchased by the Texas Rangers.

This Ryan+ for Fregosi deal might be a top ten all-time in baseball history. Notoriously awful, we can only hope nothing ever tops it.