Think of any of the Mets’ all-time great players and chances are you probably thought of someone like Tom Seaver, Darryl Strawberry, David Wright, Ed Kranepool or Rusty Staub. All of these players — and pretty much anyone typically considered to be in the Mets’ pantheon of greats — had one thing in common… They each played in the postseason with the Mets.

But for a team that has missed the playoffs 48 times in 57 seasons, acknowledging only the stars who were on playoff teams while omitting those who never got to October, leaves out a lot of Mets history.

The Mets have had a strange existence in that they don’t make the playoffs very often, but they make them often enough that any decent player who’s been on the team for a couple of years will probably get there at least once. For example, the Mets’ top 1o hit leaders have all played in the postseason for the team, as have their top 10 winningest pitchers.

So making a list of the top Mets players without postseason experience is kind of a difficult task. With this being the case, this list is going to be defined as players who played a minimum of three seasons with the Mets and how they performed during their time with the team.

Here are the best Mets players who never appeared in the postseason during their time with the Orange and Blue:

Honorable Mentions

12. Lance Johnson

Johnson only played a year-and-a-half with the Mets, but his 1996 season was one of the best in club history. That year, he set Mets team records for hits (227) and triples (21) in a season while batting .333/.362/.479. He was traded to the Cubs in 1997, and never really replicated that success after that. Little known fact, Johnson is the only player ever to lead the AL and NL in hits.

11. Dave Kingman

“Kong” was like a worse version of Adam Dunn. He hit 154 homers in 664 games with the team, but batted just .219/.287/.453. He had his most Kingman-esque season ever in 1982, when he led the NL with 37 homers but batted just .204 and led the league with 156 strikeouts. That was Kong in a nutshell.

The Top 10

10. Steve Henderson

Henderson is probably best remembered for being a part of the “Midnight Massacre” – the trade that sent future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds. But to his credit, Henderson was actually pretty good for the Mets. He owned a .287/.360/.423 slash and a 120 OPS+ from 1977-1980. Henderson was one of the few bright spots of the worst trade and era in Mets history, and he hit one of the franchise’s most memorable homeruns – the “Hendu Can Do” homer at Shea.

9. Bernard Gilkey

Gilkey’s most memorable moment in a Mets jersey was his cameo in the blockbuster movie “Men In Black.” But perhaps he should be best remembered for his incredible 1996 season. That year, Gilkey batted .317/.393/.562 with a .955 OPS, 155 OPS+, not to mention the fact that he also hit 30 homers and drove in 117 runs. He never replicated this success, however, and was traded away in 1998.

8. Ron Hunt

Hunt was the first star in Mets history. He batted .282/.344/.379 from 1963-66, and was the first Met to start in an All-Star game. He did this in 1964, when Shea Stadium hosted its only Midsummer Classic. Hunt was known for his hustle and gritty style of play and had a penchant for getting hit by pitches – a record 243 times in his career until it was snapped decades later by another second baseman – Craig Biggio.

7. John Stearns

Stearns set the National League single-season steals record for catchers in 1978 with 25 stolen bases. He also has more hits than any Met who did not play in the postseason with the team, although he did eventually appear as the Mets’ bench coach in 2000. “Dude” as he was commonly called, was as tough and gritty as you can get. Ironically, he was a four-time All Star with the Mets, but didn’t make the Midsummer Classic in 1978, the best season of his career when he collected 27 doubles, 15 homers, 73 RBI and boasted a 5.1 WAR

6. Frank Viola

The Mets acquired the 1988 AL Cy Young winner from the Twins at the trade deadline in 1989. “Sweet Music” would stay with the Mets until 1991, and made two All-Star appearances. Viola had his best season in Flushing in 1990, when he went 20-12 with a 2.67 ERA. No Met would win 20 games for another 22 years after Viola accomplished this feat. Viola would later become a pitching coach in the Mets system, tutoring and mentoring top prospects Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard.

5. Bret Saberhagen

Saberhagen is one of the few guys from “The Worst Team Money Could Buy” who was as good as advertised. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner with the Royals went 29-21 with a 3.16 ERA with the Mets from 1992-95. His best season came in 1994, when he went 14-4 with a 2.74 ERA and an eye-popping 11.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. It’s too bad fellow big-ticket acquisitions Bobby Bonilla and Vince Coleman didn’t live up to the hype like Saberhagen did.

