The Mets That Got Away: Rick Aguilera & Kevin Tapani

Ask anyone who knows anything about baseball what a team needs to win a championship and you'll get the same response.  Pitching wins championships.  A strong starting pitcher can mask a team's obvious flaws (see Orel Hershiser and the 1988 Dodgers).  Similarly, a dominant bullpen can zap the electricity from a supercharged lineup (see Randy Myers and the Nasty Boys circa 1990).

Teams with dependable starters and relievers usually stand a good chance to play deep into October.  In fact, both of the Mets' championship teams won their titles on the strength of their pitching.  So clearly, it would behoove a team to keep its quality arms whenever it can.  But what if that team is struggling to remain competitive in its division and is tempted with another quality arm, especially when that appendage is attached to the body of the reigning Cy Young Award winner?

The Mets were tantalized by such an arm in 1989, so much so that they traded five young pitchers to acquire it (the rest of the body was included in the deal).  By late July, Frank Viola was coming back home to New York and the Minnesota Twins had themselves an infusion of youth in their starting rotation and bullpen.  Pitching wins championships, and within a few years, champagne corks were being popped.  But no one was feeling bubbly about it in New York.

With one ill-advised trade, the Mets let both Rick Aguilera (left) and Kevin Tapani (right) get away.

After winning their second NL East title in three seasons in 1988, the Mets were a team in transition in 1989.  Wally Backman was jettisoned to Minnesota to make room for Gregg Jefferies.  Co-captains Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter missed significant time with injuries, as did longtime ace Dwight Gooden.  General manager Frank Cashen was also very active in the trade market during the season, sending the enormously popular Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell to Philadelphia for the soon-to-be enormously unpopular Juan Samuel.  And since one bad trade deserves another, Cashen shipped Mookie Wilson to Toronto for Jeff Musselman.

The plethora of transactions during the summer of '89 would lead most to believe that the Mets were sellers at the trade deadline.  But that was far from the case, especially after Cashen pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal with the Twins.

As late as July 23, the Mets were within striking distance of first place.  A six-game winning streak had moved the team into second place in the NL East, just three games behind the first place Montreal Expos.  But the Mets then proceeded to lose seven straight games, dropping the team into fourth place, seven games behind Les Expos.  With their playoff hopes fading by the second, the Mets waited until just before the trade deadline clock struck midnight, landing the pitcher they thought would push them back into the race.

Frank Viola had just come off a Cy Young-winning campaign in Minnesota, going 24-7 with a 2.64 ERA in 1988.  But Viola's sweet music wasn't prepared for an encore performance in 1989, as the lefty lost 12 of his first 20 decisions.  The Twins were also going nowhere in '89, spending most of the season below .500.  Minnesota was clearly looking to sell at the trade deadline, knowing that it was unlikely they would compete for a division crown in 1989.  If only the Mets had felt the same way.

On July 31, New York acquired the Long Island-born Viola from Minnesota, sending pitchers Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, David West, Tim Drummond and a player to be named later to the Twins.  (Pitcher Jack Savage was sent to Minnesota in October to complete the deal.)  Neither team benefited much from the deal in 1989, as Viola split his ten decisions with New York while Aguilera, Tapani, West and Drummond combined for an 8-9 won-lost record in Minnesota.

One year later, Viola became the first southpaw to win 20 games for the Mets since Jerry Koosman accomplished the feat in 1976.  But Koosman followed up his 20-win season with 20 losses in 1977.  Viola wasn't quite as bad in 1991, but still managed to finish the year with a disappointing 13-15 record.  The 15 losses represented the most by a Mets' lefty since - you guessed it - Jerry Koosman, who went 3-15 for the 1978 Mets.  Naturally, both Koosman and Viola were ex-Mets following their 15-loss seasons in 1978 and 1991, respectively.  But the players sent to Minnesota for Viola were still there in 1991.  And what they were experiencing in the Land of 10,000 Lakes was enough to make any long-suffering Mets fan (since 1986) green with envy.

Richard Warren Aguilera could have been the Aaron Heilman of his day, allowing a Shea Stadium-silencing home run to Dave Henderson in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series - a game that could have ended the Mets' season.  But the Mets staged a miraculous comeback mere minutes after Boston's two-run tenth gave them the lead.  When Ray Knight hopped on home plate with the winning run following Mookie Wilson's "little roller up along first", Aguilera became the unlikely winning pitcher and Mets fans who could have made him Public Enemy No. 1 were instead celebrating a thrilling season-saving victory along with No. 38 and his teammates.

Aguilera recorded double-digit victory totals as a starting pitcher in each of his first three seasons in New York, but after an injury-riddled and otherwise lost 1988 campaign (0-4, 6.93 ERA), Aguilera began the 1989 season in the bullpen, where he thrived for the Mets (2.34 ERA, six wins, seven saves).  Once he was traded to Minnesota, he started 11 games for the Twins before becoming the team's closer in 1990.  Aguilera converted 32 saves in 39 chances and posted a 2.76 ERA in his first full season in Minnesota.  While Aguilera was thriving as a closer for the Twins, Tapani was excelling as a starting pitcher.

Kevin Ray Tapani wasn't going to be a starter for the New York Mets.  Despite good numbers in the minors after the Mets acquired him from Oakland following the 1987 season, it was going to be quite difficult for the youngster to crack a starting rotation that featured Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Bobby Ojeda and David Cone.  Tapani only got into three games with the Mets in 1989, all in relief, without recording a decision.

But once Tapani became a Twin, he was inserted into the starting rotation, going 2-2 over the season's final month.  By pitching only 40 innings in 1989, Tapani maintained his rookie status in 1990, and what a rookie season it was!  Despite making only 28 starts, Tapani led the team in wins and strikeouts, going 12-8 for a Twins club that finished in last place, 14 games under .500.  His efforts did not go unnoticed, as Tapani finished 5th in the AL Rookie of the Year vote.

Aguilera and Tapani were the two best pitchers for the Twins in 1990, but the other two hurlers sent to Minnesota in the trade for Frank Viola also had solid contributions for an otherwise poor team.  David West and Tim Drummond were used as starters and in the bullpen, combining to win 10 games in 31 starts and 33 relief appearances.  Drummond never pitched in the majors again after 1990 (as did player-to-be-named-later Jack Savage), but West pitched in the big leagues until 1998.  The careers of Aguilera and Tapani lasted just a bit longer.

While Viola and the Mets were struggling in 1991, the Twins were soaring.  Minnesota finished the regular season with a 95-67 record, which allowed them to win just their second division title since 1970.  Aguilera and Tapani were both key contributors to the Twins' success.  Aguilera posted a 2.35 ERA and tied fellow former Met Jeff Reardon's single-season franchise record with 42 saves, while Tapani finished 16-8 with a 2.99 ERA and a seventh place finish in the AL Cy Young Award balloting.

Tapani didn't do very well in first postseason series, losing to Toronto in Game 2 of the ALCS and getting a no-decision in Game 5, but Rick Aguilera - who had previous playoff experience with the Mets - saved three of Minnesota's four victories, including the Game 5 clincher.  Who was the winning pitcher in the pennant-clinching game?  None other than fellow trade partner David West, who pitched three hitless innings in relief of Tapani.

