Bang! Zoom! The Mets Keep Hitting Balls To The Moon!

John Buck yuks it up after yakking it out for a grand slam in Minnesota. (Photo by Jim Mone)

In 2009, Citi Field opened its doors for the first time, but the Mets forgot to pack their power strokes when they made the move from Shea Stadium.  The Mets finished dead last in the National League with 95 home runs in 2009, a year after hitting 172 longballs in their final season at Shea.

The 2012 squad pounded out 139 homers - their highest total in four years - but that was still a far cry from the 182 homers they averaged per season from 2004 to 2008.  Because of their recent inability to hit balls out of the park, no one expected the Mets to provide much in the power department in 2013.  But oh, how things have changed.

During the team's first 51 seasons, no Mets squad had ever homered in each of their first nine games.  This year's team has now homered at least once in each of their first ten games, with John Buck going yard in his last four contests.

The Mets have hit 14 home runs in their first ten games.  By comparison, the 2009 squad didn't reach 14 home runs until May 1.  It's the first time the Mets have hit that many home runs over their first ten games since 1995.  And it's the first time the Mets have homered in ten consecutive games at any point of the season since 2008.

It's been a long time since the Mets have been a home run hitting team.  Since Citi Field opened in 2009, only three players have hit more than 15 homers in a single season (David Wright twice, Ike Davis twice and Scott Hairston once).  But this year looks to be different, and the Mets are wasting no time showing the league that they have more than just warning track power.

John Buck has six home runs in less than two weeks.  Three other players have gone deep at least twice.  And David Wright, who can hit 15 homers in his sleep, isn't one of them.  But once he joins his teammates with a crooked number in the home run column, you can bet he will contribute greatly to the team's increasing homer total.

According to the so-called experts, the Mets aren't supposed to compete for a postseason berth in 2013.  Those same experts also expected the Mets to be near the bottom of the league in home runs.  But through their first ten games, the Mets are hitting early-season home runs like they never have before, and they are currently leading the National League in runs scored.

Pitching wins championships, but home runs can lead to a few wins, too.  The Mets are in the process of putting together a young pitching staff.  The home runs are coming as well.  Baseballs aren't the only things flying to the moon.  The Mets might also be reaching new heights.  Bang, zoom indeed!

Wheeler and d'Arnaud For Stanton? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Earlier today, Andy Martino of the Daily News reported that the Mets have been showing interest in Marlins' outfielder Giancarlo Stanton.  But it would cost New York both Zack Wheeler and Travis d'Arnaud.

What do I think of this potential trade?  I'll make it short and sweet.  In fact, I'll let Grumpy Cat answer the question for me.

It would be wrong on so many levels to make this trade - four levels to be exact:

• Level No. 1:  Wheeler and d'Arnaud are expected to be key contributors to the Mets for many years.  The Mets haven't had a top offensive catcher since Mike Piazza had Braden Looper as a teammate, and they haven't had a young, dominant one-two punch in the starting rotation since Seaver and Koosman.  (Gooden and Darling were great, but Darling was hardly what you would call dominant.)  Wheeler and Matt Harvey would form the nucleus of a potentially memorable starting rotation.

• Level No. 2:  Sandy Alderson has been doing his best to obtain top prospects who would be under team control for a number of years.  Stanton is entering his fourth season in the major leagues.  He will be making tens of millions of dollars per season once he is eligible for free agency after the 2016 season.  Wheeler and d'Arnaud will more than likely be making less than $10 million combined by that year.

• Level No. 3:  For all the power Stanton possesses, he also strikes out at an alarming rate.  As of this writing, Stanton has struck out 444 times in 1,354 career at-bats.  That's one strikeout every three at-bats.  Stanton is also a .268 career hitter who, for all his home run prowess, has never reached 90 RBIs over a full season.  Even George Foster had a 90 RBI season for the Mets and he was booed out of town.

• Level No. 4:  For all you sabermetricians out there, Stanton has a 9.2 oWAR.  That's not over one season.  That's his cumulative oWAR for all of his seasons in the majors.  To put that into perspective, David Wright's cumulative oWAR by the time he was 23 (the age Stanton is now) was 12.3.

Now don't get me wrong.  Giancarlo Stanton is a great player and one who would instantly be superior to any of the current Mets outfielders.  But he is not worth the team's top two prospects.  Not now.  Not ever.

