Sandy Can't "Duquette" Out For Help This Year

Eight years ago today, the Mets came out of the All-Star Break with a win against the Philadelphia Phillies in extra innings.  Although they were only two games above .500 at the time, the Mets were in the thick of a tight four-team race in the National League East, with one game separating the Braves (46-42), Phillies (46-42), Marlins (45-43) and Mets (45-43).  The Mets then proceeded to lose eight of their next 11 games, losing some ground to their division rivals, but still only five games behind the division-leading Braves.

Despite their struggles, general manager Jim Duquette considered the Mets to be contenders for the division title (at the time, the Padres and Giants were tied atop the wild card standings, with both teams ten games above .500) and decided to upgrade the team in a last-ditch effort to stay in the playoff hunt.  "Last-ditch" ended up being an appropriate term for the trades orchestrated by Duquette, as the Mets dug themselves a "ditch" that they could not climb out of, while Duquette didn't "last" as Mets' GM, replaced before season's end by Omar Minaya.

Although there were three trades made by Duquette on July 30, 2004, two of them were connected.  The first trade sent top prospect Scott Kazmir to Tampa Bay for starting pitcher Victor Zambrano and reliever Bartolome Fortunato.  Although Zambrano had a 35-27 career mark for the perennial basement dwellers in Tampa, his 4.47 ERA and 1.49 WHIP were not exactly top-of-the-rotation caliber.

In 2003, Zambrano led the American League in walks (106), hit batsmen (20) and wild pitches (15).  Prior to his trade to the Mets, he was once again leading the league in walks (96) and had hit 16 batters in 22 starts.  Clearly, Duquette thought a change in scenery and ten minutes with pitching coach Rick Peterson (as Peterson infamously claimed would be all he would require to "fix" Zambrano) would do the trick.  He thought wrong.

Injuries and poor performances limited Zambrano to 35 starts as a Met, as he went 10-14 for the team with a nearly identical ERA (4.42) and WHIP (1.49) as he had in Tampa.  Similarly, Bartolome Fortunato suffered from injuries (he missed the entire 2005 season) and poor performances on the mound (7.06 ERA and 1.66 WHIP in 17 career relief appearances for the Mets) and was out of baseball by 2006.

Scott Kazmir, although not as successful as a first round draft pick should have been, still became the Rays' all-time leader in wins, strikeouts, starts and innings pitched (he has now dropped to No. 2 in those categories, supplanted by current Rays pitcher James Shields).  Kazmir also led the Rays to their only World Series appearance in 2008, the same year the Mets finished a game short of the playoffs for the second consecutive season.  With a productive Kazmir on the pitching staff instead of fill-ins and journeymen, who knows where the Mets could have gone in 2006, 2007 and 2008?

The other two trades orchestrated by Duquette on that fateful late July day in 2004 featured a player who was barely a Met and a player who now kills his former team with regularity.  First, Duquette traded minor leaguer Justin Huber to the Royals for a little-known prospect named Jose Bautista.  The Mets then sent Bautista and infielder Ty Wigginton to the Pirates for former No. 1 overall draft pick Kris Benson and infielder Jeff Keppinger.

Bautista has since become one of the most feared sluggers in the major leagues, leading all players with 124 HR since the beginning of the 2010 campaign.  Wigginton is not just the last Met to bowl over a catcher at the plate, but he has also become a pretty good hitter in his own right.  Since leaving the Mets in 2004, Wigginton has hit 138 HR for six teams.  In 30 games (24 starts) against his former team, Wigginton is batting .308 with five HR and 26 RBI.  He also owns a .390 on-base percentage and a .560 slugging percentage against the Mets.  In 2012, Wigginton has become a one-man wrecking crew versus the Mets in more ways than one.  In only 29 at-bats, Wigginton has three home runs and 14 RBIs against the team that sent him packing eight years ago.  He also wrecked Josh Thole's head, sidelining him with a concussion in a (you guessed it) home plate collision with the Mets' catcher.

