As the 1967 season came to a close, the Mets had to look back with an odd mixture of disappointment and hope. Whereas the season had not been successful, considering the attempts to bring in veterans to supplement the young players the Mets had been cultivating, the progress of those said young players put a nice shine on the dull polish of the team’s final record. Fans could also point to young star Dick Allen missing a third of the season, or the resuscitated Dick Howser, who looked like a capable replacement for the traded Ron Hunt until an injury himself took him down for the year, as reasons for the less than positive record. Tom Seaver had won rookie of the year and had a strong rotation mate in veteran Camilo Pascual, giving further reason for hope. Despite this Hodges, working alongside new general manager Johnny Murphy, might have finally been growing frustrated with the team’s progression. Each year he had looked at his young players and thought that some veteran acquisitions could put the team over the top. However, every time that hope presented itself, the new players seemed to either underperform or not receive support from other members of the roster. It put Hodges and Murphy in an interesting position going into 1968: stand pat with his young developing team or push the envelope with an aggressive offseason.
Here’s the roster that the Mets would have finished 1967 with:
Dick Allen
Sandy Alomar
Craig Anderson
Gerry Arrigo
Jim Bethke
Ken Boswell
Mike Brumley
Kevin Collins
Tommy Davis
Dick Dietz
Jack Fisher
Jerry Grote
Bud Harrelson
Bill Hepler
Dick Howser
Al Jackson
Bob Johnson (pitcher)
Bob Johnson (Infielder)
Cleon Jones
Cal Koonce
Jerry Koosman
Ed Kranepool
Dave May
Rudy May
Tug McGraw
Joe Moock
Danny Napoleon
Julio Navarro
Amos Otis
Camilo Pascual
Dennis Ribant
Les Rohr
Nolan Ryan
Tom Seaver
Al Schmelz
Don Shaw
Jimmy Stewart
John Sullivan
Ron Swoboda
Ron Taylor
The Mets had several players they needed to protect from the Rule 5 Draft, so a few house cleaning moves needed to be made. With that in mind, the team would release Brumley, a terrific defensive catcher who had gotten progressively worse as a hitter. They also decided to designate for assignment young pitchers Bethke and Hepler. Both had promise, but neither player had developed as hoped and were years away from making an impact on the major league team. The Mets would attempt to do the same with Navarro, but the Braves would claim him and the Mets would make the choice to allow the purchase so that a roster spot could be opened.
The Mets first move of the offseason would occur in this time period. When the Mets attempted to clear Napoleon through waivers, the Athletics, in need of right handed outfield bats and always enamored with power, would claim him. Napoleon had power, which he had illustrated in the minors, but had never been able to show at the major league level. The Athletics would offer veteran third baseman Ed Charles in return and the Mets would jump at the opportunity.
In the place of those three players, the Mets would add young pitchers Jim McAndrew, Steve Renko and Bill Denehy to the forty man roster. The house cleaning would end with the team selling catcher Sullivan to the Phillies after receiving multi-positional player John Boccabella from the Cubs as the player to be named later in the Koonce trade that occurred during the 1967 season.
The Mets would move into the heart of the offseason with a dilemma: how did they rectify Allen’s issues at third base? This was a multifaceted issue. It appeared that Allen’s throwing problems in 1967 necessitated that he make the move to first base, a position he had first played after hurting his shoulder in 1966. This created a domino effect as such a move would necessitate the movement of several other players, such as Dietz, Kranepool and Dave May.
In the end, the Mets had to make several tough decisions. The first was to put Dietz on the trading block. The 26 year old catcher had his best offensive season yet in 1967, more than likely slugging at least 15 homeruns as a part time catcher and first baseman. The bat was legitimate, but his defensive play behind the plate was concerning. The Mets preferred Grote, a tremendous defender and game caller. In the real 1966 and 1967, Grote struggled with the bat, but Hodges was the one who changed him in the real world and would’ve been the one to do so here. With Allen moving to first also took away at bat’s from Dietz. Basically, he didn’t fit the roster as constructed. Luckily, this particular offseason was full of teams needing catching upgrades.