Zack Wheeler and Travis d'Arnaud were not acquired to be trade bait.  They became members of the Mets organization to help the team return to prominence and stay there.  Giancarlo Stanton would make a fine addition to the team.  But not if Wheeler and d'Arnaud aren't his teammates.  The team would be better off keeping their future stars (plural) than trading for a current one (singular).

Zack Wheeler and Travis d'Arnaud look so much better in blue and orange than in whatever colors the Miami Marlins wear.  (They also look so much better when photographed by Michael Baron, as they were in this beautiful photo.)

A Throwback Jersey That Should Definitely Be Thrown Back

You remember 1993, don't you?  It was the year Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the country's 42nd president, the year Prince became a squiggle (or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince), and the year Michael Jordan retired for the first time.  Good times, right?  Not if you were a Mets fan.

In 1993, the Mets reached triple digits in losses for the first time since 1967, when Tom Seaver was a major league neophyte.  How bad were the Mets in 1993?  They finished five games behind the expansion Florida Marlins and lost 13 more games than "The Worst Team Money Could Buy".  It's an era most Mets fans would rather forget.  But according to the Colorado Rockies' official Twitter account, our memories of that embarrassing year are about to come back to us, one throwback jersey at a time.

Check out the jerseys for #Rockies v #Mets #TurnBackTheClockNight next Tuesday, 4/16. Buy tix: atmlb.com/156ipj7 twitter.com/Rockies/status…
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 11, 2013

Next Tuesday, when the Rockies entertain the Mets in the second game of a four-game series, the two teams will be wearing the jerseys worn by their 1993 counterparts.  That's right, Mets fans.  The squiggle is coming back.  And this time I'm not talking about The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

In 1993, New York added an underscore beneath a slightly modified Mets logo on the team's jerseys.  The Mets might have changed their look, but their performance on the field and in the standings took a turn for the worse.

But before the team went on to lose 103 games (a number that could have been higher had it not been for an unlikely six-game winning streak to close out the season), they opened the year on a high note, sweeping a two-game series from the expansion Colorado Rockies at Shea Stadium.  The series marked the debut of the team from the Mile High City and the now-ridiculed new Mets jerseys.

Twenty years later, the Rockies are celebrating their historic first season by bringing back the uniforms they wore when they played their inaugural game in the big leagues.  That means the godawful jerseys that became synonymous with Jeff Kent (before he was good), Anthony Young (while he was bad) and Bobby Bonilla (when he wasn't wearing his Bronx tour guide duds) will also be making a one-game comeback to mark the occasion.

And yes, for all you kids scoring at home, the Mets will be wearing their home squiggle jerseys on the road because everything about the 1993 team went against reason.

Will the Rockies ask Anthony Young to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in an effort to pin a loss on the Mets?  Will Jeff Torborg be secretly smuggled into the Mets' clubhouse for an impromptu pep talk?  Will Jeromy Burnitz - a member of the 1993 Mets who went on to collect 37 homers and 110 RBIs for the 2004 Rockies - be back at Coors Field?  For that matter, will the game even be played?  (Early weather forecasts for Tuesday night have temperatures dipping into the mid-20s with snow showers possible.)

The Mets have had their share of fashion faux pas over the years (snow white caps in 1997, the Mercury Mets one-shot in 1999).  But nothing was associated with embarrassing play as much as the squiggle uniforms that made their debut in 1993.  Thanks to the Colorado Rockies, that uniform will be making a one-game return on Tuesday night.  We can only hope the style of play that Mets fans saw in 1993 doesn't return with it.

Maybe Bret Saberhagen has some leftover bleach to get rid of that dirty underscore.

Will John Buck Be Another Rod Barajas?

Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus

Ever since the Mets sent Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey to Toronto in December, the hot topic of conversation has centered around when the Mets would call up Travis d'Arnaud, the key player acquired from Toronto in the deal.  Would it be in June?  Would it be earlier?

But the Mets also acquired another catcher in the trade, one that would be the team's No. 1 option at the position until d'Arnaud was deemed ready to take over behind the plate.  John Buck - a catcher with a reputation of being a fine handler of a pitching staff, but not a fine handler of the bat - was sent to the Mets in the Dickey deal to keep the immediate area behind home plate warm for d'Arnaud (and also to prevent a plethora of passed balls, as Casey Stengel would have wanted from his backstop).

Buck is now off to a tremendous start for the Mets, hitting .421 with two homers and a league-leading nine RBIs.  He has also started two day games after night games with no ill effects, as clearly evidenced by his four-RBI performance on Saturday against the Marlins, just hours after catching every pitch in a 3½-hour loss to Miami the night before.