Jose Bautista slugs baseballs.  Ty Wigginton slugs catchers.  Just ask Josh Thole, assuming he can remember.

The two players received for Bautista and Wigginton did not have the greatest success for the Mets during their time in New York.  Jeff Keppinger only played in 33 games for the Mets in 2004, spending the entire 2005 season at AAA-Norfolk, before being traded to the Royals in 2006 for Ruben Gotay.  Keppinger has become a solid utility player since then.  He hit .332 in 241 at-bats for the Reds in 2007, and is now hitting .312 for the Rays in 138 at-bats this season.  In six-plus seasons since leaving the Mets, Keppinger is a .283 career hitter.

Kris Benson was never horrible as a Met (14-12, 4.23 ERA, 1.25 WHIP in 39 starts).  He just wasn't what the Mets hoped they were getting.  Although Benson was only 30 when he pitched his last game for the Mets in 2005, he went on to win 13 more games in the majors for three teams (Baltimore, Texas, Arizona) before calling it a career to become a successful businessman following the 2010 season.

That brings us to Sandy Alderson and the 2012 Mets.  (Finally!)  This year's Mets came out of the All-Star Break a half-game out of the second wild card spot and 4½ games behind the first place Washington Nationals.  One sweep to the Braves later, and the Mets find themselves 3½ games out of the final wild card spot and 6½ games out of first.

With all the talk about improving the league's worst bullpen, maybe Alderson should hold off on making a trade that would only serve to help the team this year.  If he is to make a trade, it has to be one that can also help the Mets in the future, not just one that might be too little, too late to help them succeed in 2012.

If the Mets continue to fall in the standings, similar to the way the 2004 Mets did after the All-Star Break, it would behoove Sandy Alderson not to make any drastic moves.  There's no need to sell off the future in a last-ditch effort to remain in contention in the present.  The 2004 Mets were around .500 when Duquette became Trader Jim.  They finished the season 20 games under .500.  This year's squad might not contend as long as we'd like them to, but they're also not the type of team who will finish so far under .500 that the general manager will be canned.

That was then.  This is now.  And Sandy Alderson is a better GM than Jim Duquette.  If the Mets don't gain ground in the standings prior to the trade deadline, I have full faith in Sandy Alderson that he will either not make any trades or he will only deal for a player who will help the team beyond this season.  Buying for the sake of buying doesn't get you anything but the door slammed behind you on the way out.  Sandy Alderson knows this, and that's why he won't "Duquette" out with other teams for players.  He's a better general manager than that.

Six Degrees of Jose Bautista

Do you recognize the slugger in the photo? No? Five major league teams didn't notice him as well. The man to the left is Jose Bautista, the major league leader in home runs. With his two bombs last night, he now has 52 dingers for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays are the sixth organization Bautista has played for. One of the five teams that played Russian Roulette with him was the New York Mets.

In 2004, the Mets were 49-52 on the morning of July 30. Despite the losing record, the Mets found themselves only six games behind the division-leading Atlanta Braves. General Manager Jim Duquette falsely believed the Mets could still turn their season around and decided to make a few trades before the trade deadline the following day.

The deal most people would rather forget was the deal that sent top prospect Scott Kazmir to Tampa Bay for Victor "The Wrong" Zambrano. The other deals orchestrated by Duquette both involved Jose Bautista.

First, he acquired Bautista from the Kansas City Royals for first baseman/outfielder Justin Huber, who was one of the Mets' top prospects at the time. (Baseball America rated Huber as the #66 prospect in the country prior to the 2003 season.)

Then, before Bautista could say "fuhgeddaboudit", he was packaged in a deal with fan-favorite Ty Wigginton. Together they were sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jeff Keppinger and Anna Benson. (Kris Benson was the throw-in in the deal.)