4. Craig Swan

Swan did pitch in three games for the Mets at the end of the 1973 season, but did not pitch in the postseason. So he makes the list. Swan played with the Mets from 1973-1984, and was their best player in the dark ages of Mets history– the late-70s and early-80s. From 1978-82, Swan went 39-37– which is even more impressive considering that the Mets had a .402 winning percentage during that stretch. He also posted a 3.12 ERA, and led the NL in ERA in 1978 with a 2.43 mark. So Swan can take the claim as the best player during the worst period in Mets history.

3. Todd Hundley

A lot of people forget how great Todd Hundley was at his best, especially since the guy who played catcher after him got a little bit more attention.

Hundley was the Mets’ starting catcher from 1992-1998, and kept getting gradually better until he exploded onto the scene in 1996. That year, he set a franchise single-season record with 41 home runs, a record that still stands. He followed that season up with a 30-homer campaign in 1997. He hit for elite power over these two years all while posting a .265/.373/.550 slash line and a 144 OPS+.

But an injury in 1998 made him expendable, which led to the Mike Piazza trade. He was then traded to the Dodgers the following offseason for Roger Cedeno and Charles Johnson, ending one of the more forgotten Mets greats’ time in New York.

2. Johan Santana

Santana was supposed to be the final piece that made the Mets a legitimate World Series contender. He wasn’t, but he provided the Mets with two of their most memorable moments in recent memory: A three-hit shutout of the Marlins on short rest to keep the Mets alive in 2008, and the team’s first no-hitter. That no-hitter alone makes the trade and his contract worth it.

Santana’s time in New York was derailed by injuries and collapsing Mets teams, but he was actually as good as advertised through his first three seasons in New York. He went 40-25 with a 2.85 ERA from 2008-2010, and finished third in Cy Young voting in 2008. Then came the injuries, which forced him out of the 2011 and 2013 seasons and hampered his play in 2012. These injuries also helped keep the Mets out of the playoffs during Santana’s time in the Orange and Blue.

1. R.A. Dickey

Dickey came to the Mets as just another Triple-A pitcher, but left them as one of the most beloved players in team history.

Despite playing just three seasons in Flushing, Dickey’s name makes several entries into the Mets’ record books. R.A. has the fourth-best ERA among qualifying Mets pitchers, the fifth-best WHIP, and the fifth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio.

And his 2012 season is one of the best by a pitcher in Mets history. He went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA that year, becoming the first Met since Frank Viola in 1990 to win 20 games. Dickey also took home the NL Cy Young Award that year, making him just the third Mets pitcher to win the award. The other two are Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden, so yeah. That’s pretty good company.

While Dickey shined with the Mets, the team never finished within more than 12 games of a playoff spot. This must not have been fun while he was with the Mets, but it does make him the best Mets player who never played in the postseason.

A collaboration between Chris Gaine and Joe D. 

The post Top 10 Mets Who Never Played in the Postseason appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The Mets are a team with a penchant for bad trades. Anyone who’s been a Mets fan for more than a couple of years would probably finish that sentence with a handful of notorious trade fans consider to be the worst. You know which ones I’m talking about.

But while the players involved in these trades are usually memorable, the guys who pulled the trigger on them are often forgotten. You typically don’t name-drop Bob Sheffing when you think of the Nolan Ryan trade. Or Joe McIlvaine in the Carlos Baerga trade. And even in the off cases where the Mets make a good trade, nobody goes out of their way to praise Steve Phillips for acquiring Mike Piazza.

But the Mets have had their share of ups and downs over the years, and virtually every one of the 13 GMs in team history have been there to experience a little bit of both. So with this being said, here are the best and worst trades by every GM in Mets history.

* Disclaimer: Some of these deals may have been spurred on by ownership or executives above the general manager’s pay grade. (Ex: Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver)

Brodie Van Wagenen (2019-present)

Best Trade: One deal truly stands out as Brodie’s finest moment and that was when he acquired J.D. Davis from the Houston Astros in exchange for minor leaguers Ross Adolph, Scott Manea, and Luis Santana last January.

Davis, 26, got off to a rough start with the Mets, batting just 3-for-22 in the first month of the season. But things quickly improved for Davis, who would go onto becoming one of the team’s best and most consistent hitter.