As great as Buck's first five games have been, causing many a Mets fan to reconsider how long they want d'Arnaud to remain in Las Vegas, we've seen hot starts by journeymen catchers before.  Anyone remember how we went bonkers for Barajas?

In 2010, Omar Minaya signed Rod Barajas to a one-year deal to become the starting catcher for the Mets.  Barajas was coming off a year in which he had a low batting average (.226) and low on-base percentage (.258), but showed good pop (19 HR) in his final year with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Barajas became an unexpected offensive sensation for the Mets, hitting .269 with 11 homers and 30 RBIs through the end of May.  During his hot two-month stretch, Barajas had three multi-homer games and provided Citi Field's first walk-off home run when he took Giants' reliever Sergio Romo deep for a two-run blast on May 7.

But once the calendar turned to June, Barajas went into a swoon.  Following his torrid start, Barajas began to hit like the pitchers he was asked to catch.  From June 1 to July 19, the former Hot Rod displayed a cold stick at the plate, batting .161 with no homers and just two ribbies in 101 plate appearances.  Barajas finally ended his seven-week homerless streak on July 21, but only started two more games for the Mets after his final clout.  Four months after endearing himself to Mets fans with his powerful bat, Barajas was a Dodger, as Los Angeles claimed him off waivers on August 22.

The Mets allowed Rod Barajas to walk off to Los Angeles three months after he walked off against the Giants.

Prior to becoming a Met, Barajas was a lifetime .238 hitter who had reached double figures in home runs in five of his previous six seasons.  In his final year before coming to Flushing (2009 with Toronto), Barajas posted his lowest full-season batting average since becoming a No. 1 catcher.

Meanwhile, John Buck was a .235 career hitter before becoming a Met.  Buck hit ten or more homers in seven of his nine seasons, but in his last year prior to his trade to the Mets (2012 with Toronto), Buck posted a career-low .192 batting average.

I don't know about you, but I think I see a similarity there.

It's great that John Buck is off to a fast start.  He's helping the team at the plate with his bat and he's also helping the team behind it by getting the most out of his pitchers (Mets starters have combined to give up five earned runs over the team's first five games).  But don't automatically assume that Buck's quick start will allow Travis d'Arnaud to stay at the Triple-A level for a long period of time.

The Mets have been down this road before.  They've seen a journeyman catcher perform brilliantly out of the box, only to see his production tail off dramatically before the first day of summer.  I tip my hat to John Buck for a wonderful first week, but I'm not ready to announce that he should be the team's starting catcher past the All-Star Break just yet.  We have our recent catching history to thank for that.

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
 

A Decade of Devastation (Or Not)

Is that you causing that stink, Tom Glavine?

Ten years ago today, Tom Glavine made his Mets debut.  On a bitterly cold final day of March in 2003, the former member of the pitching firm of Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz was on the mound at Shea Stadium not as an opponent, but as a proud wearer of the orange and blue.

His opponents were the Chicago Cubs, a team against which he used to perform fairly well.  Notice my use of the words "used to".  Prior to 2003, Glavine was 13-10 with a 3.20 ERA and 1.17 WHIP versus the North Siders.  But beginning with his Opening Day start on March 31, 2003, Glavine was a completely different pitcher against the Cubs.

Prior to 2003, the Mets had not lost a season-opening game played at Shea Stadium since 1990, when they dropped a 12-3 decision to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  By the end of the day, Mets fans were wishing the 2003 opener was as close as the game that opened the 1990 campaign.

Glavine allowed eight hits and four walks in only 3⅔ innings of "work".  The lefty had already won 242 games in his career, but on this Opening Day, he allowed more batters to reach base than he sent back to the dugout.  The Mets would go on to lose the game, 15-2, and would go on to lose 94 more games during the 2003 season, though none was as lopsided as the opener.

Twenty years after Tom Terrific (Seaver) helped the Mets win their 1983 Opening Day game at Shea, Tom Non-Terrfic (Glavine) flushed the Mets' opener down the toilet.  Four years and 161 games later, Glavine would allow fewer base runners against the Florida Marlins in the Mets' playoff-crushing season-ending loss.  So perhaps the fact that he allowed "only" eight base runners against Florida in his final start for the Mets led to his "I'm not devastated" post-game comment.  After all, that was four fewer than the dozen Cubs' batters who reached base against him in his Mets debut.

