Over the past five seasons, the Mets have seen their share of roster churn. Between trades, free agency, DFAs and non-tenders, the league is well represented by former Mets players. Among them are plenty of marginal players, but also some high quality players – some of whom may be better than what we currently have in their place. Indeed, if you were to cherry pick the top ex-Mets, you could assemble a pretty competitive team – one that arguably is not far behind the current one. See for yourself.
The Lineup
Jose Reyes SS
Angel Pagan LF
Carlos Gomez CF
Carlos Beltran (DH)
Marlon Byrd RF
Ike Davis 1B
Justin Turner 3B
John Buck C
Ronny Cedeno 2b
The top half of the lineup is better than what the Mets currently have. It features speed, power and a balance of lefties, righties and switch hitters. Reyes (left via free agency after the 2011 season) and Angel Pagan (traded to San Francisco for outfielder Andres Torres and reliever Ramon Ramirez), while maybe a half step slower than when they topped our lineup in 2011, would still present a speedy upgrade over Juan Lagares and Daniel Murphy. Center fielder Gomez (traded in a package for Johan Santana) has blossomed into a star in the field and at the plate. Beltran (traded to San Francisco for Zack Wheeler), while injury prone and not the outfielder he once was, is still a very good hitter when healthy. Byrd and Buck (traded to Pittsburgh for Dilson Herrera and Vic Black) could easily still have a place on this team, though Buck would be relegated to backup status.
Clearly, the Mets front office made the right decision in keeping Lucas Duda over Davis (traded to Pittsburgh for a player-to-be-named later that turned out to be minor league lefty Blake Taylor). For lack of other options, Davis is the only active ex-Met first baseman. He’s still a good defensive first baseman and a good guy and most Mets fans are rooting for him to make a comeback, so long as he gets a golden sombrero any time he faces the Mets. Turner (left via free agency after 2013) had a career year with the Dodgers last year, hitting .340 as a valuable utility infielder and pinch hitter. He’d certainly be an upgrade over Ruben Tejada or Eric Campbell. For lack of other options, Cedeno gets the nod at the keystone.
As for reserves, we could fill out a bench with catcher Josh Thole, infielder Omar Quintanilla, and either Valdepsin, or Eric Young, Jr., as a multi-position utility player. As for outfield reserves, Scott Hairston and Collin Cowgill are probably the best of a sad lot of marginal players that also includes Mike Baxter, Jeff Francouer, Fernando Martinez, Andrew Brown, Chris Young and Torres.
The Rotation
R.A. Dickey
Scott Kazmir
Collin McHugh
Jason Vargas
Chris Young
While a rotation of ex-Mets wouldn’t compare with our current staff of young fireballers, capable veterans and rising stars, you could compile a solid group of arms. Knuckleballer and old fan favorite Dickey (traded with Thole and Mike Nickeas to the Blue Jays for Travis d’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard, Buck, and Wuilmer Becerra) would lead the way. Kazmir (disastrously traded away for Victor Zambrano in at the 2004 trade deadline) would make a solid number two, followed by 2014 surprise McHugh. The rest of the veteran rotation could be filled out by Vargas and Young, providing a nice righty-lefty mix. Honorable mention goes to Aaron Harang, Mike Pelfrey (does he still lick his hands in Minnesota?) and the eternally rehabbing Santana (we all wish him well).
The Bullpen
Francisco Rodriguez
LaTroy Hawkins
JJ Putz
Joe Smith
Darren O’Day
Oliver Perez
Chris Capuano
In the bullpen, there are a ton of options, beginning with capable closers Rodriguez (traded to Milwaukee inseason for minor leaguers) and Hawkins (left via free agency after 2013). Putz, while ineffective last season with Arizona, enjoyed four very good seasons after his one dreadful one in New York. The best of the righty setup options include Smith (sent to the Indians after the 2008 season as part of 3-team trade that also included Endy Chavez, Vargas, Mike Carp, Aaron Heilmann and two minor leaguers, and netted Putz, Shawn Green and Jeremy Reed) and O’Day (released in early 2009). From the other side, there are plenty of southpaws to choose from, including our old friend Perez (released in 2011), journeyman Capuano and Dana Eveland (left via free agency after 2014)
Among the many other ex-Met bullpen arms still floating around the league include Scott Atchison,
Manny Acosta, Dale Thayer, Blaine Boyer, Frank Francisco, Gonzalez Germen, Raul Valdez and
David Aardsma. Slim pickins to be sure.
