Reinventing the Mets: 1975

Note: This is a series of articles creating an alternate history for the Mets. They started with a reinvention of the 1962 expansion draft and have progressed from there. In actual history, some of these players were Mets, some never were. This isn’t meant to be an historical re-examination of the franchise. It’s supposed to be a fun excursion into what could have been.

Our 1974 Mets achieved what the original 1974 team didn’t even come close to by making it to back to back World Series. Unfortunately, they ran into an equally great team, the early 1970’s Oakland Athletics, and were unable to defeat their nemesis. After a quiet offseason following the 1973 season, this version of the Mets had to be considering a more active change in the talent pool on the roster.

Here’s the roster that the Mets would have finished 1974 with:

Dick Allen
Bob Apodaca
Rick Auerbach
Benny Ayala
Bob Bailey
Rick Baldwin
Bruce Boisclair
Buzz Capra
Larry Fritz
Wayne Garrett
Jerry Grote
Ike Hampton
Bud Harrelson
Greg Harts
Ron Hodges
Von Joshua
Jerry Koosman
Ted Martinez
Jon Matlack
Tug McGraw
Felix Millan
John Milner
Tommy Moore
Carl Morton
Amos Otis
Harry Parker
Bob Reynolds
Ray Sadecki
Dave Schneck
Tom Seaver
Steve Simpson
Roy Staiger
Rusty Staub
Randy Sterling
Bill Stein
George Stone
Brent Strom
Bill Sudakis
Cesar Tovar
Hank Webb

The offseason, again, would start with clearing out the flotsam and jetsam from the roster to make room for young players that the Mets wanted to protect from the Rule 5 Draft. They would start this process by releasing Simpson. Simpson had been unable to make the roster and his release was a bi-product of a solid farm system in regards to young pitching. They would also designate Harts for assignment as he hadn’t overly impressed in the minors and the Mets wanted to protect other prospects. They would attempt to do the say with Schneck and Fritz, but the Phillies would claim both young players and the Mets would outright sell them to the Phillies organization.

Finally, with the Rule 5 draft on their doorstep, the Mets would make the following trade:

The Mets trade Sudakis to the Royals for Rodney Scott (minors).

The Royals would historically make this deal much later in the offseason, sending Scott to the Expos for Bob Stinson. For the Mets, moving Sudakis for an interesting minor league prospect that they didn’t have to protect on their roster did two things. It brought back value for Sudakis, who had not repeated his performance from 1973 in 1974 and it opened up a roster spot for a prospect they wanted to protect. The team had several young catchers that they liked and felt that a back-up or platoon partner could easily be found for Grote amongst that group. Scott was something of a rarity in the Mets farm system. He was a switch hitter with solid on base skills and elite speed who could play a variety of positions, including shortstop which had not been a productive point of the Mets farm system sans Harrelson and Tim Foli, whom they had traded to the Expos in the Staub and Morton trade.

With these moves made, the Mets would add five prospects to the forty man roster. These would be right handed pitchers Nino Espinosa, Craig Swan and Randy Tate, as well as switching hitting first baseman Brock Pemberton and left handed hitting catcher Joe Nolan. The pitchers were the intriguing ones in this group. Espinosa was a soft tossing, control artist who had moved quickly through the system. Tate threw hard, but had yet to harness his control. Swan was arguably the best pitching prospect in the Mets system, combining good stuff with solid control.

With these moves made, the offseason would commence and the Mets, under new general manager Joe McDonald, would be active, making the following trades leading up to spring training:

The Mets trade Joshua to the Giants for Dave Kingman

The Mets trade McGraw and Bailey to the Phillies for Mac Scarce, two minor leaguers ( John Stearns and Mark Clear) and a player to be named later ( Barry Bonnell, minors, in May)

The Mets trade Martinez to the Cardinals for Mike Vail and Jack Heidemann

The Mets trade Hampton to the Angels for Ken Sanders

All of these moves were meant to accomplish two things. The first was to bring some new youth to the organization while not giving up on the upcoming season. The second was to bolster the current roster with players that fit the roster well, hopefully by trading the ones that didn’t.

The Kingman trade never happened, but we’re combining two events that actually occurred in that actual offseason. The first was Joshua being claimed off of waivers by the Giants from the Dodgers. The second was the Giants selling Kingman to the Mets. This deal makes sense for both clubs. The Giants needed a centerfielder and Joshua fit that bill. Joshua didn’t fit on the Mets roster as he didn’t offer enough position flexibility to get playing time outside of a full outfield. Kingman offered elite power and the positional flexibility that Joshua didn’t as he could play first base, third base and either corner outfield position, if not well. Both were still young and still had tremendous potential, so it would have been a good old fashioned win-win for both teams.