Beginning with his Mets debut ten years ago today, Tom Glavine finished his career by going 2-5 with a 7.23 ERA and 1.80 WHIP versus the Cubs.  The Mets did eventually improve after their 95-loss season in Glavine's first year with the team.  But they never won a pennant with him on the team, something Glavine's Braves did five times in the 1990s.

Mets fans have had to endure a decade of devastation.  But the future is just around the corner.  And this time, Tom Glavine will be nowhere near the Mets on the date of their home opener.  The Mets might win tomorrow's Opening Day game or they might lose it.  But almost certainly, they'll be more competitive than they were in the season-opening game ten years ago.  They can't possibly be any worse.

Milestones And The Mets Who Can Reach Them

As is common before the beginning of each season, many bloggers and reporters write about those Mets players who are approaching statistical milestones in their careers.  At Studious Metsimus, we enjoy our stats - sometimes a little too much - just like everyone else.  Therefore, we'd also like to contribute our list of players and personnel who are approaching career milestones.

But of course, this is Studious Metsimus, so why should you expect the typical milestones you can find anywhere else?  And why stop at just Mets players reaching milestones, when the entire Mets team is approaching a few milestones as well?

So sit back and enjoy.  And when one of the players (or the entire team) reaches a milestone, feel free to tweet about it before anyone else and watch as your dozens, hundreds or thousands of followers retweet you left and right or ask you if you got this from Studious Metsimus.  Claim ignorance if it's the latter.  That's what yours truly would do.


Individual Milestones Within Reach

David Wright won't wear a "C", but he does wear an "M" for Milestones.

David Wright:

• Needs 74 hits for 1,500 (or half of the magic 3,000 plateau)
• Needs 16 homers for 220 (would tie Mike Piazza for 2nd most in Mets history)
• An All-Star Game selection would be his 7th (would tie Darryl Strawberry and Piazza for 2nd most in club annals)
• Needs 1 sacrifice fly to knock Ed Kranepool off another perch (Wright and Kranepool are currently tied for the team lead with 58 sacrifice flies - tip of the Mets cap to Mark Simon for pointing this out, even if Kranepool himself would probably want this to stay on the down low)

Daniel Murphy:

• Needs 33 hits for 500 (nowhere near the magic 3,000 plateau)
• Needs 31 games for 500 (would become 41st Met to reach that mark)

Ike Davis:

• Needs 33 doubles for 100 (clearly he's still early in his career)
• Needs 42 homers for 100 (would also break the team's single-season HR record)

Ruben Tejada:

• Needs 1 homer for 3 (tying Rick Aguilera, Juan Samuel and Kelvin Chapman - and breaking a tie with Mike Nickeas)

Lucas Duda:

• Needs 8 runs for 100 (a total reached 19 times by a Met in a single season; this is Duda's fourth season in New York)
• Needs 1 strikeout for 200 (and a congratulatory boo from the Citi Field crowd)
• Needs 1 furniture mover to avoid another embarrassing off-season injury (duh!)

Terry Collins:

• Needs 24 wins to tie Casey Stengel for 9th most wins in team history
• Needs 53 wins to tie Jerry Manuel for 8th most wins in team history
• Needs 78 wins to tie Dallas Green for 7th most wins in team history
• Needs 109 wins and a World Series title to shut Greg Pomes up
• Needs 3 inches between his number and his his belt to stop dressing like Steve Urkel

Terry Collins prepares for "Family Matters Night" at Citi Field.

Bobby Parnell:

• Needs 44 saves to enter the Mets' all-time top ten in saves (and break Armando Benitez's single-season team record)
• Needs 5 saves to pass Anthony Young for most saves by a homegrown Met since 1990

Jonathon Niese:

• Needs 202 strikeouts to enter the Mets' all-time top ten in Ks
• Needs 23 strikeouts to match Nolan Ryan's totals as a Met (sigh...)
• Needs 16 starts and 12 wins to have more than Johan Santana had as a Met (double sigh...)

Johan Santana:

• Needs 1 start to make more starts than anyone expects him to make this year (triple sigh...)

"Oh, crap.  I'm missing another full season."

Team Milestones Within Reach

70,000 hits:

• Through 51 seasons, the Mets have collected 69,041 hits.  With 959 more hits, the Mets will reach the 70,000 mark.  The only years the Mets failed to reach 959 hits were in 1981 and 1994, both strike-shortened seasons.  As long as the Mets don't bring back Jason Bay, this milestone should be reached in late August or early September.  Plan your trip to Citi Field accordingly.

