Reinventing the Mets: 1965

In 1964, some of the fruits of the Mets labors since the expansion draft blossomed. Dick Allen had a terrific second season and Dick Dietz showed that he was a positive offensive player as a catcher, if his defense needed work. Ed Kranepool also took control of the First Base position and original Mets draftee Joe Christopher had one of the best years of any Mets outfielder to that point. It all resulted in what most likely amounted to a 70 plus win season, definite progress from previous seasons. However, the team was still a long way from competition as they didn’t have the pitching depth they wanted and had still not been able to locate that veteran pitcher or hitter to lead the young unit. Decisions had to be made with the roster as well due to the rules of that time related to first year players.
Here’s the roster that the Mets would have finished 1964 with:

Dick Allen
George Altman
Craig Anderson
Larry Bearnarth
Mike Brumley
Larry Burright
Chris Cannizzaro
Elio Chacon
Joe Christopher
Galen Cisco
Dick Dietz
Steve Dillon
Larry Elliot
Al Ferrara
Jack Fisher
Rob Gardner
Adrian Garrett
Bud Harrelson
Jim Hickman
Ron Hunt
Al Jackson
Cleon Jones
Bobby Klaus
Ed Kranepool
Frank Kreutzer
Ron Locke
Ken Mackenzie
Dave May
Roy McMillan
Dennis Ribant
Dick Rusteck
Bob Sadowski
Amado Samuel
Larry Sherry
Tracy Stallard
John Stephenson
Hawk Taylor
Bill Wakefield
Carl Willey
Nick Willhite

As the 1964-1965 offseason commenced, the Mets had a lot of decisions to make. Although an amateur draft was being discussed and planned for during the 1965 season, the first year player draft rules were still in effect. That meant the Mets had to open up five more roster spots to accommodate their top prospects. Burright and Mackenzie were easy cuts as they were depth players and the Mets had better options in the high minors or on the 40 man roster. Dillon was also cut as the first year selection from 1962, along with May, had never developed as hoped. Taylor would also be cut as he was a poor defender at the various positions he played and the team had a multitude of players on the 40 man roster already at this point in the outfield and at catcher. Samuel would also be cut as with Harrelson moving through the system and Klaus having played solidly in 1963, he didn’t have much of a chance to make the team. The last cut was a tough one, but the Mets would have chosen Willhite over Kreutzer or Willey. Willey had been the team’s ace in 1963 and had come back well from injury towards the end of the season. The Mets would be in the market for veteran pitchers in the offseason and they had to hope that Willey would be able to make it back successfully. Kreutzer had shown a little more talent than Willhite, who had started the 1964 season well, then faded considerably down the stretch and ended up back in the minors.

Willhite would be picked up very quickly by the Senators. The Mets were less than thrilled to part with Willhite for nothing, so they would cut a deal to receive a player to be named later. That player would be minor league middle infielder Ron Stillwell.

With those cuts done, the Mets added the following players to the roster to protect them from the First Year player draft: Tug McGraw, Ron Swoboda, Danny Napoleon, Kevin Collins, Dennis Musgraves and Jim Bethke. That brought the roster to a full forty and took the Mets out of the First Year player draft and the Rule 5 draft. Since the 40 man roster had so many young players on it, Hodges would have been fine with this development.

The offseason plan was the same as usual: attempt to find a veteran pitcher and improve the talent of the roster overall. Early in the offseason, they would get their first veteran pitcher by purchasing Warren Spahn from the Braves. In order to make room for Spahn on the roster, the team would cut ties with Willey, hopefully passing him through waivers to get him back on a minor league contract.

Early in the offseason, the Mets would make what looked like a small deal:

The Mets trade Stephenson and Grover Powell to the White Sox for Rudy May

May had put up staggering numbers in the minor leagues in 1964. With Dietz on the major league roster, Stephenson was somewhat expendable. He had the chance to hit with left handed power from the catcher position, fairly rare, which was why the White Sox were willing to take a chance on him. The White Sox made a similar deal with the Phillies in 1964, instead acquiring Bill Heath who didn’t have the power potential of Stephenson. The Phillies initially sent a minor league pitcher back who had been injured in 1964 and the Mets would have done the same, sending Powell, who had potential, but had gotten hurt at the end of 1963 and worked through an injury plagued 1964.

The club would also deal from their outfield surplus to acquire another veteran pitcher:

The Mets trade Hickman and Cisco to the Reds for Bob Purkey.

This is very close to the actual Purkey trade, where the Reds traded him to the Cardinals for Roger Craig and Charlie James. By adding Purkey and Spahn, the Mets had provided their young pitching staff with two veteran starters that could provide leadership and advice to the young arms on the roster. Famously, the Mets also hired Spahn as pitching coach. Hodges might have done that as well.