West didn't enjoy the same success when he relieved Tapani in Game 5 of the World Series, allowing four runs without retiring any of the Atlanta Braves hitters he faced.  But by then, Minnesota had already won two games in the series, with Tapani getting the win in Game 2 and Aguilera saving both victories.

Game 6 provided an eerie feeling of deja vu for Aguilera.  Like 1986, his team was returning home in a 3-2 hole, needing a win to force a seventh and deciding game.  And like 1986, Game 6 went into extra innings, with Aguilera on the mound trying to keep the game tied.  But unlike 1986, Aguilera was able to keep the opposition off the scoreboard, pitching two shutout innings.

Like the Mets five years before them, the Twins forced a seventh game with a dramatic walk-off victory.  Minnesota tied the series on the strength of a game-ending homer by Kirby Puckett in the bottom of the 11th inning.  Five years and a day after Aguilera was credited with a Game 6 victory for the Mets, he earned another one, this time as a member of the Minnesota Twins.  And when Jack Morris pitched ten shutout innings the following night, the Twins were World Series champions.  Aguilera was a world champion for the second time, while Tapani and West were celebrating their first title.

Rick Aguilera has one of these.  So does Kevin Tapani.  And don't forget David West.

The 1991 season was one for the ages for Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani.  The evidence is all over the American League's top ten leaderboard.  Aguilera finished the regular season with the third-most saves in the league (42), held opposing hitters to a .183 batting average, made his first All-Star team and even received AL MVP votes.  Tapani finished in the league's top ten in wins (16; tied for 10th), ERA (2.99; 7th), WHIP (1.086; 4th), BB/9 IP (1.475; 3rd), K/BB (3.375; 4th), innings pitched (244; 5th), starts (34; T-7th), WAR (6.8; 7th) and placed seventh in the AL Cy Young Award vote just twelve months removed from his fifth place finish in the 1990 AL Rookie of the Year balloting.

In the postseason, Aguilera and Tapani combined for two wins and five saves.  The only wins for Minnesota that did not include a win or a save by either pitcher were Game 4 of the ALCS and Game 7 of the World Series (both won by Jack Morris).  Both Tapani and Aguilera had a hand in giving the Twins a 2-0 edge in the Fall Classic, as Aguilera saved Tapani's win in Game 2 of the World Series.  (And don't forget that Aguilera also saved former Met David West's win in Game 5 of the ALCS.)  Needless to say, by combining for 22 wins and 47 saves during the regular season and postseason, Aguilera and Tapani were two of the main reasons why the Minnesota Twins sat on top of the baseball world in 1991.

The team from the Land of 10,000 Lakes went through a dry spell following their 1991 World Series championship.  After a 90 win, second-place finish in 1992, the Twins went on to post eight consecutive losing seasons.  Despite the team's failures, Aguilera and Tapani continued to thrive.  (West was traded to Philadelphia following the 1992 season, where he was one of the team's top relievers.  He helped the Phillies reach the World Series in 1993 by posting a sparkling 2.92 ERA in a team-leading 76 games.)

Aguilera was an All-Star in 1992 and 1993, and over the next three and a half seasons, he saved 110 games for the Twins and posted a 3.06 ERA and 1.169 WHIP.  He also had a fantastic strikeout-to-walk ratio, fanning 186 batters while walking only 47 in nearly 200 appearances (3.96 K/BB).

Tapani won 39 games for the Twins from 1992 to 1994 and continued to be an innings-eater and superb control artist.  During those three seasons, Tapani averaged six and a half innings per start (93 starts, 601⅔ innings) and walked only 144 batters.  By comparison, future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson walked 144 batters in 1992 alone, while making only 31 starts.

But by the trade deadline in 1995, the Twins had gone through several years of sub-.500 ball and felt the need to part with their high-priced veterans, which meant Aguilera and Tapani were soon to become ex-Twins.  On July 6, Aguilera was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Frankie Rodriguez (no relation to the former Mets closer/pugilist).  Twenty-five days later, the Twins sent Kevin Tapani and future Met Mark Guthrie to Los Angeles for Jose Parra (another future Met), Chris Latham (a minor league Met in 2002), Greg Hansell (a former Mets farmhand who, as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1999, served up rally-starting singles to Melvin Mora and Edgardo Alfonzo in the ninth inning of Game No. 162) and Ron Coomer (who somehow was never property of the Mets).

In only half a season in Boston, Aguilera posted fantastic numbers.  Aggie saved 20 games for the Red Sox, doing so with a stellar 2.67 ERA and 1.088 WHIP.  On September 20, Aguilera recorded the final out in Boston's division clinching victory, sealing the deal on his new team's fourth division title in ten seasons.

By the end of his 11th season in the majors, Rick Aguilera had already pitched in the postseason for three teams.

Aguilera's time in Boston was short-lived, as the Red Sox declined to pick up his option for 1996.  Just five months after the Twins traded Aguilera to the eventual AL East champions, they scooped him up from the free agent pile, signing their former closer, but not in his familiar role.  For the first time since 1989, Aguilera was going to be used exclusively as a starting pitcher.

Aggie did not fare well as a starter, landing on the disabled list after his first start.  Once he returned, he had the worst outing of his career, allowing ten runs (nine earned) in just three innings versus the Seattle Mariners.  In July, Aguilera allowed seven runs in back-to-back starts.  In three of his 19 starts, the Twins lost 18-8, 19-11 and 11-10.  But somehow, Aguilera finished the year with an 8-6 record despite his inflated 5.42 ERA.  Showing that he can learn from his mistakes, manager Tom Kelly ended the one-year experiment with Aguilera and made him the team's closer in 1997.

Just like Aguilera did, Kevin Tapani also signed with a new team in 1996.  After going 4-2 in 11 starts and two relief appearances for the Dodgers in 1995, Tapani signed a one-year deal to play for the Chicago White Sox.  Tapani went 13-10 for the South Siders, helping his new team compete for the American League wild card.  One year after finishing 68-76 in the strike-shortened 1995 season, the White Sox surprised all of baseball by going 85-77 and finishing just three games behind the wild card-winning Orioles.

When the White Sox declined to offer him a contract for the 1997 season, Tapani took his talents eight miles to the north, signing a three-year, $11 million contract to pitch for the Chicago Cubs.  Injuried limited Tapani to 13 starts in 1997, but he was quite impressive in those starts, going 9-3 with a 3.39 ERA and 1.176 WHIP.  In 1998, Tapani produced a clean bill of health and his winningest season in the major leagues.

Tapani went 19-9 for the Cubs in 1998, helping them reach the postseason for the first time in nine years.  Going into the season's final day, the Cubs, Giants and Mets were all still alive for the National League wild card.  But the Mets were eliminated when they lost Game No. 162 and the Giants were sent home when the Cubs beat them in Game No. 163.  New York might have taken the wild card had they not ended the year on a five-game losing streak and had they not fallen to Kevin Tapani in each of his two starts against his former team.  Tapani beat the Mets in April and July, with his second win coming at the beginning of an impressive two-and-a-half month stretch in which he won 11 of 12 decisions.  Only a slow finish prevented Tapani from recording his first 20-win season.

