Weekly Mail. Deadline Disasters
Here are a list of deals the Mets made near the July 31st non waiver deadline. Steve Phillips was the GM from 1999 till 2003, Jim Duquette was the GM in 04, and Omar Minaya has been the GM ever since.
1999- They trade Jason Isringhausen and Greg McMichael to the Oakland Athletics for Billy Taylor. Isringhausen, who told a WM source that he wanted out of NY, turned out to be a solid relief pitcher. Billy Taylor, did not.
2000- The Mets trade Melvin Mora to the Orioles for Mike Bordick. Bordick, needed because Rey Ordonez was hurt, hit a HR in his first Met at bat, and did little else. Mora has been a solid player for Baltimore for the past 8 years.
2001- The Mets trade Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook to the Phillies for Bruce Chen and Adam Walker. Wendell was one of my all time favorite Mets, and he may not have done much after he left, but Bruce Chen was the Glen Rice of baseball.
2002- The Mets trade Bobby Jones, Jason Bay and Josh Reynolds to the San Diego Padres for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed. Yes folks THAT Jason Bay, who the Red Sox just traded Manny Ramirez for. Why trade Manny when you could have had him for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed?
2003 They were so bad in 2003 that the left wing of Cooperstown wouldn't have saved them. But then came....
2004- In the worst trade the Mets made since they dealt Nolan Ryan, the Mets trade Scott Kazmir and Joselo Diaz to the Devil Rays for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato. This trade was announced the night John Kerry gave his acceptance speech at the 2004 DNC. I was out boozing in Boston at the time and I thought I saw wrong. I can't honestly say that I thought all the above trades were going to be disasters. This one I knew. And I was right.
2006- Mets trade Xavier Nady to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez. OK, here's one that wasn't a disaster. Circumstances beyond their control (Duaner Sanchez taxicab injury) forced them to trade solid hitter Nady for halfway decent (but old) Hernandez. Perez was the throw in on this deal, and he pitched good enough to get them to the 2006 World Series. Unfortunately, Aaron Heilman and the Mets offense had something else to say about that. (Not that I'm bitter or anything)
2007- Mets trade Drew Butera and Dustin Martin to the Minnesota Twins for second baseman Luis Castillo. Trading for Castillo wasn't a mistake. Giving him a 4 year $25 million contract was.
1999- They trade Jason Isringhausen and Greg McMichael to the Oakland Athletics for Billy Taylor. Isringhausen, who told a WM source that he wanted out of NY, turned out to be a solid relief pitcher. Billy Taylor, did not.
2000- The Mets trade Melvin Mora to the Orioles for Mike Bordick. Bordick, needed because Rey Ordonez was hurt, hit a HR in his first Met at bat, and did little else. Mora has been a solid player for Baltimore for the past 8 years.
2001- The Mets trade Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook to the Phillies for Bruce Chen and Adam Walker. Wendell was one of my all time favorite Mets, and he may not have done much after he left, but Bruce Chen was the Glen Rice of baseball.
2002- The Mets trade Bobby Jones, Jason Bay and Josh Reynolds to the San Diego Padres for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed. Yes folks THAT Jason Bay, who the Red Sox just traded Manny Ramirez for. Why trade Manny when you could have had him for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed?
2003 They were so bad in 2003 that the left wing of Cooperstown wouldn't have saved them. But then came....
2004- In the worst trade the Mets made since they dealt Nolan Ryan, the Mets trade Scott Kazmir and Joselo Diaz to the Devil Rays for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato. This trade was announced the night John Kerry gave his acceptance speech at the 2004 DNC. I was out boozing in Boston at the time and I thought I saw wrong. I can't honestly say that I thought all the above trades were going to be disasters. This one I knew. And I was right.
2006- Mets trade Xavier Nady to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez. OK, here's one that wasn't a disaster. Circumstances beyond their control (Duaner Sanchez taxicab injury) forced them to trade solid hitter Nady for halfway decent (but old) Hernandez. Perez was the throw in on this deal, and he pitched good enough to get them to the 2006 World Series. Unfortunately, Aaron Heilman and the Mets offense had something else to say about that. (Not that I'm bitter or anything)
2007- Mets trade Drew Butera and Dustin Martin to the Minnesota Twins for second baseman Luis Castillo. Trading for Castillo wasn't a mistake. Giving him a 4 year $25 million contract was.
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