In just 429 plate appearances, Davis batted .307/.369/.507 with 22 home runs, 22 doubles, 65 runs scored and 57 RBIs with a 136 wRC+ while playing some third base and left field for the Amazins.

Worst Trade: I’ll give one guess… When Brodie Van Wagenen dealt Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, Gerson Bautista, Justin Dunn, and top prospect Jarred Kelenic to the Seattle Mariners in return for 2018 saves leader Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano, the thinking was that it would catapult the Mets into the postseason in 2019.

However things began to spiral out of control rather quickly as the blown saves started to pile up for Edwin Diaz and  a brutal first half for Robinson Cano.

Sandy Alderson (2010-2018)

Best Trade: Alderson’s best trade has to be shopping R.A. Dickey and Josh Thole to the Blue Jays for Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud and two other minor leaguers in 2012. It’s not too often that you’re able to flip a knuckleballer in his late-30s for a legitimate ace and a solid starting catcher. He initially took some heat for trading a fan favorite in Dickey, but he was definitely vindicated here.

Worst Trade: A year before the Syndergaard trade, Alderson traded Angel Pagan to the Giants for Ramon Ramirez and Andres Torres. Torres and Ramirez both lasted just one season with the Mets while, Pagan became a key contributor to two Giants championship teams.

Omar Minaya (2004-2010)

Best Trade: Minaya acquired Carlos Delgado from the Marlins in 2005 in exchange for Mike Jacobs, Yusmeiro Petit and Grant Psomas. Neither of the three players he traded away became MLB stars, and Delgado had a 121 OPS+ with the Mets.

Worst Trade: Most of Minaya’s bad moves were free agent signings, not trades. But his most costly trade came when he traded Heath Bell and Royce Ring to the Padres for Jon Adkins and Ben Johnson. Bell, who had a 4.92 ERA with the Mets from 2004-2006, made three consecutive All-Star games with the Padres from 2009-2011. Adkins pitched in one game for the Mets and Johnson played in just nine.

Jim Duquette (2003-2004)

Best Trade: There isn’t much to chose from here since Duquette was with the Mets for such a short period of time. And that short period of time wasn’t a particularly good one. But you’d have to consider his best, I guess, to be when he acquired Kris Benson (Anna’s husband) and Jeff Keppinger from the Pirates for Ty Wigginton, Jose Bautista (Yes, that Jose Bautista. He was a Met for about an hour) and Matt Peterson. Benson was serviceable with the Mets, and he was later traded for John Maine, so that’s what makes this trade so good(?) over the long-term.

Worst Trade: Scott Kazmir. Need I say more?

Steve Phillips (1997-2003)

Best Trade: There’s no question about it: It’s the Mike Piazza trade. The Mets acquired Piazza in 1998 from the Marlins in exchange for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and Geoff Goetz. That’s a pretty good return on investment.

Worst Trade: Phillips traded starting pitcher Kevin Appier to the Angels in 2001 to acquire Mo Vaughn. While Vaughn wasn’t as bad as many Mets fans remember (108 OPS+ as a Met), his career was finished due to injuries by early 2003. Appier, on the other hand, went 14-12 with a 3.92 ERA in 2002, and was a key contributor to the Angels’ World Series championship team that season.

Joe McIlvaine (1993-1997)

Best Trade: McIlvaine acquired Bernard Gilkey in January of 1996 for Yudith Ozorio, Erik Hiljus and Eric Ludwick. Ozorio never played in the majors, and the other two played in the bigs only sparingly. Gilkey, on the other hand, had a short-lived spree of success for the Mets in the mid-90s. This included one of the best seasons in team history in 1996, when he batted .317/.393/.562 with 30 home runs and 117 RBIs.

Worst Trade: In 1993, Carlos Baerga became the first second baseman since Rogers Hornsby to put together back-to-back seasons of 200 hits, 20 homers and 100 RBIs. He put up borderline Hall of Fame numbers from 1990-1995, batting .305/.345/.454 while averaging 16 home runs and 84 RBIs a year.

Then, in 1996, the Mets acquired Baerga for Jeff Kent and Jose Vizcaino. Baerga became one of the biggest busts in Mets history, lasting just two seasons. Kent became the best power-hitting second baseman of all-time (albeit not with the Indians) and Vizcaino was a solid big-league starter who put together some decent years with Houston. This trade definitely did McIlvaine in as general manager.

