Remember 1969: Who Won? Deals of History - 1982

 

Mets Trades through the years:  Who won?

November 1981 through October 1982

Notes:  One of the best trades ever made by the Mets was made just before the start of the 1982 season when they acquired Ron Darling from the Rangers.    I am not sure there is an apples to apples comparison of WAR between pitchers and non-pitchers, but Walt Terrell actually had more WAR with the Mets than Lee Mazzilli had after being traded.   And Terrell was the key piece in the trade that got them Howard Johnson a few years later.     

The George Foster trade was not horrible - Foster had over 600 hits including 99 homers with the Mets, which was good for career Mets WAR of 4.7.    I don't know how 99 homers in about 3.5 years can only yield 4.7 WAR, but they definitely acquired him past peak - he had already accumulated  39.5 WAR with Cincinnati before the trade.  

The full list: 

(1)  New York Mets traded Doug Flynn and Danny Boitano to the Texas Rangers for Jim Kern  (Dec 11, 1981)

(2)  New York Mets traded Frank Taveras to the Montreal Expos for Steve Ratzer  (Dec 11, 1981)

(3)  New York Mets traded Ray Searage to the Cleveland Indians for Tom Veryzer  (Jan 08, 1982)

(4)  New York Mets traded Alex Trevino, Greg Harris and Jim Kern to the Cincinnati Reds for George Foster  (Feb 10, 1982)

(5)  New York Mets traded Lee Mazzilli to the Texas Rangers for Ron Darling and Walt Terrell  (Apr 01, 1982)

(6)  New York Mets traded Joel Youngblood to the Montreal Expos for Tom Gorman  (Aug 04, 1982)

(7)  New York Mets traded Tom Hausman to the Atlanta Braves for Carlos Diaz  (Sep 10, 1982)

Trivia:  Continuing on the WAR discussion, bWAR is not kind to light hitting infielders.   Doug Flynn finished his career at -6.9 WAR, Tom Veryzer at -3.7, and Frank Taveras at +1.8.      Flynn ended up with over 900 hits and a gold glove for being a lot less valuable than Joe Replacement Player. 

Greg Harris, on the other hand had pitched for 15 years, accumulated a 74-90 record with 3.69 ERA and 1.35 WHIP which yielded a 19.6 WAR.   

I have not been through all of them, but Alex Trevino may be the highest WAR back-up catcher the Mets ever had.   I'll find that out at some point.