1966 would have been the most successful the early Mets would have been. Solid pitching and defense, along with a blossoming young lineup would have put the Mets on the brink of seeming success. Gil Hodges and General Manager Bing Devine would have looked at the 1966 roster and thought that a few additions, hopefully with solid veterans, would boost this club to the next level. On top of this excitement, top amateur signee Tom Seaver had a quality first professional baseball season in Triple-A, earning himself an invite to spring training.
Here’s the roster that the Mets would have finished 1966 with:
Dick Allen
Craig Anderson
Gerry Arrigo
Larry Bearnarth
Jim Bethke
Ernie Bowman
Eddie Bressoud
Mike Brumley
Chris Cannizzaro
Kevin Collins
Dick Dietz
Larry Elliot
Al Ferrara
Jack Fisher
Rob Gardner
Adrian Garrett
Jerry Grote
Bud Harrelson
Bill Hepler
Chuck Hiller
Ron Hunt
Al Jackson
Cleon Jones
Lou Klimchock
Ed Kranepool
Johnny Lewis
Ron Locke
Dave May
Rudy May
Tug McGraw
Roy McMillan
Dennis Musgraves
Danny Napoleon
Dennis Ribant
Gordie Richardson
Nolan Ryan
Dick Rusteck
Bob Sadowski
Bob Shaw
Larry Sherry
Ron Swoboda
Young flame thrower Ryan had been added to the roster in September. Although his initial trip to the big leagues hadn’t been particularly successful, the young right hander had the type of pitching arm that had to make the Mets salivate over future success. Unfortunately his addition created a bit of a roster crunch. Luckily, this ended up being easily satiated with a few retirements. Richardson, having lost his spot in the bullpen after an early season injury, decided to retire instead of working his way back through the minor league system. McMillan, after a long and stellar career, decided it was time to move on to other things. Hodges would most definitely have offered McMillan a position on his staff, which more than likely McMillan would have accepted.
The Mets only had one player that they necessarily had to protect from the Rule 5 Draft. As a rule, pitchers are often the most selected players in that draft as they can be hidden in bullpens during the season and then stashed in the minors for development afterwards. Hard throwing Bob Johnson was one of those players. After being signed as an amateur free agent in 1964, Johnson had slowly moved his way through the Mets system, peaking at Triple-A in 1966 with 16 unsuccessful relief outings. His talent though showed that the young Johnson was worth protecting, so he would be added to the 40 man roster.
In order to open up a further slot so that the Mets could participate in the Rule 5 Draft themselves, the Mets sold minor league outfielder Garrett to the Braves. The Mets had acquired Garrett back in 1964 in a midseason trade with the Braves, but Garrett had never shown in the minors that he could hit to his potential as a left handed, power hitting corner outfielder. With other outfielders already in front of him, the Mets didn’t want to clog up the system any longer with his roster spot.
Prior to the Rule 5 Draft, the Mets would also make another move to free up roster spots and bring in one of the veterans the team hoped would add to the young roster by trading Bowman, Klimchock and Rusteck to the Indians for Bob Heffner and Dick Howser. Only Rusteck was a player the Mets would miss as Bowman and Klimchock were Quadruple-A middle infielders, but the Mets had a number of young pitchers that were closer to the majors than Rusteck, so to get Howser, they deemed him expendable. This trade is based on the actual deal the Mets made in 1966, when they dealt Klimchock and Bowman for Floyd Weaver. Howser was originally dealt to the Yankees that offseason for a Quadruple-A type pitcher who never actually made it to the majors and Heffner was sold by the Indians at the end of the spring training. Heffner was a flame throwing right hander and the Mets had to look at him more highly than weaver. Rusteck, as a hard throwing left handed pitcher with option years left and youth, had to be more highly regarded than Weaver or the pitcher the Yankees sent to Cleveland.
Howser, a former All Star and runner up as Rookie of the Year, had once been a speedy shortstop who had some of his ability effected by injuries. Despite some loss of skill, Howser was tremendously difficult to strike out, knew how to get on base with the walk and was a terrific bunter. Howser also was the kind of smart veteran that Hodges loved to have on his roster. At the worst, Howser would be a terrific back up at shortstop and second base and would take on the leadership role on the field that McMillan had for a young Mets infield with a lot of potential.
