19
2013
Mets Trades Of The Past: The Biggest One Ever
An article by Barry Duchan
WILLIE MONTANEZ: The Hot Dog
On December 8, 1977, the Mets were one of four teams involved in one of the most complex deals in the history of baseball. This was it :
- The Mets sent John Milner to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- The Atlanta Braves sent Willie Montanez to the New York Mets.
- The Texas Rangers sent Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller to the Atlanta Braves.
- The Texas Rangers sent a player to be named later and Tom Grieve to the New York Mets.
- The Texas Rangers sent Bert Blyleven to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Al Oliver and Nelson Norman to the Texas Rangers.
- The New York Mets sent Jon Matlack to the Texas Rangers.
- The Texas Rangers sent Ken Henderson (March 15, 1978) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.
I wish I could tell you who conceived this deal and how it fell into place, but frankly, I have no idea. For the Mets’ part, they replaced John Milner with Willie Montanez and sent Matlack away for Tom Grieve and Ken Henderson.
Montanez was considered a better all-around player and certainly flashier than Milner, but I think that Met fans were disappointed with Willie’s production and expected a major upgrade from Milner. Actually, the one full year Willie spent with the Mets wasn’t bad statistically (.256, 32 2B, 17 HR, 96 RBI), but he seemed to fail a lot in big spots and hit his best in one-sided games. Ironically, the following season, the Mets sent Montanez to Texas, another of the parties in the original deal, in exchange for Ed Lynch and Mike Jorgensen and a couple of years later, the Pirates traded Milner even-up to Montreal for Montanez.
As for the other part of the trade for the Mets, it turned out to be a lot less than either side expected. Matlack had one solid year for the Rangers, but that was about it. Neither Grieve nor Henderson was anything other than a part-time player, though the Mets were expecting more, I’m sure.
The big names in the deal were Blyleven and Oliver, so maybe the deal started out as a one-for-one and other general managers just joined the party. I suppose after giving up Blyleven, the Rangers needed another pitcher and that’s how Matlack got involved, but it looks to me like the Mets were a pawn in this trade, and they were probably fortunate it didn’t turn out any worse than it did for them.
About the Author: Barry Duchan
I've been following the Mets since 1962. Have to admit I was a Yankee fan as a kid, but I found it to be so much more interesting to see how a young team could build itself up rather than following a team where the season didn't really begin until October. I remember them all - Casey, Marv, ChooChoo, Don Bosch, The Stork, etc. As the years went on, I became more and more of a Mets fan, and a Yankee hater once Steinbrenner and Billy Martin entered the picture. After retiring, I relocated with my family from Long Island to Chapel Hill, NC in 2005. I spend a lot of my time now checking out all the various Mets blogs. Fortunately, I still get to watch almost all of the Mets games (except those that are blacked out here).
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Barry, Lol, that’s a lot of garbage traded at once… I don’t remember much of them other than pretty much all of them except lynch who was like a gap man were PO’s. I mean, awful…. Just awful… I almost forgot henderson was a met too, wasn’t he here for like a week??
We all grieved when we traded Matlack for Grieve.
That was after the infamous midnight massacre trade of Seaver to the Mets.
Reds I mean.
When sabergoons fight amongst themselves it’s hard to pick a side to root for. It’s like the Phillies vs Braves.
Lmao…. Have you seen how they’re all fighting with each other on that article by Matt B (who imho is arguably the biggest alderson shill here or at least he’s close to being one)about The Problem With the Aggregate Approach to Offense?? It’s amazing how i saw maybe 3 or 4 comments made by regular true fans there… I don’t even bother commenting on his articles. waste of my time with all that saber insanity
I’d rather hang out here in this thread where Baryy speaks in a baseball language we can all understand. lol
You mean Willie Montanez’s studder step HR trot can’t be discussed by sabergoons? Lol
I was never a big fan of The Hammer.
Grant’s Tomb in an era of the Mets dark ages.
I change my mind, you are better. I finally finished return of the king yesterday (I keep getting bored through pippin and merry’s part). That climax is insane.
I remember my father taking my very pregnant older sister to a Mets game instead of me because I had my Social Studies final the next morning and my grades leading up to finals were not up to snuff. I stayed home, she went, and Mike Jorgensen hit a grand slam. I was SO angry. I also got 100 on the exam, so he proved his point.
DOMINICANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WBC CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHA. CAPTAIN AMERICA!?!?!? SITTING AT HOME WATCHING!!!!!!!
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
CONGRATS TO REYES!!!!!!!!!! CANO AND THE DOMINICAN TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought the mantra around here was that the WBC was completely meaningless. Funny how things change over the course of a week
MEANINGLESS TO THOSE WHO WEREN’T INTO IT,TOO BAD YOUR CAPTAIN AMERICA DIDN’T DELIVER THE WBC CROWN FOR YOU…..
THE CORE SALUTE THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!!!!!
No… more like meaningless to the core when Wright does something good, but world’s most important thing whenever anybody else does something good.
Anyway, good for the DR… I thought they were going to win it all even before the DR/US game
Awesome Alex! I know that will make you happy for a while, sir! That is one hell of a team they put together.
ALEX, U DO REALIZE YOU’RE CELEBRATING A TITLE AKIN TO BEING #1 OF GRAPEFRUIT OR CACTUSLEAGUE SEASONS. MOST RESPONSIBLE FANS REFRAIN FROM SUCH HELL, EVEN THE DR TEAM MERELY PROVIDED ONLY NEW CHAMPIONSHIP T-SHIRTS SANS CAPS. REAL CHAMPIONS DISPLAY THEIR CAPS PROUDLY, LOL!
HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THERE TO ACTUALLY BE A MOST VALUABLE REPARER? SINCE IN THE MLB SYSTEM WBC COMPETITION IS PART & PARCEL TO PRE-SEASON PREPARATORY PLAY AS IN SPRING TRAINING.
Lmao, woooohooooo…. Hey METRO, not sure if you know, but I rather be named WBC MVP than being named CAPTAIN AMERICA…. suck on that!!
ROBINSON JOSE CANO.. 2013 WBC MOST VALUABLE PLAYER!!!!!!
“Lmao, woooohooooo…. Hey METRO, not sure if you know, but I rather be named WBC MVP than being named CAPTAIN AMERICA…. suck on that!!
ROBINSON JOSE CANO.. 2013 WBC MOST VALUABLE PLAYER!!!!!!”
Congrats to you Alex! You certainly should be proud yet even in this moment you make it very difficult to root for you. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t your intention but you sound anti American in your comments. You ABSOLUTELY sound anti Met, adding fuel to the speculation that you are actually a Yankee fan troll.