In the playoffs, Tapani made only one start, but it was quite memorable.  The 19-game winner got the start in Game 2 of the NLDS, pitching four-hit ball over eight shutout innings against the Braves before allowing a game-tying solo homer to Javy Lopez in the ninth.  Tapani was removed after nine innings, getting a no-decision as the game went into extra innings.  Atlanta would go on to win the game in the tenth inning on a walk-off hit by Chipper Jones off reliever Terry Mulholland.

Tapani would never match the success he had in 1998, winning a total of 23 games with the Cubs from 1999 to 2001.  But he did get to be reunited with his former Mets and Twins teammate, as Rick Aguilera was traded from the Twins to the Cubs in May of 1999.  One of the players sent to Minnesota to complete the deal was a minor league prospect by the name of Kyle Lohse - the same Kyle Lohse who would go on to become an integral member of the 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, 25 years after his trade partner, Rick Aguilera, celebrated a title with the Mets.

Aguilera saved eight games for the Cubs in 1999 and closed out his career on top of his game, finishing sixth in the National League with 29 saves in 2000.  Tapani pitched one more year after Aguilera called it a career, going 9-14 for the Cubs in 2001 before he decided it was time to hang up his cleats.

By the time Aguilera and Tapani threw their final pitches in the major leagues, Frank Viola had been out of baseball for five years and an ex-Met for ten.  It's true that Viola gave the Mets one exceptional season after he was traded to New York in 1989 for Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, David West and two other young pitchers.  But Minnesota got the bigger value in the deal, as did the 1993 National League champion Phillies, 1995 American League East champion Red Sox and 1998 wild card-winning Cubs.

"Hey, I gave you a 20-win season.  All Aguilera and Tapani got was a World Series title in 1991.  Oh, wait.  Never mind."

Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani didn't have long careers with the Mets.  Aguilera was a Met from 1985 to 1989, going 37-27 with seven saves, a 3.58 ERA and 1.29 WHIP.  Tapani was a Met for exactly three games and 7⅓ innings.  Frank Viola's numbers in 2½ seasons with the Mets were eerily similar to what Aguilera produced in five years with the team (38-32, 3.31 ERA, 1.24 WHIP).  But Viola's sweet music had become sour by the end of 1991, as the southpaw threw his final pitch as a Met just one month before Aguilera and Tapani celebrated a World Series championship in Minnesota.

Aguilera and Tapani did more than just win a World Series championship for the Twins.  They also became two of the best pitchers in franchise history.  Since the team to Minnesota from Washington prior to the 1961 season, the two pitchers' names can be found all over the Twins' all-time pitching leaderboards.

Aguilera ranks among the team leaders in saves (254; 2nd in Twins history), games pitched (490; 2nd), games finished (434; 1st), WHIP (1.182; 4th), K/9 IP (7.599; 4th) and K/BB (3.274; 6th), while Tapani's name can be found among Minnesota's all-time greats in wins (75; 9th in Twins history), games started (180; 8th), innings pitched (1,171⅓; 8th), BB/9 IP (1.959; 7th) and WAR (19.1; 9th).

But Aguilera and Tapani also pitched well when they weren't in Minnesota.  Although Aguilera was only a closer in 10 of his 16 major league seasons, he finished his career with an impressive 318 saves.  Aguilera recorded 30 or more saves six times, surpassed 40 saves twice and finished in the league's top ten in saves nine times.  Tapani won 143 games after leaving the Mets, going 143-125 during his 13-year career in the majors.  But Tapani pitched for some poor teams at the end of his career, going 23-38 for a Cubs squad that averaged just under 90 losses per season from 1999 to 2001.  Prior to that, he had gone 120-87 in his first ten seasons after leaving the Mets.

Aguilera and Tapani also helped multiple teams reach the playoffs, as Aguilera played October baseball with the 1991 Twins and 1995 Red Sox, while Tapani pitched in the postseason with the 1991 Twins, 1995 Dodgers and 1998 Cubs.

How much were Aguilera and Tapani missed by the Mets?  After leaving New York in 1989, Aguilera recorded 311 saves.  That's 35 more than Mets' all-time leader John Franco recorded in 14 seasons with the team.  Kevin Tapani won all of his 143 career victories after being dealt by the Mets.  The only two players in Mets history with more wins as a Met are Tom Seaver (198) and Dwight Gooden (157).  As incredible as it may seem, that means Tapani won more games after leaving the Mets than the great Jerry Koosman won as a Met (140).

Frank Viola was a great pitcher in Minnesota.  But he was struggling for the Twins after winning the Cy Young Award in 1988.  The Mets were going through their own struggles after a 100-win season in 1988, and felt the need for an immediate upgrade in the starting rotation.  Solving a short-term problem led to long-term success for two former Mets pitchers.  Meanwhile, Frank Viola was a one-season wonder in New York who left the game long before his trade counterparts had started to decline.

Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani could have been great as members of the New York Mets.  Instead, they became great for a number of teams not named the New York Mets.  The Mets traded their kingdom for a one-season horse.  They're still searching for the title Minnesota earned just two years after the trade was completed.  Pitching wins championships.  And Minnesota got theirs with the pitching they received from the Mets.  It's just another sad chapter in the never-ending story of the Mets that got away.

YouTube video courtesy of Sam Teichman

 (And for the record, Rick Aguilera won the World Series game Teichman talks about in this video)

Note:  The Mets That Got Away was a thirteen-part weekly series (yup, that means this is the last one) that spotlights those Mets players who established themselves as major leaguers in New York, only to become stars after leaving town.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 7, 2013: Nolan Ryan
January 14, 2013: Melvin Mora  
January 21, 2013: Kevin Mitchell 
January 28, 2013: Amos Otis
February 4, 2013: Jeff Reardon
February 11, 2013: Lenny Dykstra
February 18, 2013: Jeff Kent
February 25, 2013: Randy Myers
March 4, 2013: Ken Singleton 
March 11, 2013: Mike Scott
March 18, 2013: Jeromy Burnitz 
March 25, 2013: Ty Wigginton
 

The Mets That Got Away: Ty Wigginton

Suppose you're an everyday player in the big leagues.  You're young.  You play hard.  You play multiple positions on the field.  Basically, you do whatever it takes to help your team win.  Then you get traded away because the team feels that a younger player would be even better for them than you are.  I think it's safe to assume that you'd be pretty miffed about that.  You'd also want to show your former team just how much you could have contributed to their success by doing well against them every time you faced them.

Stories like that occur every so often in the big leagues.  It happened to one particular player on the Mets in 2004.

This player was never viewed as a top prospect when the Mets drafted him in 1998, but he worked his way through the Mets' minor league system and forced his way into the starting lineup.  He played at five different defensive positions when he was first called up and showed the same determination to succeed on the field that he exhibited throughout his four-year rise through the minors.

But the Mets had a top prospect who was also climbing the ladder to the major leagues.  And once he got there, no one was going to stand in his way - not even a scrappy, versatile player who had proven that he belonged in the major leagues.  The writing was on the wall for Ty Wigginton, and he has repeatedly done his best to make the Mets pay for their decision to trade him.

