Top 10 Acquistions

We all know about the epic Omar Minaya deals. From Johan Santana to Carlos Beltran, Minaya has brought the excitement back to Queens. But, prior to Minaya, some pretty heavy trades added to the times and tribulation to the team that we know and love.

While reading the book "Mets Essential" by Matthew Silverman, I came across an interesting list that most Mets fans should find fairly interesting. So, here it is. Here are Top 10 Mets Acquisitions of all-time, prior to Minaya.


10. Tommy Agee and Al Weiss--- These two were sent from the Chicago Whitesox on December 15, 1967. Give Gil Hodges some credit with these deals because he knew both of them from the American League. Agee could hit and played a nice center field. Weiss also played 2nd for the Mets on the '69 championship team.

9. Al Leiter--- Leiter was acquired from the Marlins on February 6, 1998 in a deal that sent A.J. Burnett to Florida. Leiter was instrumental part of the club during the '99 and '00 playoff runs and, he finished 6th in the NL Cy Young race in 1998. He also was named to the All-Star game in 2000.

8. Don Clendenon--- Acquired from the Montreal Expos on June 15, 1969 for four prospects. He provided valuable protection for Cleon Jones in the middle of the Mets potent lineup during the miracle year. However, he arguably had his best year with the club in 1970, batting .288 with 22 HR's and 97 RBI's.

7. Sid Fernandez--- Acquired from the Dodgers on December, 8 1993 for Carlos Diaz and Bob Bailor. He almost single-handedly preserved game 7 in the 1986 World Series when he made a relief appearance. He won 98 games in his 10-year career with the club and tallied a respectable 3.15 ERA. Most impressive, was probably his opponents' batting average during that time, which was .204. He also finished seventh in the NL Cy Young race in '86.

6. David Cone--- Acquired from the Kansas City Royals on March 27, 1987. Cone was dominant in his first stint with the club winning 80 games in just over five seasons with the club. Cone led the league in strikeouts in 1990-92. He also posted a 20-3 record in 1998 with a staggering 2.22 ERA, good for third in the NL Cy Young race and 10th in the MVP race.

5. John Olerud--- Acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays on December 20, 1996. 1998 was arguably his best year with the club, when he hit .354 with 22 HR's and 93 RBI's. Those stats enabled Olerud to finish 12th in the MVP race.

4. Ron Darling and Walt Terrell--- Acquired from the Texas Rangers on April 1, 1982. Darling won 99 games in his 8+ years with the team, including starting three games in the '86 series. Terell had two productive years for the club, ('83 and '84) then was traded for Howard Johnson in '85.

3. Gary Carter--- Acquired from the Montreal Expos on December 10, 1984. Carter was one of the leaders, with Hernandez, during the '86 title run. That year, he finished 3rd in the MVP race hitting 24 HR's and driving in 105 runs.

2. Mike Piazza--- Acquired from the Florida Marlins on May 22, 1998. Piazza became one of the most beloved Mets players of all-time during his time in Queens. His homerun at Shea Stadium the week after September 11th, was one of the most emotional ever hit in the game of baseball. In 2000, Piazza finished 3rd in the MVP race hitting .324 with 38 HR's and 113 RBI's.

1. Keith Hernandez--- "I'm Keith Hernandez." Acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals on June 15, 1983. Was arguably the team captain during the '86 title run and became one of, if not the most, beloved Mets player ever. Hernandez finished second in the MVP race in 1984 batting .311 with 15 HR's and 94 RBI's after already winning the MVP in 1979 with the Cardinals.

Although it is too early to tell if Minaya's deals are worthy of this list, we will sure be watching to see if any of these past players get bumped for a new class of Mets' greats.

Player Profile- Angel Pagan

A new face back in his original place. Angel Pagan was was drafted by the Mets in the 4th round the 1999 Amateur Draft at the age of 18. He was then purchased by the Cubs from the Mets organization in 2006 and now is back with the Mets here in 2008.

Pagan grew up in Puerto Rico and graduated from Republica de Columbia High School in 1999. After he was drafted, he attended he attended Interriver Community College in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

Last season, for the Cubs, Pagan appeared in 71 games and had 148 at-bats. He hit a respectable .264 as a switch hitter, hitting four homeruns and driving in 21 runs. However, his batting isn't what he is known best for. Pagan is an impressive fielder, racking up a blistering .964 fielding percentage in his career.

Pagan will compete for a reserve role with the team this year, but will most likely get about 157 at-bats with the club.

It Could've Been Us

According to ESPN.com today, there is a report that Brian McNamee could've been a Mets coach in 2007. However, General Manager Omar Minaya decided against it.

Before the Roger Clemens steroid scandal came to, Mets manager Willy Randolph and hitting coach at the time Rick Down both supported the idea. However, when it was brought to Minaya, he was skeptical.

"I went to Willie and Willie went to Omar, and it was nixed," Down said Tuesday, according to the New York Post. "I think it was nixed because of the Tampa incident [in which McNamee was questioned by St. Petersburg police, but never charged, in connection with an alleged rape]. There really wasn't much further discussion on it. The Mets didn't want adverse publicity, and in retrospect they were right." (ESPN.com)

Minaya, in his time with the Mets, has made some blockbuster deals. This is one I think he would've regretted.

What about Queens Borough Memorial Stadium?