The McGraw and Bailey trade was more about cycling out veterans for younger players. This trade is an adjustment from the original deal that sent McGraw to the Phillies in the 1974 offseason. McGraw had back to back down seasons and the Mets had two intriguing young bullpen arms in Apodaca and Reynolds, along with a veteran lefty in Sadecki. Bailey was entering his mid-thirties and the Mets had two prospects in Stein and Staiger that they thought could potentially fill Bailey’s shoes. Although neither third baseman had Bailey’s offensive ability, they profiled better defensively. The players they got back were all about keeping the farm system healthy. Stearns was a top notch catching prospect and would have immediately stood out as the long term heir apparent to Grote. Clear was a hard throwing young right hander who had struggled at the Phillies Rookie level, but was an intriguing young arm to continue to bolster the system. Scarce would hopefully replace McGraw in the bullpen and the player to be named later would turn into the Phillies first round pick in the January version of the draft, Bonnell, a college outfielder with an intriguing skill set.

The other deals were about filling needs. Heidemann had once been a solid short stop prospect and Vail looked like a quality right handed outfield prospect. Sanders’ was a veteran reliever that would solidify the bullpen and the players they gave up weren’t considered long term parts of the roster.

Early in the season, some things began to become obvious. One was that Allen, who had been struggling with various injuries for several years now, was not the same. Allen, in the real history, had admittedly been struggling with shoulder and back issues and by 1975 it was obvious that it had sapped some of his vaunted hitting ability. It began to become obvious that Allen was no longer the centerpiece in which they could build the team and lineup around. The issue was that the plan to help Allen through the season wasn’t working either. Milner, who had been looked at as a player who could give Allen time off, was having a terrible season. It made first base, so long a plus part of the team’s offense, into an offensive black hole. Since the lineup for so long had revolved around Allen, his struggles adversely affected the rest of the team. Otis also was having the worst offensive season since becoming a regular in 1970 and Harrelson ended up missing the majority of the season. On top of all of that, the Mets hadn’t been able to find an adequate replacement for Bailey as Garrett didn’t hit enough, Stein didn’t hit or field enough and Kingman didn’t field well enough. The team was buoyed by solid performances by Staub and Millan, as well as Kingman’s power whenever a spot in the lineup could be located for him.

Also part way through the season, the Mets fired Yogi Berra and gave the managerial job to long time coach Roy McMillan. For a team that had only had two managers in its existence, the midseason firing of Berra, who had also been a coach for many years, was noticeable. In essence, the team, with the various struggles of certain players and with uncertainty in the dugout, was the least stable it had been in years.

The pitching staff was strong as usual. Seaver was brilliant in 1975, while Matlack and Koosman continued to make the trio arguably the best set of three pitchers in baseball. Morton was as solid as ever in the fourth slot. Capra, after having a brilliant 1974 campaign, struggled with arm injuries and went on the disabled list. Stone also had his struggles after coming back from the disabled list. This lead to Strom finally getting a shot to pitch regularly in the rotation and he did so with aplomb, continuing the Mets long run of terrific starting pitching. The bullpen was led by the young Apodaca and veterans Sadecki and Sanders. Reynolds, after two excellent seasons, struggled and was traded to the Tigers for young right hander Fred Holdsworth. Scarce didn’t pitch well in spring training and was dealt for veteran left hander Tom Hall early in the season. The bullpen was solid, if not spectacular, until the Mets purchased Skip Lockwood from the Athletics and installed him in the bullpen. Lockwood was brilliant in that role and made the staff that much stronger.

Some of the issues in the lineup were somewhat settled in season. Harrelson’s injury issues were helped by the acquisition of Mike Phillips off of waiver from the Giants, who along with Auerbach, provided decent production and defense at shortstop with Harrelson missing all but 34 games due to injury. With Milner’s struggles and Tovar not repeating his successes from 1974, the Mets would also look for a bat at the trade deadline and acquire Willie Davis from the Rangers for young right hander Moore and Tovar. Davis, a centerfield for most of his career and in his twilight years, was still a viable defensive outfielder and left handed bat. Davis would help provide the team with some quality offensive production. Another player that made an unpredictable impact was Vail. Called up while Otis was struggling with some injury issues, Vail proceeded to put together a 22 game hitting streak and, hit over .300 and post a 750 plus OPS while playing solid defense in left field.

However, all of the initial instability and injuries paid a toll. The Mets, who had been fighting with the Pirates for the division for several years now, would fall short by several games. The original 1975 Mets won 82 games and were out of the race much earlier in the season. Our Mets may have won 85 to 90 games, but that still would have landed them short of the division title. All in all, it would have been a disappointing season for a team that had been to back to back World Series’ and would have left the team several issues that needed to be addressed if the team was going to continue successfully or fall apart due to age and ineffectiveness.