Even as a 20-year-old, Ty Wigginton looked like he was going to run you over at the plate.

Ty Allen Wigginton was selected by the Mets in the 17th round of the 1998 June amateur draft.  Wigginton wasn't particularly impressive in his first professional season, batting .239 with eight homers and 29 RBIs in 70 games with the Pittsfield Mets.  But after getting the bugs out of his system, Wigginton blossomed.

With St. Lucie in 1999, Wigginton batted .292, leading the team in home runs (21) and RBIs (73).  Wigginton continued to excel in 2000, leading the Binghamton Mets to a division title.  The infielder finished first on his team in hits (129), doubles (27), home runs (20) and RBIs (77), while maintaining a solid .285 batting average.

Injuries provided a minor setback to Wigginton's advancement in 2001, as he managed only seven homers and 25 RBIs in 89 games.  But at Norfolk in 2002, Wigginton flew out of the gate, batting .374 through mid-May as a member of the Tides.  It was only a matter of time before the Mets would need his services at the big league level, and when infielder John Valentin was placed on the disabled list with a torn rotator cuff, the call for Wigginton finally came.

Although Wigginton only stayed in the majors for the two weeks Valentin was out, he got a chance to experience big league action for the first time.  Used mostly as a pinch-hitter and in double switches, Wigginton only got into six games during his initial time with the parent club, scoring one run and collecting one hit in four at-bats.  By the end of May, Wigginton was back in Norfolk, where he remained for the next two months.  Once he got back to the majors in early August, he never looked back.

As the summer progressed, it was becoming clear that the Mets were going nowhere in 2002.  Subpar performances by offseason acquisitions Mo Vaughn, Jeromy Burnitz and Roger Cedeño doomed the Mets by the beginning of August.  Injuries to second baseman Roberto Alomar (another failed addition to the team) and third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo created a gaping hole for the Mets in the infield.  To patch that hole, the Mets recalled Ty Wigginton from Norfolk and inserted their versatile neophyte into the starting lineup on August 4 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Wigginton's first major league start would become one of the best by a rookie in team history.

Wigginton went 4-for-5 in his first Shea Stadium start, providing a game-tying three-run homer in the third inning to erase a 5-2 deficit.  Wigginton also singled twice and hit a double in the 12-7 loss to Arizona.  It was the fourth loss in the Mets' franchise-record 15-game home losing streak.  The Mets failed to win a home game in August 2002, but they also failed to find a reason to take Wigginton out of the starting lineup.

After his auspicious debut as an everyday player, Wigginton continued to tear the cover off the ball.  He batted .500 (11-for-22) with four multi-hit games and five RBIs in his first five starts, then proceeded to have a tremendous month of September.  It was truly a September to remember for Wigginton, as the utility player batted .358 with six doubles, four homers, 11 RBIs and 11 runs scored in only 53 at-bats.  Wigginton accomplished this while playing five different positions, spending time at first base, second base, third base, left field and right field.

By season's end, Wigginton had left his mark on the team.  Although he had just 116 at-bats for the Mets in 2002 (thereby retaining his rookie status for 2003), Wigginton finished the year with a .302 batting average and .526 slugging percentage.  Forty percent of his hits went for extra bases, as Wigginton pounded eight doubles and six homers out of of his 35 total hits.  Wigginton also drove in 18 runs and crossed the plate 18 times, with some of those runs coming at the expense of the opposing catcher.

Wigginton was never shy about bowling over the catcher, doing so on numerous occasions with the Mets.  He got plenty of those opportunities in 2003, as the Mets gave him the starting third baseman's job after fan-favorite Edgardo Alfonzo signed a free agent contract with the San Francisco Giants.  Now guaranteed an everyday job from Day 1 of the new campaign, Wigginton went on to post one of the most unheralded rookie seasons in franchise history.

The Mets' new third baseman played in all but five of the team's 161 games in 2003 (one game was rained out and was not made up), setting numerous rookie records.  No Met rookie had ever played in as many games as Wigginton did in 2003.

In addition to his 156 games, Wigginton also set new club marks for rookies in at-bats (573), hits (146), extra-base hits (53) and doubles (36).  Wiggy scored 73 runs, which was one short of Cleon Jones' rookie record of 74, set in 1966.  His 71 RBIs fell three short of Darryl Strawberry's total of 74, which he accomplished during his Rookie of the Year campaign in 1983.  (Wigginton himself finished eighth in the 2003 National League Rookie of the Year vote, tied with teammate and fellow infielder Jose Reyes.)

But Wigginton wasn't just etching his name atop the Mets' all-time rookie leaders.  He was also becoming a top offensive threat over his non-rookie teammates, leading the 2003 Mets in every cumulative offensive category except home runs and stolen bases.  And he didn't do poorly in either of those categories, as Wigginton was only player on the '03 squad to reach double digits in home runs (11) and stolen bases (12). 

Prior to the 2004 season, the Mets signed Kazuo Matsui to a three-year deal, moving Jose Reyes to second base to accommodate the Japanese shortstop.  Wigginton remained at the hot corner for the Mets, but also started 22 games at second base, filling in at the position while Jose Reyes was on the disabled list.  But things were starting to get crowded for the Mets in the infield once Reyes returned.

Wigginton played all over the infield for the Mets in 2004, starting games at first base, second base and third base.  But veteran corner infielder Todd Zeile was being given an opportunity to start more games at third.  Manager Art Howe was also giving Zeile occasional starts at first base whenever Mike Piazza needed a day off or was catching.  Reyes was back in the starting lineup at second base and was not getting many days off.  And then, there was this kid named David Wright.

Wright was the Mets' top minor league prospect prior to the 2004 season.  The 21-year-old had dominated minor league pitching and was about to be called up to the major leagues.  There was only one problem.  Wright played third base.  So did Ty Wigginton.  Something had to give.  Something finally did.

Nine days after Wright made his major league debut for the Mets, Wigginton was sent packing.  General manager Jim Duquette, in a misguided effort to be a buyer at the July 31 trade deadline despite the team losing ground in the wild card race, jettisoned Wigginton, Jose Bautista and a minor leaguer to Pittsburgh for infielder Jeff Keppinger and former No. 1 overall draft pick Kris Benson.

Keppinger played in only 33 games with the Mets before being traded in 2006.  Since leaving New York, Keppinger has become one of the best contact hitters in baseball, batting .288 and striking out just 166 times in 2,343 at-bats.  Benson won 14 games as a Met and rarely showed the ability that made him the most coveted player in the 1996 June amateur draft.  (His wife, however, was coveted by more than just amateur baseball scouts.)

Meanwhile, Jose Bautista spent a few seasons bouncing around from team to team before finally finding a home in Toronto, where he became a three-time All-Star and two-time American League home run champion.

Ty Wigginton did his own share of bouncing around after leaving the Mets, but unlike Bautista, who waited many years before achieving success, Wigginton made positive contributions to his teams almost immediately.