In the Rule 5 Draft, the Mets would select John Sullivan, a left handed hitting catching prospect from the Tigers organization. Sullivan was a good defender and had some power potential, but the selection was the result of Brumley’s poor play. Hodges liked having a left handed hitting catcher to back up the combination of Dietz and Grote and now would have competition for Brumley in spring training for that role. On that same date, the Mets also selected Amos Otis in the minor league portion of the draft. Otis was a talented young player without a position, who would have to be added to the 40 man roster by the end of the season, but was worth the risk.
The Mets would attempt to get into the Dean Chance sweepstakes of that offseason, but wouldn’t be willing to give up the bats needed to get the young ace from the Angels. Instead, the Mets would make two trades that they hoped would catapult them into some form of contention.
The first of those deals was when the Mets traded Ferrara and Hunt to the Dodgers for Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith. The original trade included Jim Hickman instead of Ferrara, but the concept is the same and our Mets already traded Hickman. Ferrara had shown growth in 1966 as a young player, but he was out of options and the Mets had two similar players with minor league options left on the forty man roster in Swoboda and Napoleon. Davis offered the club a legitimate veteran bat that would allow Allen to bat cleanup and have some support in the lineup. Davis was coming off a few down seasons due to injuries, but had one back to back batting titles in the early sixties and would play the 1967 season as a 28 year old. It was a necessary risk to take for a burgeoning young team. Hunt would have been hard to trade for Hodges as he was one of those gritty baseball players that Hodges liked, but to get a bat like Davis was something the Mets couldn’t resist.
With Howser, Hiller and Bressoud on the roster, the Mets had several options to fill the void at second base. They would further help the second base situation and the pitching staff by trading Sherry to the Twins for Camilo Pascual and Bernie Allen. This trade was originally made between the Senators and Twins, with the Twins acquiring veteran closer Ron Kline, but the Mets would have jumped all over this option, using Sherry, after trading Hunt. Sherry and Kline had very similar seasons in 1966, both would have been successful closers for several years and Sherry was younger, so the deal made sense.
Allen had looked like a budding star before leg injuries derailed his career in 1965. He had struggled in 1966 and the Mets would be hoping that the smooth fielding, left handed hitter could get his stroke back enough to at least platoon with one of the other right handed veterans at the position. This acquisition created an intriguing spring training battle at the position. Pascual had been one of the best pitchers in the American league as recently as 1964, but arm injuries had caused the pitcher who once led the American League in strike outs for three consecutive years, to become more of a control pitcher. The Mets had to feel that the risk was worth the reward for both of these players, just like they did with Davis.
The Mets would go onto to make some smaller trades to rearrange the roster and add depth to the team for spring training, considering that their four major acquisitions, Howser, Allen, Pascual and Davis all had fairly recent injury histories.
The Mets would trade Cannizzaro and Elliot to the Red Sox for Ed Rakow and Julio Navarro. Cannizzaro was redundant on the roster, as was Elliot. Rakow had once been a solid starting pitcher and would be a competitive arm in spring training. Navarro had, when given a chance, been a solid reliever with experience closing games. The Red Sox would make this trade with the Braves, almost exactly, with the only changing being that the Red Sox received Elliot instead of John Herrnstein, who was in essence the same type of player by this time in each player’s careers.
They would follow this trade up by sending Griffith (acquired along with Davis from the Dodgers) to the Astros for Sandy Alomar. Alomar had been up and down from the minor leagues since 1964, but was only 23 and offered a switch hitter with excellent speed who could be depth at shortstop behind top prospect Harrelson, or win the second base job outright.
Spring training in 1967 would have been exciting. There would be position battles, especially on the infield where second base was up for grabs and Harrelson was out to prove he could be the everyday shortstop. There was intrigue with Dick Allen as, despite his terrific offensive numbers, a shoulder injury that season had eventually necessitated that he play first base. If over the long term that had to occur, then the Mets would all of a sudden have an issue at the hot corner that had appeared to be something that wouldn’t be a long term problem.
The bullpen would also see a battle for who would take over Sherry’s role on the club. Navarro had the most experience and 1962 draftee Anderson was the veteran in the bullpen, but several youngsters, like Selma, Arrigo and Locke all would have input in the decision. Dave May had struggled against left handed pitching, so Hodges would have looked to young right handed hitting outfielder Napoleon and Swoboda to provide a platoon partner. Both had minor league options that could be used in 1967, so this was a true battle for the chance to have a role on a major league team and an opportunity for the Mets to see which player had a future with the organization.