Well, I guess it's official. Citi Field has a logo. Citi signed the naming rights back in 2006, when the stadium was just a model. Now in 2008, somewhat near it's completion, Citi Field is now fixture in the borough of Queens. The stadium will seat 45,000 and will look like a combination of the old Ebbets Field with a modern sense of technology.

One can only ponder some of the other names that were thrown around or rumored...

-Queens Borough Memorial Stadium
-Flushing Park
-Derek Jeter Sucks Stadium (No Joke)
-Larry Jones Field (If you don't get that reference, please don't read my blog anymore)
-Bill Buckner Memorial Field (I guess that one just went over their head or, right through their legs)
-Bobby Bonilla Ball Bark (What? It makes sense. Just say it real fast)

I guess we should be thankful for the name that we have.

Sunday Schmooz

Yes, this is a play off of Steve Somers. However, I consider him to be one of the best in the business so that is why I am stealing this reference.

Anyway, This is the first of a weekly Sunday post that is meant to focus on unique Mets art pieces that are out there. So, here it goes...


Jose Reyes has developed a fairly recognizable face in baseball. But, who knew that it could turn in to such an expressive painting??? Well, it did, and it's all thanks to the art of James Fiorentino. His sense of realism and his passion for sports has led him to become one of the most widely recognizable sports artists in the world. His sports art focuses on individual player portraits, as well as, baseball card portraits. At 15 years old, he was the youngest artist to ever be featured in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

This 16 x 20 of Reyes sold for $2500! Suprised? Fiorentino sure wasn't. "My 16 x 20 commission work range from $2000-2500 while 11 x 14 are $800-$1200 and collages go up in price," He said.

Although athletes are used to this kind of "spotlight" process, Reyes was enthralled with Fiorentino's work. "He loved it so much that he wanted a copy. So, we made him a giclee (a reproduction) and he actually met up with my friend in NYC to pick it up during the season," Fiorentino added.

So, if you have a mintute, check out his incredible website at...

http://www.jamesfiorentino.com

2008 Projected Stats and Lineup

These are the projected stats for the 2008 season, according to rotowire.com. The projected lineup is based off of a combination of last year and everything I have read either on-line or in the paper.

Before I post them, it needs to be made known that Johan Santana's projected stats were posted before he was traded to the Mets. Here they are...

STARTERS--- BA HR RBI R SB

1. SS- Jose Reyes--- .285 15 85 117 72

2. 2B- Louis Castillo--- .298 2 40 86 20

3. CF- Carlos Beltran--- .274 32 108 103 20

4. 3B- David Wright--- .318 33 109 105 27

5. 1B- Carlos Delgado--- .267 30 96 79 1

6. LF- Moises Alou--- .309 16 57 51 2

7. RF- Ryan Church--- .275 12 54 43 4

8. C- Brian Schneider--- .249 7 53 33 1

9. P-

RESERVES--- BA HR RBI R SB

Endy Chavez--- .292 2 24 29 7

Damion Easley--- .255 10 27 26 0

Ramon Castro--- .268 9 36 21 0

Ruben Gotay--- .261 6 35 36 4

Marlon Anderson--- .287 7 29 28 4

Anderson Hernandez--- .263 1 12 23 4

Angel Pagan--- .255 5 25 27 5

STARTING ROTATION--- W-L ERA K IP

1. Johan Santana--- 17-9 2.99 231 226

2. Pedro Martinez--- 10-6 3.55 135 132

3. John Maine--- 13-11 3.72 173 184

4. Oliver Perez--- 12-13 4.63 171 179

5. Orlando Hernandez--- 10-8 4.26 134 150

6. Mike Pelfrey--- 5-8 4.59 71 96

BULLPEN--- W-L ERA K SV IP

Billy Wagner--- 3-4 2.88 86 37 72

Aaron Heilman--- 6-6 3.30 74 2 90

Duaner Sanchez--- 3-2 3.51 31 1 41

Pedro Feliciano--- 4-3 2.95 55 1 61

Scott Schoeneweis --- 2-2 4.66 37 3 56

Jorge Sosa--- 8-8 4.77 74 0 118

Joe Smith--- 4-3 3.71 54 0 51

Matt Wise--- 3-4 3.98 41 0 52

Wild Thing Gets Wild Raise

As most of you probably know, Oliver Perez arbitration hearing was today. He and his lawyers were asking and will receive $6.5 million this year rather than the $4.725 million the Mets were offering.

Perez had a nice season for the Mets last year finishing with a record of 15-10 with a 3.56 ERA. He also posted 174 strikeouts in 177 innings, both were his best since his superb season with the Pirates in 2004. In that season, he posted a 12-10 record with a blistering 2.99 ERA with 299 strikeouts in 196 innings pitched.

Perez is slated to be the Mets' fourth starter in the rotation this year behind Santana, Martinez and Maine.

Perez won his case after the Mets narrowly avoided arbitration talks with both P Pedro Feliciano and OF Ryan Church.

The 2008 New York Mets

This is the official pre-launch to my New York Mets blog. Sometime next week, I will be posting projected stats for this season and discussing them. We will take it from there. Please feel free to comment on any of my postings. All I ask is that it stays professional. Thanks and until then...

BTW, if you see this and are a good writer and a mets fan or baseball fanatic, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at b.kahn@temple.edu.