Wigginton played in 115 games with the Pirates between 2004 and 2005, spending a few months in the minors in 2005.  Once he returned from his temporary minor league exile, Wigginton caught fire.  In 14 late-season starts, Wigginton batted .383 with seven extra-base hits and 13 RBIs.  Two months after his scalding finish, Wigginton was released by the Pirates.

The next stop for Wigginton was in Tampa, playing for the perennial cellar-dwelling Devil Rays.  Wigginton played everywhere for manager Joe Maddon, starting 37 games at first base, 37 games at second base and 32 games at third base.  Despite not having a steady position on the field, Wigginton was as steady as they came at the plate.  Wiggy got off to a tremendous start in 2006, batting .302 with eight homers and 20 RBIs in his first 16 games.  After another wonderful month in July (.317, 5 HR, 11 RBI, .650 slugging percentage in 60 at-bats), Wigginton missed the entire month of August with an injury but returned to hit .300 with six homers and 22 RBIs in the season's final month.

Wigginton had his finest season in the majors in 2006, setting career highs with 24 homers and 79 RBIs.  He continued to thrive in Tampa, collecting 21 doubles, 16 homers and 49 RBIs through the first four months of the 2007 season.  The Devil Rays then traded Wigginton to the Houston Astros on July 28, dealing him for his former Met teammate, Dan Wheeler.  Wigginton continued his strong season in Houston, batting .284 with 18 extra-base hits in 50 games.

In 2008, Wigginton began his first full season in Houston and quickly became a fan-favorite.  He also was finally playing for a winning team.  After six consecutive years playing for sub-.500 teams in New York, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, Wigginton got his first taste of a pennant race in Houston, although it didn't look like the Astros were going to be playing meaningful games in September for most of the season.

As July turned to August, Houston's record stood at 50-57, leaving them 11½ games behind the wild card-leading Milwaukee Brewers.  But over the final two months of the season, Houston posted the best record in baseball, winning 36 of their last 54 games.  The main reason for their resurgence was the record-breaking performance of Ty Wigginton.

Wigginton tied Jeff Bagwell's team record by blasting 12 home runs in August.  The Astros' third baseman also hit .379 during the month and drove in 26 runs.  By September 11, Houston had moved to within three games of Milwaukee for the wild card lead.  But Ty Wigginton had injured himself running out a ground ball five days earlier and did not play again until September 17.  By the time he returned to the lineup, Houston was in the middle of a costly five-game losing streak that effectively put an end to their playoff dreams.  That wasn't the only thing that ended in the fall of 2008.

In a move that was quite unpopular with Astros fans, Wigginton was not tendered a contract for the 2009 season.  General manager Ed Wade cited financial reasons for the split, but Wigginton was still taken aback by Houston's decision not to offer him a contract.

“I was thinking all along there was no way I would be non-tendered, to be honest with you.  It’s one of those things.  The last three years I’ve been as consistent as anybody out there, and I’ve hit 70 home runs or something like that in the last three years.  I’ve been consistent average-wise, and my on-base percentage keeps getting higher.”

Wigginton was right.  His numbers across the board were getting better and he was one of the most consistent players in the majors.  The Baltimore Orioles were looking for a player like Wigginton, hoping his consistently good play would help the O's end their streak of 11 consecutive losing seasons.  Baltimore signed Wigginton to a two-year, $6 million deal in 2009, using him at third base (a position already held by another former Met, Melvin Mora), first base and designated hitter.  But for the first time since 2005, Wigginton did not have a good season.

After averaging 27 doubles and 23 homers per season with Tampa Bay and Houston, Wigginton managed only 19 doubles and 11 homers with Baltimore in 2009.  Wigginton also scored 44 runs and collected 41 RBIs despite playing in 122 games.  Had the 32-year-old Wigginton not signed a two-year deal prior to the season, he might have had a tough time finding a new team in 2010.  But given a second chance in year two of the deal, Wigginton proved that his 2009 season was a fluke.

In 2010, Wigginton became an All-Star for the first time, leading the Orioles with 14 home runs and 43 RBIs by the Fourth of July.  Wigginton played in 154 games in his second year with Baltimore - his highest total since his first full season with the Mets in 2003.  By season's end, Wigginton was back to being his old consistent self, finishing the year with 29 doubles, 22 homers and 76 RBIs.  One other consistency returned to Wiggy's career - he became a free agent and signed with another team.

Colorado became Wigginton's sixth team in 2011, as the 33-year-old Wigginton once again replaced Melvin Mora as the team's versatile infielder.  Although Wigginton only had 401 at-bats with the Rockies, he still managed 21 doubles, 15 homers and 47 RBIs.

But once again, Wigginton was piling up his numbers with a non-contending team.  He thought that would finally change when he signed a one-year deal to play for the five-time NL East champion Phillies in 2012.  It did not, as the Phillies finished with the year with an 81-81 record.  But Wigginton did get to show the Mets what they had been missing over the years, batting .412 with four doubles, three homers and an incredible 15 RBIs in only 34 at-bats versus New York.

Video courtesy of MLB.com

Ty Wigginton has played 11 years in the major leagues, but has only been involved in one pennant race.  But the final chapter in Wigginton's book has not yet been written, as the veteran utility man signed a two-year, $5 million contract to play for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013 and 2014.   The Redbirds have had winning seasons in 12 of the last 13 years and have made the playoffs nine times in that stretch, winnings three pennants and two World Series titles.

After years of playing games in September to earn a job the following season, Wigginton might finally be playing for a postseason berth instead.  A player who has fought so hard to achieve everything he has accomplished since receiving that first call-up to the major leagues in 2002 deserves that chance.

Ty Wigginton was never supposed to make it to the big leagues, let alone succeed in the majors for over a decade.  Most 17th round picks don't.  But the gritty, hard-nosed player did make it to the big show, doing it through sheer determination and a strong will to win (even if his teams had trouble doing so).  Although Wigginton only played parts of three seasons in New York, he still played more games with the Mets (288) than he has with any other team.  Yet despite that, Wigginton has still hit 176 doubles and 140 homers (and counting) after the Mets let him get away.

Two years before Jim Duquette traded Wigginton to Pittsburgh, he had this to say about the infielder:

''When we got him, he wasn't where he needed to be, defensively, at the professional level.  But through his work ethic alone, he's turned himself into a solid second baseman.  He hasn't been exposed as much at third, but we're going to look at him.''

Duquette thought the Mets had a solid second baseman in Wigginton, but manager Art Howe played him at third in 2003.  Wigginton remained at third base in 2004 because Jose Reyes was the team's second baseman.  For the record, Wigginton has played a total of 168 games at second base in his career, making 14 errors at the position.  But the Mets never thought to play him there.  Meanwhile, the team used Kaz Matsui at the position from 2004 to 2006 and Luis Castillo from 2007 to 2010.  That's seven seasons of boos at the second base position.  And seven seasons of wondering what might have been had the Mets just given the position to Wigginton.