Al Harazin (1992-1993)

Best Trade: Harazin’s best move in his short, forgettable time as GM was acquiring Bret Saberhagen and Bill Pecota for Kevin McReynolds, Gregg Jefferies and Keith Miller. Saberhagen often gets dumped in with fellow big-ticket acquisitions of the time Bobby Bonilla and Vince Coleman, but unlike these two Saberhagen was about as good as advertised. He went 29-21 with a 3.16 ERA in four years with the Mets.

Worst Trade: Harazin didn’t make any egregious trades per se, since he was only in charge of the team for such a short period of time. But he was the Mets’ GM during “The Worst Team Money Could Buy” 1992 season, which saw the Mets go 72-90 despite having the highest payroll in baseball– then 59-103 the following year. His worst move overall would have to be signing Bobby Bonilla to a then-record $29 million contract.

Frank Cashen (1980-1991)

Best Trade: Two trades stand out when recalling the Mets GM’s building of the 1986 team. The first of which is the Keith Hernandez trade, when he acquired the former MVP from the Cardinals for Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey in 1983. The latter trade took place ahead of the 1985 season, when the Mets got Carter from the Expos for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans. There is little reason to believe the Mets could have won the 1986 World Series without these trades.

Worst Trade: Cashen is often remembered as the greatest GM in Mets history, but the end of his tenure was far worse than the beginning. This was on full display during the 1989 season, when he traded for Juan Samuel of the Phillies. In doing so, he sent Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell, two key contributors to the 1986 team, to Philadelphia.

Samuel had averaged 20 homers and 50 steals a year from 1984-1987, but was coming off a down year in 1988 in which he batted just .243/.298/.380 and was performing at a similar level in 1989 when the Mets traded for him. Samuel played in just 86 games for the Mets, while Dykstra found new life (possibly from PED’s) in Philadelphia and McDowell pitched another six solid seasons in the majors.

Joe McDonald (1975-1979)

Best Trade: McDonald’s tenure didn’t have many highlights. But he was able to cross the paths of both Mets championship teams in a 1978 trade that sent Jerry Koosman to the Twins for minor leaguers Jesse Orosco and Greg Field. Orosco famously recorded the final out of the 1986 World Series, and appeared in more games than any pitcher in MLB history.

Worst Trade: The Midnight Massacre. McDonald sent Tom Seaver to the Reds in 1977 for Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Dan Norman and Pat Zachry. The names really speak for themselves.

Bob Sheffing (1970-1974) 

Best Trade: Sheffing helped energize the 1973 run by acquiring Rusty Staub from the Expos for  Tim Foli, Mike Jorgensen and Ken Singleton. Staub played four seasons in his first stint with the Mets, batting .276/.361/.428 with a 123 OPS+.

Worst Trade: In 1971, Sheffing traded Nolan Ryan and three other players to the Angels for Jim Fregosi. Ryan accumulated 5,221 of his record-setting 5,714 strikeouts after leaving the Mets. Oh, and not to mention the seven no-hitters.

Johnny Murphy (1968-1970)

Best Trade: Murphy’s time with the Mets was cut short when he died of a heart attack in 1970. But he made a huge impact on the 1969 World Series team, perhaps none more obvious than the midseason acquisition of Donn Clendenon from the Expos in 1969. Clendenon was the Mets’ starting first baseman after the trade, and was named Worst Trade: After the 1969 season, Murphy traded Amos Otis and Bob Johnson to the Royals for Joe Foy. Otis made five All-Star teams with the Royals, with whom he played the next 14 seasons. Foy played in just 99 games for the Mets.

Bing Devine (1967)

Best Trade: Devine helped engineer the trade that sent Tommie Agee and Al Weis to the Mets for Buddy Booker, Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher and Billy Wynne. The Mets couldn’t have won the Series in ’69 without that one.

Worst Trade: The Mets traded Ken Boyer Sandy Alomar Sr. to the White Sox for Bill Southworth and J.C. Martin. Although Boyer was past his prime, Alomar played another decade in the majors and was an All-Star in 1970.

