15 worst trades in Mets history

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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.

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