Keppinger, a light-hitting infielder did not do much for the Mets, compiling only 116 at-bats for the team. Of course, as a member of the Cincinnati Reds in 2007, Keppinger had a breakout season, hitting .332 in 241 at-bats. He also finished with a .400 on-base percentage in 2007. Now the starting second baseman for the Houston Astros, Keppinger is having a standout year, batting .296, with 33 doubles, five home runs and 58 RBI. One of the toughest hitters to strike out in all of baseball, Keppinger has fanned only 35 times this season in 487 at-bats. Over 1,668 career at-bats, Keppinger has struck out a mere 117 times, or 37 fewer times than David Wright has struck out this year alone.

Kris Benson, who was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996 as the top overall pick of the amateur draft, never lived up to expectations in his year and a half in New York. Acquired to help the Mets make a run at a postseason berth in 2004, he won a total of 14 games as a Met. It didn't help Kris or the Mets that his wife, Anna, was the most popular Benson since Robert Guillaume. Her exploits, which included dressing up as a sexy Santa (see photo above, even though I'm sure you already noticed it), might have led the Mets to ship off her hubby to Baltimore in 2006 for Jorge Julio and John Maine, although no one on the Mets would ever admit to that. (It should be noted that Jorge Julio was eventually traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Orlando "The Dookie" Hernandez.)

So Jose Bautista was traded with Ty Wigginton (a versatile infielder who has hit 20 or more home runs in four of the past five seasons) for Jeff Keppinger (a versatile infielder who makes excellent contact and hits for a high average) and the Kris and Anna Benson Show. That trade eventually led to the Mets acquiring The Dookie. Basically, that means the trade of Wigginton and Bautista got us some boobies, some dookie and the guy who beat Orel Hershiser and the Mercury Mets on Turn Ahead The Clock Night in 1999.


After spending his 15 minutes with the Mets, Jose Bautista played all or parts of five seasons in Pittsburgh, surpassing 400 at-bats only once and never hitting more than 16 home runs or 63 RBI. All that changed when he was traded by the Pirates to the Toronto Blue Jays in August 2008.

In 56 at-bats with the Blue Jays in 2008, Bautista gave Toronto a brief glimpse into what was yet to come, when he picked up 3 HR and 10 RBI in 21 late-season games.

Despite this, the Blue Jays did not give Bautista an everyday job in 2009. He never started more than 16 games in any month from April to August and his production suffered. All that changed on September 7, when the Blue Jays were playing the Minnesota Twins. In that game, Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill left the game in the fourth inning with an injury. Hill was finishing up a breakout season in which he hit 36 HR and collected 108 RBI. With Hill's removal from the game, rightfielder Joe Inglett moved to second base and Jose Bautista replaced Inglett in right field. In his first at-bat after being inserted into the game, Bautista homered. This would begin a stretch of power that has still not ended.


From September 7 until the end of the season, Bautista played in all 26 games, starting all but one of them. In those 26 games, he blasted 10 home runs and drove in 20 runs. The home run madness continued in 2010, with Bautista being given an everyday job as the Blue Jays' rightfielder and part-time third baseman.

Bautista has played in all but one game this season and has amassed 52 HR and 118 RBI, garnering considerable MVP consideration despite playing for a fourth-place team. Should Bautista hit six more home runs in the Blue Jays' final nine games, he would finish with 58 HR, which would be the most home runs by an American Leaguer since Roger Maris hit his unasterisked 61 HR in 1961. (Alex Rodriguez's 57 HR with the Texas Rangers in 2002 is currently the closest any American League player has come to equaling Maris' feat.)

With the Mets suffering from a power outage last year (their 49 HR at Citi Field are three less than Bautista has hit by himself this year) and the need for a power-hitting outfielder now that Jason Bay has turned into Jeff Keppinger with more strikeouts (Bay has 6 HR and 47 RBI this year, while Keppinger has 5 HR and 58 RBI), wouldn't Bautista's bat have looked amazin' in the Mets' lineup?

Then again, had he played at Citi Field this year, perhaps Bautista would also have collected 6 HR and 47 RBI. (No, wait. That's another J.B. Never mind.)

Jose Bautista. Major league home run leader. MVP candidate. Ex-Met. Isn't every good player an ex-Met these days?