The Mets weren’t done making deals though as they would cut several more trades before spring training began:

The Mets trade Chacon and Stallard to the Cardinals for Johnny Lewis and Gordie Richardson

This deal actually happened and made a lot of sense at the time. Lewis, like Hickman before him, was a talented player stuck in the Cardinals farm system. Out of options, the Cardinals had to try and get Lewis through waivers, put him on the roster or attempt to trade him and get something back. Richardson was a similar type of player, a solid left handed pitcher who had been lost by the Cardinals in the Rule 5 draft in 1962, returned and been a part of their bullpen at various times since. Chacon’s time in New York was coming to a close after the acquisition of McMillan, along with top shortstop prospect Bud Harrelson moving through the system. Stallard had been solid as a Met, but the additions of Purkey and Spahn, along with several other young pitchers made him expendable. Lewis was also a left handed bat that would be given every opportunity to make the team in spring training.

The Mets would then trade Altman to the Cubs for Billy Cowan.

This trade occurred prior to 1965, with new general manager famously telling Cowan that he would, “play every day, even if you strike out 200 times”. Cowan had both power and speed and could play centerfield, but had the propensity to strike out.

The Mets would have attempted to get into the Frank Howard sweepstakes in the offseason of 1964, but the Dodgers were intent on acquiring a top flight starting pitcher for Howard and the Mets didn’t have that kind of a player to give up.

Going into spring training in 1965, the Mets obviously were going with the idea that more is better. Spahn, Fisher, Jackson and Purkey would be set up for the rotation, but the remaining spot would be up in the air amongst Rudy May, Ribant, Kreutzer, Sadowski and Gardner. The outfield was also a jumble of players. Only Christopher had earned a spot with his stellar play in 1964 and the hope was that Cowan would solidify center field with Ferrara, Lewis, Elliot, Jones, Garrett and Dave May battling it out for the other outfield spot. Outside of that though, the team was fairly set, with Dietz, Cannizzaro and Brumley manning the catching duties, Kranepool at first, Hunt at second, McMillan at shortstop and budding star Allen at third base.

The infield would take a hit when Ron Hunt went down with an injury early in the season, but the Mets would make up for that by purchasing veteran infielder Chuck Hiller from the Giants. Allen would have a slight set back offensively from his stellar 1964 campaign, but would still be the heart of the lineup, slugging 20 home runs and posting an 870 OPS, further solidifying his status as one of the young stars of the game.

The outfield though was a little bit of a mess. Christopher would have a down year from the previous season. Cowan would be a disaster in center field and wouldn’t finish the season with the team as he would be traded in a waiver wire deal to the Braves for two players to be named later (Lou Klimchock and Ernie Bowman). Ferrara would earn regular playing time and hit well, but show his weaknesses in the field. Lewis would be the best overall outfielder, playing a solid centerfield and providing some left handed punch in the lineup. Swoboda would make a huge impact in spring training, get off to a fast start and fizzle after the third month of the season. Unlike the original 1965 Mets, Hodges would send Swoboda down to the minors and give veterans with less upside, like Elliot more playing time while Swoboda got some seasoning. Jones and Dave May would both make spot appearances, but neither was ready for the big leagues.

The veterans acquired to lead the pitching staff would also struggle. Spahn had some good early moments, but soon proved that pitching deep into games was problematic for him and he would eventually be released so that he could spend his final season pitching for a contender. Purkey would never get his season in line. Rudy May would pitch decently in the fifth starter slot, but would show himself to be too wild and still in need of seasoning. Ribant, Gardner, McGraw, Kreutzer and Sadowski would all get their opportunities, but none would stand out. Only Fisher and Jackson would continue to show steadiness and reliability in the rotation.

The bullpen would be the teams’ saving grace as Bearnarth, Sadowski, Anderson, Wakefield and the young McGraw, who would spend the season on the roster as Locke had the previous year, provided solid production out of a bullpen that was anchored by the veteran Sherry.

Also during the season, the first Amateur Draft was held. Although the Mets would strike out with their number one pick, they would draft future contributors Ken Boswell, Jim McAndrew and Nolan Ryan.

As the season rolled to a close, the Mets would have probably stood pat in the 70 to 75 win range from the previous season, a disappointment considering that the team had steadily progressed each season up until this point.

However, things were still looking up. With the Amateur draft in the fold, the Mets wouldn’t have to spend a multitude of roster spots on players that either had no chance to be or shouldn’t be on the big league roster. Hunt, Kranepool and Allen were continuing to develop into a quality young infield behind the leadership of the veteran McMillan. Rudy May showed raw talent as a pitcher, as did McGraw and the various young pitchers manning Triple-A. The Mets had to feel that a rotation was in that mix to provide more front end starters to the solid back end of Jackson and Fisher. They still had a solid closer in Sherry and some decent bullpen arms. The Outfield was still a problem, but Ferrara had been solid with the bat, Swoboda had shown potential and Jones and May, although they had struggled when called up during the season, were still top prospects with the potential to help out. With some tweaks to the roster and growth from their own young players, the team could make significant strides in 1966.