George Weiss (1962-1966) 

Best Trade: Weiss, who was the Yankees’ GM from 1947-1960 (A pretty good era in Yankees history), joined Casey Stengel in joining the expansion Mets after they were forced out after losing the 1960 World Series. He didn’t have much success with the Mets, but made his mark when he bought in Jerry Grote from the Astros for Tom Parsons. Grote made two All-Star teams and would remain the Mets’ starting catcher until 1977.

Worst Trade: The Mets honestly didn’t have much talent to trade away at this time. But the worst would have to be trading Felix Mantilla to the Red Sox for Pumpsie Green, Tracy Stallard and Al Moran. Mantilla went on to become an All-Star with the Sox in 1965.

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Think of any of the Mets’ all-time great players and chances are you probably thought of someone like Tom Seaver, Darryl Strawberry, David Wright, Ed Kranepool or Rusty Staub. All of these players — and pretty much anyone typically considered to be in the Mets’ pantheon of greats — had one thing in common… They each played in the postseason with the Mets.

But for a team that has missed the playoffs 48 times in 57 seasons, acknowledging only the stars who were on playoff teams while omitting those who never got to October, leaves out a lot of Mets history.

The Mets have had a strange existence in that they don’t make the playoffs very often, but they make them often enough that any decent player who’s been on the team for a couple of years will probably get there at least once. For example, the Mets’ top 1o hit leaders have all played in the postseason for the team, as have their top 10 winningest pitchers.

So making a list of the top Mets players without postseason experience is kind of a difficult task. With this being the case, this list is going to be defined as players who played a minimum of three seasons with the Mets and how they performed during their time with the team.

Here are the best Mets players who never appeared in the postseason during their time with the Orange and Blue:

Honorable Mentions

12. Lance Johnson

Johnson only played a year-and-a-half with the Mets, but his 1996 season was one of the best in club history. That year, he set Mets team records for hits (227) and triples (21) in a season while batting .333/.362/.479. He was traded to the Cubs in 1997, and never really replicated that success after that. Little known fact, Johnson is the only player ever to lead the AL and NL in hits.

11. Dave Kingman

“Kong” was like a worse version of Adam Dunn. He hit 154 homers in 664 games with the team, but batted just .219/.287/.453. He had his most Kingman-esque season ever in 1982, when he led the NL with 37 homers but batted just .204 and led the league with 156 strikeouts. That was Kong in a nutshell.

The Top 10

10. Steve Henderson

Henderson is probably best remembered for being a part of the “Midnight Massacre” – the trade that sent future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds. But to his credit, Henderson was actually pretty good for the Mets. He owned a .287/.360/.423 slash and a 120 OPS+ from 1977-1980. Henderson was one of the few bright spots of the worst trade and era in Mets history, and he hit one of the franchise’s most memorable homeruns – the “Hendu Can Do” homer at Shea.

9. Bernard Gilkey

Gilkey’s most memorable moment in a Mets jersey was his cameo in the blockbuster movie “Men In Black.” But perhaps he should be best remembered for his incredible 1996 season. That year, Gilkey batted .317/.393/.562 with a .955 OPS, 155 OPS+, not to mention the fact that he also hit 30 homers and drove in 117 runs. He never replicated this success, however, and was traded away in 1998.

8. Ron Hunt

Hunt was the first star in Mets history. He batted .282/.344/.379 from 1963-66, and was the first Met to start in an All-Star game. He did this in 1964, when Shea Stadium hosted its only Midsummer Classic. Hunt was known for his hustle and gritty style of play and had a penchant for getting hit by pitches – a record 243 times in his career until it was snapped decades later by another second baseman – Craig Biggio.

7. John Stearns

Stearns set the National League single-season steals record for catchers in 1978 with 25 stolen bases. He also has more hits than any Met who did not play in the postseason with the team, although he did eventually appear as the Mets’ bench coach in 2000. “Dude” as he was commonly called, was as tough and gritty as you can get. Ironically, he was a four-time All Star with the Mets, but didn’t make the Midsummer Classic in 1978, the best season of his career when he collected 27 doubles, 15 homers, 73 RBI and boasted a 5.1 WAR

6. Frank Viola

The Mets acquired the 1988 AL Cy Young winner from the Twins at the trade deadline in 1989. “Sweet Music” would stay with the Mets until 1991, and made two All-Star appearances. Viola had his best season in Flushing in 1990, when he went 20-12 with a 2.67 ERA. No Met would win 20 games for another 22 years after Viola accomplished this feat. Viola would later become a pitching coach in the Mets system, tutoring and mentoring top prospects Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard.