Finally, the most exciting part of all would have been the plethora of young pitchers that would have become known as a part of spring training invites. Seaver, Ryan, Johnson, Jerry Koosman, Jim McAndrew and others all would have joined the other young arms on the 40 man roster in showing off their talent. Seaver would particularly impress, as would fellow young arm Bill Denehy, leading Hodges to make a surprising decision. The rotation looked set after the Pascual trade, with only veterans Rakow and Heffner supposedly around to challenge the veteran. Both of those pitchers wouldn’t impress. Rakow would be released while Heffner would be sold to the Angels at the end of spring training, but Seaver’s impressiveness would lead Hodges to slot him into the rotation alongside the reliable Fisher, the young hyperactive Ribant and the veteran Pascual. Shaw and Jackson, who had both been very good in 1966, would help bolster the young bullpen and spot start in that five hole of the rotation.
The bullpen would be bolstered by purchasing Ron Taylor from the Astros at the end of spring training. Taylor had closing experience and would help Anderson and Navarro provide veteran leadership to some of the younger arms. Unlike in the past, the Mets would enter 1967 feeling very good about their roster and would be the team cutting ties with over the hill or injured players instead of being the team that had to take them in. Sadowski, who had struggled with injuries in 1966, would also be one of these casualties.
As the season got started, hope would have been high. Problems would have been noted fairly early though. Dick Allen showed struggles with his arm and throwing the baseball. His offensive numbers were terrific as ever, but his defense at third was problematic. Kranepool was having a solid season and Hodges had a full outfield, so he stuck with Dick Allen at third base. Unfortunately, Dick Allen would severely injure his hand working on his car while he had a day off, and the Mets would lose their star hitter for a third of the season. Also Bernie Allen, despite playing terrific defense, was lost at the plate to start the season and would end up being traded to the Cubs for super utility player Jimmy Stewart. Howser would take over as the everyday second baseman and would play well, but would also be injured around the same time Dick Allen went down and be lost, for all intents and purpose, for the rest of the season. The team would have been playing well at that point behind the best lineup they’d put on the field as a franchise, solid defense and quality starting pitching, but losing to starting players and key members of the lineup would have been problematic.
In season acquisition Bob Johnson, a super utility infielder, would have a hot bat, but wouldn’t be able to replace Dick Allen. The Mets would call up top third base prospect Joe Moock, but Moock would also show a lack of success. Veterans Hiller and Bressoud would have been gone by this time and Alomar would have been a total disaster at the plate, both in the majors and minors, so the team would have struggled to find suitable replacements. The Mets would have had to rely too much on back up infielders who just didn’t have the offensive talent of Howser and Dick Allen.
Harrelson would show that he could be the everyday shortstop, but Jones would go through a sophomore slump. Swoboda would win the platoon job out of spring training and have a solid season, not showing the plus power of his rookie season, but showing more consistency with the bat and in the field. Dave May would again struggle against lefties, but would show progress overall. Davis would play terrifically when Dick Allen was in the lineup, but with the Mets hopes fading after those two injuries, Davis would take on too much pressure and fade down the stretch of the year. Dietz would show the power he hinted at in 1966, but his defense kept his at bat’s limited as Grote, decent offensively and arguably the best defensive catcher in the game, was too good to sit. Kranepool would again show progress, but with the loss of Allen’s bat, Hodges would give as many at bats as he could to the power hitting Dietz, sometimes at Kranepool’s expense.
All in all, what had started out as such a promising year had fallen off with the Dick Allen and Howser injuries. The pitching was as expected, with Taylor ably filling Sherry’s old role and Seaver pitching himself towards rookie of the year honors. Shaw would struggle in his role and be dealt with Gardner, who was lingering in the minor leagues, to the Cubs for Cal Koonce and a player to be named later. Once positive is that fans would get to see some of the teams’ top prospects as Koosman, 1965 number one pick Les Rohr, top second base prospect Ken Boswell, hard throwing Al Schmelz, Otis and left handed reliever Don Shawn would all make appearances. The Mets would also cut lose players that had never made the impact desired, designated for assignment young pitchers Locke and Musgraves, along with reliever Bearnarth. Lewis would be released for ineffective play.
As the year came to a close, the excitement that the season had begun with would have faded. The team would have been better than originally, but only probably in the 70 to 75 win range. However, Seaver and the other young players had proven the Mets had a future. Dick Allen’s struggles at third though left the team with several tough decision moving forward, but with the prospects they had and the foundation that appeared to be there in Seaver, Harrelson and others, Hodges and Devine must have again thought that they were only a few players away from making noise in the National League.