Past Trades Haunt Current Mets

While the 2008 version of the Mets may be chasing a frontline starter like Johan Santana, it’s easy for Mets fans to wonder how things would be if Scott Kazmir was still around, but there have been several trades over the past couple of seasons that the Mets would love to take back. Today, the Mets are hoping Duaner Sanchez can return from injury and help Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner in the bullpen. The Mets now must hope Sanchez’s rehab goes well, after trading away many in-house options for another late-inning set-up man.Here are some of the players the Mets would love to have back:

Scott Kazmir

Mets fans around the internet refer to the day of the Victor Zambrano-Scott Kazmir trade as “Black Friday.” Out of all of the people in the country that follow baseball, almost nobody would have given up Scott Kazmir for an injury-plagued Zambrano. Fortunately for the Devil Rays, one of those people who would make that trade happened to be the general manager for the Mets at the time—Jim Duquette. As the Mets floated around .500, the management felt they could make a push for the playoffs if they improved the pitching staff, even though 2004 had been seen as a rebuilding year from the start. After all, it was unrealistic to think the Mets could make the playoffs after losing 95 games in 2003, and having Jose Reyes and Mike Piazza learn new positions. The Mets had traded away Armando Benitez, Jeremy Burnitz and Roberto Alomar in 2003 for prospects, looking towards the future. But by playing well enough to be in the wild card hunt in the summer of 2004, it ended up costing the Mets in 2005, 2006, 2007, and many years to come.

Dan Wheeler

Nowhere near as notorious as the Kazmir trade, trading Dan Wheeler has come back to bite the Mets. It wasn’t only the hastiness of giving up on a reliever who turned out to have two very good seasons in Houston that hurt the Mets, it was that the Mets once again, received nothing in return. Jim Duquette only netted Adam Seuss, a minor league outfielder, in return for the productive reliever. Adam Seuss would only contribute seven minor league at bats in his stint with the Mets. Wheeler posted a solid 3.71 ERA for the Mets in 2003, but was shaky before the Mets gave up on him after 50 innings in 2004. In the following two seasons in Houston, Wheeler would throw more than 70 innings and post ERA’s of 2.21 and 2.52. Any major league team could have used a set-up man with those numbers.

Heath Bell

Jim Duquette was not the only Mets GM whose trades are still hurting the pitching staff. Omar Minaya has dealt away several pitchers who the Mets would love to have back. Minaya has made several trades that show that dealing with young players is not a strongpoint of his. The Mets received oft-injured outfielder Ben Johnson, who was acquired for outfield depth, but serves little purpose for the Mets nowadays, and pitcher Jon Adkins, who pitched one inning in 2007 for the Mets for Heath Bell, who was dominant for the Padres, and lefty Royce Ring. Bell pitched almost 93 2/3 innings in relief last season at an ERA of 2.02. With Adkins gone, and Johnson buried on the depth chart, this trade is one of the most lopsided since the Kazmir deal. Even Ring had a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings last season.

Matt Lindstrom

The fireballer pitched in 71 games last season for the Marlins. His ERA was slightly over 3, and he struck out 62 batters in 67 innings last year. Minaya gave up the 27-year-old in a deal that also sent relief pitcher Henry Owens to Florida in exchange for two left handed starting pitchers, Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick. What seemed at the time as a harmless swap of four players in the upper-minor leagues has haunted the Mets. Vargas, who seemed like the most major league-ready talent of the four, was stuck in Triple-A New Orleans for most of 2007, and is stuck behind Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber, and Kevin Mulvey as possible candidates for the fifth spot in the rotation in 2008. Meanwhile, Lindstrom and Owens have both hit 100 MPH on the radar gun, and give the Marlins late-inning relief options that the Mets would have loved to have instead of Guillermo Mota last season. This trade cannot be seen as a complete waste yet, because Bostick has some value as a prospect and Vargas could contribute with injury prone pitchers Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez penciled into the starting rotation in 2008.

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