5. Bret Saberhagen

Saberhagen is one of the few guys from “The Worst Team Money Could Buy” who was as good as advertised. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner with the Royals went 29-21 with a 3.16 ERA with the Mets from 1992-95. His best season came in 1994, when he went 14-4 with a 2.74 ERA and an eye-popping 11.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. It’s too bad fellow big-ticket acquisitions Bobby Bonilla and Vince Coleman didn’t live up to the hype like Saberhagen did.

4. Craig Swan

Swan did pitch in three games for the Mets at the end of the 1973 season, but did not pitch in the postseason. So he makes the list. Swan played with the Mets from 1973-1984, and was their best player in the dark ages of Mets history– the late-70s and early-80s. From 1978-82, Swan went 39-37– which is even more impressive considering that the Mets had a .402 winning percentage during that stretch. He also posted a 3.12 ERA, and led the NL in ERA in 1978 with a 2.43 mark. So Swan can take the claim as the best player during the worst period in Mets history.

3. Todd Hundley

A lot of people forget how great Todd Hundley was at his best, especially since the guy who played catcher after him got a little bit more attention.

Hundley was the Mets’ starting catcher from 1992-1998, and kept getting gradually better until he exploded onto the scene in 1996. That year, he set a franchise single-season record with 41 home runs, a record that still stands. He followed that season up with a 30-homer campaign in 1997. He hit for elite power over these two years all while posting a .265/.373/.550 slash line and a 144 OPS+.

But an injury in 1998 made him expendable, which led to the Mike Piazza trade. He was then traded to the Dodgers the following offseason for Roger Cedeno and Charles Johnson, ending one of the more forgotten Mets greats’ time in New York.

2. Johan Santana

Santana was supposed to be the final piece that made the Mets a legitimate World Series contender. He wasn’t, but he provided the Mets with two of their most memorable moments in recent memory: A three-hit shutout of the Marlins on short rest to keep the Mets alive in 2008, and the team’s first no-hitter. That no-hitter alone makes the trade and his contract worth it.

Santana’s time in New York was derailed by injuries and collapsing Mets teams, but he was actually as good as advertised through his first three seasons in New York. He went 40-25 with a 2.85 ERA from 2008-2010, and finished third in Cy Young voting in 2008. Then came the injuries, which forced him out of the 2011 and 2013 seasons and hampered his play in 2012. These injuries also helped keep the Mets out of the playoffs during Santana’s time in the Orange and Blue.

1. R.A. Dickey

Dickey came to the Mets as just another Triple-A pitcher, but left them as one of the most beloved players in team history.

Despite playing just three seasons in Flushing, Dickey’s name makes several entries into the Mets’ record books. R.A. has the fourth-best ERA among qualifying Mets pitchers, the fifth-best WHIP, and the fifth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio.

And his 2012 season is one of the best by a pitcher in Mets history. He went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA that year, becoming the first Met since Frank Viola in 1990 to win 20 games. Dickey also took home the NL Cy Young Award that year, making him just the third Mets pitcher to win the award. The other two are Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden, so yeah. That’s pretty good company.

While Dickey shined with the Mets, the team never finished within more than 12 games of a playoff spot. This must not have been fun while he was with the Mets, but it does make him the best Mets player who never played in the postseason.

A collaboration between Chris Gaine and Joe D. 

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The Mets have had a busy offseason by any standard — let alone by their own low post-Madoff bar. The 2018-19 offseason has seen the Mets bring several new pieces into the fold — including infielders Robinson Cano and Jed Lowrie — who will arrive into an already-crowded infield with several players fighting for playing time.

With the season about two months away, it looks like most of the infield is set: Robinson Cano will be the starting second baseman, Amed Rosario the starting shortstop, and Todd Frazier will be the starting third baseman. Peter Alonso will be the starting first baseman if all goes well this Spring. And if it doesn’t,  Lowrie would be the logical choice to fill in at first. But if all goes well with Alonso, Lowrie could serve in a super-utility man role that will give him get near-everyday playing time.

Aren’t we forgetting about someone?

Oh, yeah: Jeff McNeil. What about him?