In what would become a pattern of moves, the Mets would kick off the offseason with the following trade to bring in some veteran players:
The Mets trade Selma, Schmelz, Boccabella and Collins to the Reds for Sammy Ellis and Johnny Edwards
Hodges and company had realized that it was time to use some of the young players on the team to acquire more known veteran talent. Edwards was a quality backstop whose left hand bat had slipped in recent years, but would provide a veteran presence backing up Grote. The Mets entered the offseason with a lot of young pitching on the cusp of the majors, but would have rather entered the season with known veterans than unknown rookies. Ellis, although not the same flamethrower he was when he first broke into the big leagues, was still a veteran starter that made the rotation less of a question mark. Both were also winning players from an organization with recent success, important to Hodges and Murphy for what that would bring to the clubhouse.
This trade is in essence a combination of deals that the Reds made with the Angels (Ellis) and the Cardinals (Edwards). Selma notoriously rubbed Hodges and the Mets the wrong way in 1968, so it can be surmised that the mercurial righthander would also have done so in our world. Schmelz was a fireballer with touchy control, but tremendous upside and Boccabella represented more of a power hitting catcher than the Reds originally got back for Edwards.
This move would be followed by a trade with the White Sox:
The Mets trade Davis, Fisher, Charles, Ribant and Kranepool to the White Sox for Tommie Agee, Pete Ward and Jim O’Toole.
This trade made tremendous sense for both clubs. The White Sox had a young, up and coming prospect at third base in Bill Melton, allowing for the exit of Ward and the entrance of Charles while Melton was still developing. Ward’s left hand bat fit the Mets roster better as he could play third base, which Kranepool couldn’t. The White Sox had been using Tommy McCraw at first base, but he could easily move to the outfield to make room for the ever improving Kranepool. It would have been hard to move on from the player Hodges had hoped would eventually form an impressive middle of the order tandem, as well as a long term solution at the corners of the infield with Allen, but Kranepool didn’t fit with Allen moving to first base. O’Toole would get the chance to prove that his shoulder injury from 1967 was nothing to be concerned about and that he could be a left hand member of the Mets rotation.
The Mets had to feel pretty good about their restructured roster, but we’re frustrated with the inability to move Dietz. A spot soon opened when the Giants would trade starting catcher Tom Haller to the Dodgers, a team the Mets had negotiated with for Dietz, with no deal coming to fruition. The Giants would like Dietz power and flexibility. The Mets, having acquired a variety of veteran talent, were mainly looking to the future in terms of a return for Dietz. With spring training looming, the Mets would make the following trade with the Giants:
The Mets trade Dietz to the Giants for Bernie Williams, Bob Reynolds and Jose Morales
With Dietz now a superfluous part of the roster, the Mets got what they could for the offensively gifted, but defensively flawed catcher, which was the problem they had with trading him. All the organizations the Mets would have spoken to would have acknowledged Dietz’s offensive gifts, but at the same time noted that they would have to use him at first base as they couldn’t count on him playing every day behind the plate. The Giants though were willing to package some minor leaguers for the backstop. Williams was the ultimate deep system prospect as he had potential, but was an 18 year old outfielder with only one year of minor league experience. Reynolds had starting pitcher talent, but had suffered a few injury-plagued minor-league seasons. Morales was a solid hitting, poor fielding catcher that the Mets hoped they could mold.
As spring training commenced, the Mets again had to feel good about their chances to make an impact on the National League. Second base was still a relative unknown, but they had several players in spring training that would compete for the position and prospect Boswell who the team was very high on. The starting staff would be in the best position they’d known. The club would have a top of the rotation consisting of Seaver, Pascual and Ellis, with O’Toole and a group of highly thought of young arms fighting for the other spots. The bullpen would also be steady, with Taylor leading a group of quality performers. For the first time, the Mets would be putting out on the mound a group of pitchers that weren’t other team’s retreads.