Ty Wigginton has made a career out of being a consistent performer.  But the Mets delivered a knockout blow to his career in New York when they sent him to Pittsburgh in 2004.  Wigginton has been doing his best to knock out Mets pitchers and their battery mates since then, batting .313 with 14 extra-base hits and 27 RBIs in only 96 career at-bats against the team that originally drafted him in 1998.  Of course, former Mets catcher Josh Thole wouldn't know a thing about that.  He's still recovering from his close encounter of the Wigginton kind.

Ouch.

Note:  The Mets That Got Away is a thirteen-part weekly series that spotlights those Mets players who established themselves as major leaguers in New York, only to become stars after leaving town.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 7, 2013: Nolan Ryan
January 14, 2013: Melvin Mora  
January 21, 2013: Kevin Mitchell 
January 28, 2013: Amos Otis
February 4, 2013: Jeff Reardon
February 11, 2013: Lenny Dykstra
February 18, 2013: Jeff Kent
February 25, 2013: Randy Myers
March 4, 2013: Ken Singleton 
March 11, 2013: Mike Scott
March 18, 2013: Jeromy Burnitz

The Mets That Got Away: Jeromy Burnitz

The Mets have made their fair share of questionable trades over the years.  On occasion, some of those traded players found their way back to New York.  Players like Rusty Staub, Dave Kingman, Tom Seaver and David Cone went on to accomplish great things in between their first and second stints with the Mets.

Staub was an RBI machine in Detroit.  Kingman nearly had a 50-homer season with the Cubs.  Seaver pitched a no-hitter in Cincinnati.  Cone did the same in the Bronx, although his game was perfect and he also added World Series rings for each finger on his pitching hand.

All four returned to New York hoping to recapture their past glory.   But Staub spent most of his time as a pinch-hitter (albeit a great one) before retiring in 1985.  Kingman made Mario Mendoza look like a batting champion before he was released.  Seaver had his worst season as a Met, then was left unprotected in the free agent compensation draft.  And Cone made only four starts before calling it a career.

Staub, Kingman, Seaver and Cone aren't the only former Mets who were traded away before eventually returning to the team.  In fact, one former Met has the dubious distinction of being jettisoned by the team twice, only to see his performance on the field improve exponentially both times he was dealt.

Jeromy Burnitz, in a baseball card photo taken before he was a two-time former Met.

Jeromy Neal Burnitz was the Mets' first round pick in the 1990 June amateur draft.  Burnitz was selected 17th overall, three picks ahead of 270-game winner Mike Mussina.  After splitting time between Pittsfield and St. Lucie in 1990, Burnitz had a stellar season at AA-Williamsport in 1991.  Burnitz's first full minor league campaign resulted in the Eastern League's first 30-30 season, as the outfielder hit 31 home runs and stole 31 bases for the Bills.  The Mets took notice of their young star's performance, honoring him with a Doubleday Award.

Burnitz was promoted to AAA-Tidewater in 1992, but saw a sharp decrease in his power numbers.  The outfielder managed to hit only eight home runs in 121 games for the Tides, just one year after slamming nearly four times that amount at the Double-A level.  In 1993, Burnitz found himself once again at Tidewater, hitting .227 with eight home runs in 65 games.  But the Mets were having a rough time settling on a regular centerfielder, as Ryan Thompson, Joe Orsulak, Dave Gallagher and Darrin Jackson had all started at least ten games at the position before spring turned to summer.  As a result, Burnitz was called up to the Mets on June 21.  Eight days later, he let the world know he had arrived.

On June 29, the Mets won an extra-inning slugfest against the Florida Marlins, coming from behind to win, 10-9.  Burnitz went 3-for-5 in the game with two doubles and a home run.  He tied the game in the third inning with his first big league home run.  Four innings later, Burnitz laced an RBI double to give the Mets a temporary two-run lead.  Finally, in the 12th, Burnitz led off the inning with a long double and scored the eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly.

After smoking the Marlins in late June, Burnitz continued to scorch the rest of the National League in the month of July.  In his first ten games in July, Burnitz hit .355 with three homers and 10 RBIs.  But as great as he was in July, Burnitz saved his best game for August.

In a game against the Montreal Expos on August 5, Burnitz became the first Mets rookie (and sixth Met overall) to drive in seven runs in a game.  Burnitz rapped an RBI single in the first and a grand slam in the fifth to give the Mets a seemingly insurmountable 9-1 lead.  By the end of the sixth, the lead had evaporated, as three Mets pitchers combined to allow eight runs.  The game remained tied until the 13th inning, when Joe Orsulak drove in the go-ahead run with a single and Burnitz added two insurance runs - his sixth and seventh RBIs of the game - with a double down the right field line.  The Mets went on to win the game, 12-9.  Burnitz's record-setting performance was accomplished off two of the best pitchers of the era, as his seven RBIs came against Dennis Martinez (245 career wins) and John Wetteland (330 lifetime saves).

Burnitz finished the season strongly, with a .260/.383/.506 slash line in September, collecting nine extra-base hits, scoring 15 runs and driving in ten.  Burnitz only had 263 at-bats for the Mets in 1993, but they were quite productive, as he picked up ten doubles, six triples and 13 homers.  He also scored 49 runs and had 38 RBIs, making it easy to overlook his .243 batting average.  For all the promise Burnitz showed in 1993, he failed miserably one year later.  And his disciplinarian manager was not amused.

Jeromy Burnitz was a hothead.  So was his manager, Dallas Green.  Something had to give, especially after Burnitz lost his temper during a poor spring training at-bat.  When Burnitz was hitting .192 after the season's first month, something finally did give.  Burnitz was sent back to the minors, less than a year after bursting onto the major league scene.

With Norfolk, Burnitz continued to hit with power (15 doubles, five triples, 14 homers) but maintained a low batting average (.239).  After over two months at Norfolk, Burnitz was finally recalled on July 22.  Three weeks later, Major League Baseball was shut down by a players' strike, but not before Burnitz got to play in 18 games.  He continued to be an enigma at the plate, hitting a more respectable .292, but did so without hitting a home run and striking out 19 times in 65 at-bats.

By November, Burnitz had finally found a way out of Dallas Green's doghouse, as the former first round pick was traded to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Paul Byrd, Jerry DiPoto and Dave Mlicki.  Byrd and DiPoto were both ex-Mets by 1997, while Mlicki hung around until 1998 (one year after famously shutting out the Yankees in the first-ever regular season game between the two New York teams).  Meanwhile, Burnitz was just getting started.

Burnitz only had seven at-bats with the Indians in 1995, as he spent the majority of the year in the minors.  In 1996, Burnitz had trouble getting into the everyday lineup, collecting 128 at-bats for Cleveland.  Of course, anyone would have had trouble cracking a lineup that featured outfielders Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton and Many Ramirez.  Even the designated hitter position was occupied, as Cleveland was using Eddie Murray as their non-fielding batter.

With no definite position in Burnitz's immediate future, the Indians traded him to Milwaukee for six-time .300 hitter Kevin Seitzer.  Seitzer played in 86 games with Cleveland before retiring after the 1997 campaign.  Burnitz, on the other hand, went on to become one of the most feared power hitters in baseball.

