Remember1969: Who Won? 1979 - 1980

 

Mets Trades through the years:  Who won?

I am going to double up 1979 and 1980 here for two reasons.  First, there were only 12 trades in the two years combined, and second, they were terrible years to be a Mets fan and there weren't many interesting trades made during this time.  (Except for perhaps trade 3 in December 1978)

November 1978 through October 1979

Notes:  Trade 3 here was a tough trade to lose Koosman after all those great years, but getting Orosco back locked down the bullpen for the next several years.  Who can forget the iconic photo of Jesse closing out the 1986 World Series?     More on this trade at the bottom. 

I remember being really excited about the Foli for Taveras trade, getting a great shortstop with speed.  Taveras was my kind of player.  Unfortunately, he wasn't the player I had hoped.  He did play regularly, but his stolen bases were not what they were with Pittsburgh and he got caught stealing at too high a rate.  

 

1979's trades: 

(1)  New York Mets traded Paul Siebert to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Coluccio  (Oct 02, 1978)

(2)  New York Mets traded Tom Grieve and Kim Seaman to the St. Louis Cardinals for Pete Falcone  (Dec 05, 1978)

(3)  New York Mets traded Jerry Koosman to the Minnesota Twins for Jesse Orosco and Greg Field  (Dec 08, 1978)

(4)  New York Mets traded Mardie Cornejo to the Detroit Tigers for Ed Glynn  (Mar 13, 1979)

(5)  New York Mets traded Nino Espinosa to the Philadelphia Phillies for Richie Hebner and Jose Moreno  (Mar 27, 1979)

(6)  New York Mets traded Tim Foli and Greg Field to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Frank Taveras (Apr 19, 1979)

(7)  New York Mets traded Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert to the Texas Rangers for Dock Ellis  (Jun 15, 1979)

(8)  New York Mets traded Willie Montanez to the Texas Rangers for Mike Jorgensen and Ed Lynch  (Aug 12, 1979)

November 1979 through October 1980

(1)  New York Mets traded Dwight Bernard to the Milwaukee Brewers for Mark Bomback  (Oct 26, 1979)

(2)  New York Mets traded Richie Hebner to the Detroit Tigers for Jerry Morales and Phil Mankowski  (Oct 31, 1979)

(3)  New York Mets traded Jesse Anderson to the Chicago White Sox for Claudell Washington  (Jun 07, 1980)

(4)  New York Mets traded Kevin Kobel to the Kansas City Royals for Randy McGilberry  (Jun 17, 1980)

 Trivia:    

Jesse Orosco, is one of the few players to play with the Mets that are all-time MLB career leaders in any category, having pitched in more games than any other pitcher.    Rickey Henderson is the other obvious one that comes to mind with his stolen base and caught stolen records, but Orosco seemed like a Met to me.  He actually pitched 16 years after his 8 with the Mets, but he pitched longer with the Mets than any other team.     Henderson just passed through for a little while.  

Koosman, after going just 11-35 (but with a 3.6 ERA) in 1977 and 1978 combined, seemed like he was at the end of the road, but went on to be a 20 game winner with his home-state Twins in 1979 after the trade.   It is amazing what a terrible baseball team will do to a pitcher's record.  

Mardie Cornejo actually was a respectable 4-2 with a 2.45 ERA in 25 games with the Mets in 1978 before the trade, but never pitched in the majors again.   

I guess Bob Coluccio's claim to fame was that he was born the day before Bobby Thomson's "Shot heard round the world in 1951"  (and the day before Dave Winfield was born)

There are two guys on this list that died of heart attacks at much too young an age.   Nino Espinosa died at age 34 and Bob Myrick was 59.    

I did not remember that Mike Jorgensen went on to become a major league manager, managing the Cardinals during the shortened 1995 season.   

I think Phil Mankowski could be a good definition of 'replacement player'.  

Geez, I wish I had unlimited time to just read player bios.   Claudell Washington has some interesting trivia.   While with the Mets, he became the third player in MLB history to hit three homers in a game in each league.  The other two?   Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Johnny Mize.    Washington went on to later hit the 10000th home run in Yankees history.   This was a guy that was known as much for his speed as his power.    Lastly, Claudell Washington is the player that Nolan Ryan struck out the most.   

That seems like enough for one day.