In the lineup, the Mets had to feel pretty good. Agee gave them the best leadoff hitter they ever had and Jones was developing into a quality top-of-the-order hitter. Allen, now that he had been moved to a position where his shoulder wasn’t an issue, was clobbering balls all over spring training, especially with the support of a quality bat like Ward. What would happen in right field was still uncertain as Swoboda had made progress while Dave May was still a talented player, but a relative uncertainty.
As spring training came to a close, the Mets made several tweaks to the roster. O’Toole had proven that his time as a big league pitcher was probably coming to an end, so the Mets would release him to seek a different team if he so chose. Rudy May, Anderson, and Howser wouldn’t make the team and Hodges felt the roster could benefit from a left-handed bench bat and a flexible right-handed veteran who could catch. With those needs in mind and the inability to get Rudy May, Anderson, and Howser to the minor leagues, the Mets would make the following moves:
The Mets trade Rudy May to the Angels for Jack Hamilton and Hawk Taylor
The Mets trade Howser and Anderson to the Yankees for Mike Hegan
Hamilton would accept a minor league assignment upon completion of the deal, while Taylor, who had turned himself into a solid pinch hitter and could play the outfield, first base or catcher, would get a spot as the 15th player on the bench. Hegan was more interesting. Hegan was a slugging prospect in the Yankees system, but was blocked by a mixed bag of veterans, young players and higher level prospects. In the real world, the Yankees would sell Hegan to the expansion Seattle Pilots during the season, showing that the team was moving on from him. Also in actual 1968, Howser would be a key utility infielder. The Yankees of that time were always looking for pitching, so throwing in Anderson to pitch in relief for them made sense also. For the Mets, taking a chance on the young, unproven Hegan was logical as he could at worst be sent to the minors, since he had one option year remaining, and at best be a solid left hand power bat for the club.
More importantly though, spring training brought two young pitching names to the forefront as Ryan and Koosman both pitched their way into the starting rotation.
When the season started, it should have been readily apparent that things had changed for the club. Despite poor play from Agee and May, the lineup would have been the most productive it had ever been. Harrelson struggled with injuries and his bat, but the nearly forgotten Alomar picked up the slack at the plate and in the field. Bob Johnson (infielder) was a solid bench player and gave Ward a break when his nagging back problems had him miss games. The Mets didn’t even miss a beat when Allen went down for a few weeks with nagging injuries as Hegan picked up the slack.
The pitching staff was one of the best in the National League, with a deep bullpen and a dominant starting rotation. Only Ellis performed below average, while Seaver and Koosman performed like aces and Pascual put in another quality workmanlike season. Ryan was spectacular to begin the year, but his wildness was problematic and blisters eventually shut him down for the season. McAndrew, added to the roster at the end of 1967, was spectacular when called up to replace Ryan.
Even the loss of Boswell, performing solidly at the plate and at second base, didn’t deter the team. Squarely in contention by that point, the Mets dealt Ellis to the Red Sox for infielder Dalton Jones and outfield prospect Bobby Mitchell. The Mets called up solid pitching prospect Danny Frisella to replace Ellis in the rotation and he performed well. Dalton Jones, at the time of the trade simply taking up room on the Red Sox bench, would hit over .260 the rest of the way and post an OPS near .700 while filling in at second base and various other spots on the diamond.
All in all, this team would be making a name for itself for the first time in its existence. Allen would again club over 30 home runs while the platoon of Hegan and Swoboda (which had developed over the season due to May’s lack of production) would have provided additional power behind Allen and Ward. Cleon Jones would bounce back from a poor 1967 season to show the promise he had shown during his rookie season in 1966. The real difference between the true 1968 team and the reinvented one would have been on the bench. The true 1968 team got almost no production out of the bench, which made the terrible seasons by Agee and others that much more problematic. The bottom line is that this version of the roster would have scored at least 70 more runs than the original team and still had the same terrific pitching.
What would all of this have resulted in? The team’s first winning record, possibly as high as 85 wins and a clear indication that this team was one to reckon with as expansion changed the scope of baseball heading into 1969.