After finishing out the 1996 season in Milwaukee, Burnitz had a true breakout year in 1997.  In his first season as an everyday player, Burnitz set career highs across the board, batting .281 with 37 doubles, eight triples, 27 homers, 85 RBIs, 85 runs scored and 20 stolen bases.  Burnitz became the second player in Brewers history to achieve to 20 HR/20 SB season, joining future Hall of Famer Robin Yount, who hit 23 homers and stole 20 bases for Milwaukee in 1980.  As great as Burnitz's season was in 1997, he improved upon it in 1998.

Burnitz was a one-man wrecking crew in his second full season in Milwaukee.  On a team in which no other player hit more than 16 homers or surpassed 68 RBIs, Burnitz had himself a 38 HR, 125 RBI campaign.  At the time, the 38 home runs represented the fourth-highest single-season total in Brewers' history and the 125 RBIs were one short of Cecil Cooper's team record of 126 RBIs, which he set in 1983.  Burnitz also became the eighth Brewer to amass 300 total bases in a single season, joining Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper, Ben Oglivie, Paul Molitor, George Scott, Tommy Harper and Gorman Thomas.  As great as his season was, perhaps nothing satisfied Burnitz more than when he homered off Dave Mlicki - one of the players for whom he was traded - in his first career at-bat against the Mets.

Dave Mlicki might have been able to shut out the Yankees, but he couldn't shut down Jeromy Burnitz.

In 1999, Burnitz finally got some much-needed help in the lineup, as three of his teammates (Dave Nilsson, Geoff Jenkins, Marquis Grissom) reached the 20-HR mark.  Burnitz finished the year with a .270 batting average, 33 doubles, 33 homers, 103 RBIs and 91 walks.  The better plate discipline - which he never had as a Met, much to Dallas Green's dismay - helped Burnitz achieve a .400 on-base percentage for the first time in his career.

It was more of the same for Burnitz over the next two seasons, as his 2000 campaign (29 doubles, 31 homers, 98 RBIs, 91 runs scored, 99 walks) and 2001 season (32 doubles, 34 homers, 100 RBIs, 104 runs scored, 80 walks) were virtual mirror images of each other.

But after hitting .271 over his first three full seasons in Milwaukee, Burnitz experienced a steep decline in his batting average, combining to hit .242 in 2000 and 2001.  The 2001 campaign would be Burnitz's last season in Milwaukee, as the Mets desperately needed to upgrade their offense and thought Burnitz would be part of the solution.  If only they had bothered to notice the downward trend in his batting average.

Following the 2001 season, a year in which the Mets failed to defend their National League crown and needed a strong September to finish the year above .500, general manager Steve Phillips decided the team needed to go shopping.  But with the Mets already trying to pare their lofty payroll, Phillips decided he would have to fix the team's deficiencies via the trade route rather than by signing free agents.

First, Phillips tried to pry John Smoltz away from the Braves to no avail.  When that didn't pan out, Phillips focused squarely on upgrading the team's offense.  By the time the calendar flipped to 2002, Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn and Roger Cedeño had been acquired by the Mets.  The Mets then set their focus on acquiring one more big bat, doing so when they traded for Jeromy Burnitz.  However, the cost for reacquiring the lefty slugger was steep, as the Mets lost Lenny Harris, Glendon Rusch, Benny Agbayani and Todd Zeile in the three-team deal.

The Mets were surprisingly competitive over the first four months of the 2002 season.  Heading into August, the team was in second place in the NL East with a 55-51 record, leaving them a reachable 4½ games behind the wild card-leading Dodgers.  The Mets were winning despite not having typical seasons by Alomar, Vaughn and Cedeño.  But the one new addition who really underachieved to the point of having an awful season was Jeromy Burnitz.

Second verse, same as the first.

After reaching the 30-HR mark in each of his previous four seasons, Burnitz failed to hit 20 home runs for the Mets.  His batting average, which had already begun to drop during his last two seasons in Milwaukee, plummeted in 2002.  Burnitz struggled to stay above .200 all year and was drawing fewer walks than he did as a Brewer.  During the Mets' season-changing 12-game losing streak in August, Burnitz managed only three hits and struck out in 40% of his at-bats.  The Mets fell to last place for the first time since 1993, with Burnitz finishing the year with a .215 batting average, 15 doubles, 19 homers and 54 RBIs.

The Mets began the 2003 season as poorly as they finished in 2002.  By May 13, New York was already ten games behind Atlanta and seven games behind Montreal for the wild card.  One month later, Steve Phillips was relieved of his duties, replaced by Jim Duquette.  By the end of June, it was clear that the Mets were not going to compete for a playoff spot, as the team was buried in the NL East cellar.  As a result, Duquette decided to restock the team's farm system by trading off its high-priced players.  One of the casualties was Jeromy Burnitz.

After an immensely disappointing season in 2002, Burnitz had actually earned some trade value during the first half of the 2003 campaign.  Burnitz missed a month of action due to a broken hand caused by an errant Billy Wagner fastball, but once he returned on May 23, he started to tear the cover off the ball.

In his first nine games after returning from the disabled list, Burnitz hit .412 with four homers and 13 RBIs.  By June 1, Burnitz had his batting average up to a season-high .324.  Burnitz had another hot streak shortly before the All-Star Break, driving in at least one run in seven consecutive games from July 2 to July 9.  One week later, Burnitz was gone, as Duquette jettisoned the outfielder to Los Angeles for three prospects, including Victor Diaz.

Burnitz's first-half totals with the Mets were excellent (.274, 18 doubles, 18 HR, 45 RBIs in only 65 games).  With the Dodgers, Burnitz regressed, batting .204 with only four doubles, 13 HR and 32 RBIs in 61 games.  Needless to say, the Dodgers let Burnitz leave as a free agent at the end of the 2003 season.

Now in his mid-thirties, Burnitz was hoping another team would give him a shot to prove that he could still play at a high level.  He did get that shot, and it came with a team that was used to playing at a high level.

Would this be called a "Mile-High Five"?

The Colorado Rockies took a chance on Burnitz, signing him to a one-year deal to play in the Mile High City in 2004.  Burnitz rewarded them immediately, batting .302 with 16 homers and 46 RBIs in his first 53 games.  Burnitz saved his best month for July, when he had an incredible .360/.424/.809 slash line.  During the month, Burnitz collected eight doubles, one triple, 10 homers and 27 RBIs despite starting only 22 games.  His renaissance season saw Burnitz finish the year with a career-high .283 batting average.  He also hit 30 doubles and 37 home runs, while driving in 110 runs and scoring 94 times.

Despite his phenomenal season, Colorado declined to pick up Burnitz's option for the 2005 campaign, allowing the slugger to become a free agent.  Burnitz almost signed with Colorado's division rival in Arizona, agreeing in principle to a two-year deal with the Diamondbacks.  But that deal was pulled from the table after Arizona completed a three-team trade with the Dodgers and Yankees that made Shawn Green their new rightfielder.  The deal also sent Randy Johnson to the Yankees, while the Yankees shipped Javier Vazquez to the Dodgers.

Although he was disappointed that he had just lost the security of a multi-year contract, Burnitz continued to look for a new team and finally found one when the Chicago Cubs signed him to a one-year, $4.5 million deal with a $7 million option for a second year.  But Burnitz was going into a pressure situation with the North Siders, as he was being asked to replace Cubs' icon Sammy Sosa in right field.