At the end of this fun little experiment, most would take our current Mets team over this group based on our young pitching. However, an argument can be made that you could produce a better lineup of ex-Mets than current Mets, especially if Fernando Tatis would consider a comeback.
What, no ex manager to compare? Ex-coach, now managing?
I think Major League rules dictate that there must always be at least one Hairston in baseball. And how is it the Mets never had one Molina?
Metstheory22, there is no ex-Met manager currently managing in the big leagues, but there are a few I’d pull out out of retirement over Collins, including 80-year-old Dallas Green.
Looking back, with the clear exception of Turner, the players in the lineup were better left behind. The pitching staff just goes to show how many more options there could have been this season.
How about the 37 home grown players in the majors in 2015?
Lineup: Reyes, Murphy, Wright, Duda, NCruz, CGomez, Conforto, Thole
Bench: Lagares, Tejada, Plawecki, Flores, Pagan, IDavis, Nieuwenhuis, Valdespin, Cecilliani, Campbell and that outfielder they dumped to Washington….almost a decent lineup of its own. That’s 19 batters.
Starting pitchers: Harvey, deGrom, Kazmir, McHugh, Matz and Niese plus Gee, Montero, Verrett, Pelfrey….10
Relievers: Familia, Mejia, JSmith, Germen, Edgin, Robles, Goeddel….18 plus some I may be forgetting
That’s a pretty impressive home grown roster, isn’t it
Over the years, the Mets have allowed too many good players to leave who’ve turned into stars. Perhaps we misread them. I think back to Kevin Mitchell, Jeff Kent, Scott Kazmir, and more recently, Darren O’Day and Colin McHugh. I don’t count Carlos Gomez because I think we did properly gauge his value but had to include him to get Johan. I just hope we can lock up a few of these young arms before they get added to the list.
Since Sandy hates to make trades let’s go totally static and consider only players that signed with the Mets and were not obtained free agents or acquired by trade.
Reyes (SS), Gomez (RF),Wright (3B),Duda (1B), Pagan (LF), Murphy (2B), Lagares (CF) Thole (c) with a rotation of Harvey, deGrom, Niese,Kazmir,McHugh and a bullpen of Mejia, Parnell, Familia, Edgin, Joe Smith, Gee and Pelfry. Bench of Tejada, Campbell, Kirk, MDD and Centeno(c).
Hey,maybe being totally static and not letting your free agents walk is not that bad an idea!
I know you’re just joking, but if you think about it logically, it’s pretty obvious why a “static” team would do well (and it’s not really static anyways because you have to decide who not to resign which is technically a decision)
First, you’re cherry picking out of all the options available. Secondly, the guys who suck aren’t good enough to stay in baseball long enough and aren’t eligible for the list because they aren’t active MLB players (like Fernando Martinez, Lastings Milledge, or Nick Evans)
Static theory is all about indecision and letting things play out. Trades aside, we’ve let a lot of good players get away. Reyes was a short-sighted money issue, but letting Turner and some of those bullpen arms walk were just bad decisions.
Last I heard Lastings Milledge was playing in Japan. I never believed the hype with him. I saw him up close in spring training a bunch and he had the classic warning track power.
It’s sad that this team’s bullpen has the potential to match up (or be better) than today’s bullpen. I think Mejia and Familia are great, but Smith, and Perez may make this bullpen a little better. Even though I always think the Mets traded will become MVP candidates, this article reassures me that it doesn’t always happen. Nice job Matt!
Nice look at where the Mets could be. I’d love to have Fernando Tatis back, but there really isn’t anywhere to put him. I like the current Mets roster, more than I have in a long time. It’s not top 5, but it’s getting closer.