5,000 stolen bases:

• The Mets should have reached this milestone last year, but stole only 79 bases in 2012 - their lowest full-season total since 2003.  How much of a station-to-station team were the Mets in 2012?  They stole one more base than Jose Reyes stole by himself in 2007.  The Mets' non-pilfering tendencies caused the team to finish the 2012 season with 4,998 steals, leaving the team two thefts short of the magic 5,000 plateau.  They could reach that figure on Opening Day or it could take them an entire month.

50,000 strikeouts:

• If only this was 50,000 strikeouts by Mets pitchers.  But since the Mets traded all-time strikeout king Nolan Ryan before he became the Ryan Express, this 50,000 figure refers to the number of times Mets hitters have whiffed.  When the team strikes out for the 549th time this year (which should happen sometime in late June), they can thank several of their human windmills for helping this nightmare come true.  Without the likes of Dave Kingman, Jeromy Burnitz, Mo Vaughn and other futile flailers, this milestone would not have been possible by 2013.

The more Mo Vaughn struck out, the faster he could partake of the post-game spread.

The Magic 8-Ball Predicts The 2013 Mets Season

Well, hello again, everyone!  In a few days, we'll be able to take the "off" out of "offseason", as the curtain will rise on yet another Major League Baseball season.  Over the past few months, the National League East has undergone some changes.

The Washington Nationals got stronger in the bullpen, adding Rafael Soriano, and the Atlanta Braves acquired every Upton not named Kate.  The Philadelphia Phillies got another year closer to the retirement home and the Miami Marlins decided to turn to Groupon to sell tickets to see Giancarlo and the Blowfish.

And the Mets?  They waved goodbye to Jason Bay, Andres Torres and the player who makes a guest appearance on the Wikipedia page of my wife's ass.  (Or is it the other way around?)  To replace those dearly departed outfielders, the Mets have auditioned everyone except Gary Matthews, Jr. and his old man.  The team has also added several future Hall of Fame pitchers, or at least they are in the Laffey, Marcum and Lyon households.

So will those additions and subtractions encourage a divisive fanbase to multiply in the Citi Field seats?  For the answer to that question and many more, we turn to our fav'rit spherical prognosticator.  Ladies and gentle-Mets, give it up for the Magic 8-Ball!

Thanks for stopping by.  So how do you feel about the team this year?  Can they compete for one of the five playoff spots in the National League?

Really?  That’s as optimistic an answer as I’ve ever gotten from you.  To what do you attribute this hope for the Mets in 2013?

I don’t understand.  Why the Astros?

And how does that affect the Mets?  They won’t be matched up against the Astros at all this year.

So you’re just optimistic because each team in the National League now has a 5 in 15 chance to make the playoffs instead of 5 in 16?

You sound like a GEICO commercial when you say that.

Okay, let’s move on.  With R.A. Dickey now knuckling for Canadian dollars, which pitcher in the starting rotation do you expect to have a breakthrough season?

My thoughts exactly!

You just can’t agree with me on anything, can you?
 

Whoa, there’s no need for that kind of language here.  This is a family-friendly site.  And the beginning of a new baseball season should bring out the best in everyone, including you.  Why are you always so hostile?

Shaking?  I don’t get what you’re trying to say.

Oh, you're the one that gets shaken.  Now I get it.

Sure.  Just two more questions and then you can do what Magic 8-Balls do when they’re not being shaken up.  Speaking of which, what exactly do you do when you’re not being asked questions?

Fine.  Anyway, how do you see the Mets’ outfield this season?

You know what I mean!

You think that highly of Cowgill?

I seriously have to get myself a new Magic 8-Ball next season.

Oh, so you don’t have eyes, but you’ve got ears tucked away somewhere.

Uh … well … you see … actually, I have no point.  Last question then.  What do you think the Mets’ final record will be and where will they finish in the National League East?

Wow!  You think they’ll be that good?

I knew your prediction was too good to be true.

And on that note, I'd like to wish all of you a very happy baseball season.  As the great Bob Barker would say, "please help control the snarky sphere population - don't forget to have your Magic 8-Ball spayed or neutered."  (I know I'm taking mine to get neutered right now!)

Have fun this season, and as always ... LET'S GO METS!!



Hey, kids!  The Magic 8-Ball has made predictions before.  To see what it said prior to each of the previous three seasons, please click on the links below:

2012 Magic 8-Ball Predictions
2011 Magic 8-Ball Predictions
2010 Magic 8-Ball Predictions

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