Burnitz had a solid season for the Cubs, batting .258 with 31 doubles, 24 homers, 87 RBIs and 84 runs scored while playing in a team-high 160 games.  But those numbers paled in comparison to Sosa, who averaged 48 HR and 123 RBIs from 1995 to 2004.  As a result, the Cubs decided to buy out Burnitz for $500,000 rather than pick up his option for 2006, leaving Burnitz to become a free agent for the third straight year.

Once again, Burnitz had a two-year deal on the table, this time with the Baltimore Orioles.  But because of language in the contract that would allow Baltimore to take their time making the deal official, Burnitz decided to sign a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates with a second year option that would pay him the same amount of money as Baltimore's two-year deal.  Ironically, the Orioles' executive who tried to negotiate the deal with Burnitz was Jim Duquette, who only two years earlier had traded Burnitz to the Dodgers while he was the Mets' general manager.

It's quite possible that one of the underlying reasons why Burnitz chose to pass on the deal with Baltimore was because of his relationship with the former Mets GM.  Burnitz showed no love for his time with the Mets when he mentioned New York fans in a statement he made to reporters after failing to run out a ground ball in Pittsburgh. 

"I apologize for that.  It seems like I'd hit 20 balls in a row like that, rollovers to first.  The fact is, I went and looked at it, and I had no chance.  He would have thrown me out.  But the effort that they expect - and they jumped on me for it - I apologize if I don't play hard enough. I have a reputation for playing hard.  I heard the boos.  And I've heard 'em before.  If I poke my head out of the dugout in New York, there would be 40,000 of them.  Loud, too."

If Burnitz didn't have love for New York, then he certainly couldn't have loved his time in Pittsburgh.  After getting off to a slow start (.234, 8 HR, 26 RBI, .289 OBP in the team's first 50 games) and saying that manager Jim Tracy was forced to keep him in the everyday lineup because he was "Joe High-Paid Free Agent", Tracy decided to put Burnitz in a platoon with some of the Pirates' younger players.

As a result, Burnitz played in just 111 games, his lowest full-season total since becoming an everyday player with the Brewers in 1997.  Burnitz finished the year with only 28 extra-base hits after averaging 29 doubles and 30 homers over the previous nine seasons.  He also hit .230 and had a career-worst .289 on-base percentage, a number that was even lower than his OBP during his forgetful 2002 campaign with the Mets.

At season's end, Pittsburgh declined to pick up Burnitz's option for the 2007 season.  This time, Burnitz was unable to find another suitor, causing him to retire from baseball at the age of 37.

Jeromy Burnitz was a five-tool player in the minor leagues who occasionally forgot to sharpen his fifth tool (batting average), while neglecting to use one of his other tools (speed).  He was a 30-30 player as a Mets' farmhand, but surpassed seven stolen bases in the majors only twice in 14 seasons.  The Mets never got the Burnitz they saw in the minor leagues and gave up on him two years into his major league career.  Nearly a decade later, they gave him a second chance and once again, they decided to send him packing.  Both times, Burnitz proved to the Mets that he was better off without them.

In 5½ years with Milwaukee, Burnitz became one of the Brewers' top power threats in franchise history.  From 1997 to 2001, Burnitz averaged 32 doubles, 33 homers and 102 RBIs per season.  His 125 RBIs in 1998 are more than any Met has ever achieved in 50-plus seasons (Mike Piazza and David Wright share the single-season franchise record with 124 RBIs).  In 1997 and 1998, Burnitz received National League MVP votes and he was selected to represent the Brewers in the All-Star Game in 1999.

On a team that has had great hitters over the years (Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun come to mind), Burnitz was able to crack Milwaukee's all-time top ten list in various offensive categories.  He ranks among the team leaders in home runs (165; 9th in Brewers' history), walks (423; 8th), on-base percentage (.362; 7th), slugging percentage (.508; 4th) and OPS (.870; 4th).  Burnitz's 525 RBIs as a Brewer had him in the top ten until recently, when both Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun passed him.  Burnitz was also the first Brewer in team history to hit 30 or more home runs in four consecutive seasons, accomplishing the feat from 1998 to 2001.  All this from a player who never hit 20 home runs in a season for the Mets in parts of four years with the team.

Although Jeromy Burnitz accomplished many things as an individual (six 30-HR seasons, four 100-RBI campaigns), he always seemed to achieve them on teams that did not go on to great things.  The Brewers finished with a losing record in each of his nearly six seasons in Milwaukee.  All four Mets teams he played for (1993, 1994, 2002, 2003) finished below .500, as did the 2004 Rockies, 2005 Cubs and 2006 Pirates.

Burnitz never got to taste the postseason as a major league player and rarely got to experience a pennant race.  Still, he finished his career with 315 home runs, nearly 300 doubles and just under 1,000 RBIs.  It's not a career that he should be ashamed of.

The Mets gave up on Burnitz twice during his career.  The first time, it was because the manager didn't like him and he was underachieving.  The second time, it was because he had finally started to achieve but was now too expensive to keep around on a rebuilding team.  Both times, Burnitz blossomed after the Mets let him go.  And both times, the Mets became competitive within a few years of his departure.  But despite the team's successes soon after Burnitz's dual departures, the Mets have been missing one thing - a regular rightfielder.

Darryl Strawberry left the Mets as a free agent following the 1990 season.  Burnitz made his debut three years later, and spent parts of four seasons in New York during his two tours of duty with the team.  In those four seasons, Burnitz started 262 games in right field.  Believe it or not, that's more games than any Met has started in right field since the Straw Man's departure.  The only other Mets to start more than 200 games in right field since 1990 are Bobby Bonilla (226 starts) and Butch Huskey (202 starts).  Strawberry started 1,064 games in right field during his eight years as a Met.  That's just 48 more starts than Jeromy Burnitz had as a rightfielder for the other teams he played for during his career.

Perhaps the Mets shouldn't have let go of Burnitz's booming bat.  Perhaps he would have accomplished great things in New York.  And perhaps the Mets wouldn't have gone into a seemingly endless cycle of searching for a regular rightfielder.  But one thing is for certain.  Both Burnitz and the Mets accomplished great things when they weren't married to each other.  The double divorce, though not exactly amicable, was the best thing that could have happened to all the parties involved. 

Now if only the Mets could stop playing musical chairs with the right field position...

   

Judging by these quotes, Jeromy Burnitz wasn't exactly cut out to handle the New York media.  

Note:  The Mets That Got Away is a thirteen-part weekly series that spotlights those Mets players who established themselves as major leaguers in New York, only to become stars after leaving town.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 7, 2013: Nolan Ryan
January 14, 2013: Melvin Mora  
January 21, 2013: Kevin Mitchell 
January 28, 2013: Amos Otis
February 4, 2013: Jeff Reardon
February 11, 2013: Lenny Dykstra
February 18, 2013: Jeff Kent
February 25, 2013: Randy Myers
March 4, 2013: Ken Singleton 
March 11, 2013: Mike Scott