Despite his status a breakout star and one of the Mets’ few recent development success stories, it looks as though McNeil will be the odd infielder out. In fact, he may even end up the odd man out of the starting lineup altogether: The Mets reportedly plan on relegating him to the outfield, without a starting lineup guarantee. McNeil has only made nine appearances in the outfield over the course of six minor-league seasons. He has never appeared in an MLB game as an outfielder.

That seems like one heck of a way to reward a guy who batted .329/.381/.471 last season in his first crack at the major leagues.

On one level, putting McNeil in this kind of role — when coupled with the new additions — makes sense. Although McNeil is entering his first full season, he will turn 27 in April making him not the typical young player entering his first full season at the major league level. Besides, the Mets need outfield help with Yoenis Cespedes on the sidelines, and having McNeil’s bat could provide that.

But such a plan that includes no guarantee of regular playing time and playing out-of-position on defense is incredibly risky. It could easily stunt McNeil’s growth and sounds eerily reminiscent of the ill-fated attempt to move a young shortstop named Jose Reyes to second base to make room for blockbuster offseason acquisition Kazuo Matsui. And that didn’t end well for anyone.

The additions of Cano and Lowrie undoubtedly make the Mets a better team, provided they play at a level similar to what they’ve played at in recent years. But these additions cannot come at McNeil’s expense. McNeil showed real promise last season, and the Mets should be doing everything they can to capitalize on that promise. Such a plan for McNeil would include giving him a presumptive everyday spot and not playing him radically out of position.

Rather than trying to turn McNeil into a jack-of-all-trades on defense and a diminished asset on offense, it makes far more sense to make McNeil the presumptive starting third baseman and move Todd Frazier to a utility role until Peter Alonso is called up. McNeil has played 151 minor league games at third base, so playing here would require much less of an adjustment process than playing the outfield would. And McNeil is also far more important to the Mets’ long-term plans than Frazier, who will be a free agent after this season.

Had he had enough at-bats to be eligible, McNeil would have finished tied for tenth in all of baseball in OPS+. His promise is real. And relegating McNeil to anything but a presumptive full-time role — or playing him out of position– would be a great waste of this promise.

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Hall of Fame voting season is in full swing, and thanks to the inestimable work of @NotMrTibbs, we have a good idea of how this year’s final ballot is going to shake out.

Twitter user Ryan Thibodaux has been tracking writers who make their Hall of Fame ballots public prior to the late-January announcement for a decade now, meaning that there are hardly any surprises on induction day anymore. As of right now, about 41 percent of ballots have been made public, and even more will become public over the next week.

There are very few surprises at the top of the ballot: Mariano Rivera and Roy Halladay are both virtual locks for enshrinement in their first years on the ballot, as is Edgar Martinez in his last. It’s looking increasingly like Mike Mussina will join them in the Class of 2019 as well.

But towards the middle and back ends of the ballot are a few players with support numbers that are a little bit surprising, to say the least. In their eternal wisdom, the baseball writers have shorted some players with stats and achievements making them arguably deserving of more support, and others who arguably deserve less. Here are four players that satisfy both of those categories.

Let’s start with the under-supported:

Andruw Jones

The sudden decline of Jones’s career after his age-32 season has made a lot of people forget how dominant of a player he was early in his career. From 1997 through 2007, Jones averaged 33 home runs, 12 steals, and a 114 OPS+ per season, while simultaneously managing to be the best defensive center fielder in the game.

From 2002 through 2007, Jones saved 67 defensive runs — 28 more than the next best center fielder — and posted a dWAR more than double the second-best at that position. It’s no wonder he was voted a Gold Glove award winner ten years straight.

If defense-first guys like Bill Mazeroski and Ozzie Smith belong in the Hall of Fame, so does Jones. He has far superior offensive numbers compared to them. But despite these credentials, Jones has appeared on just 8.3 percent of ballots in what will be his second year as a Hall candidate.

Instead of planning for a Cooperstown placque, Jones will be fighting for his candidacy’s life; he will need to appear on at least five percent of ballots to remain a candidate in 2020.

Fred McGriff

Fred McGriff has the same number of home runs as Lou Gehrig, and more home runs than recent Hall of Famers Chipper Jones, Jeff Bagwell, and Vladimir Guerrero. Had it not been for the 1994-95 MLB player’s strike, McGriff would likely be in the 500-homer club — given that he was robbed of about 70 games and need just seven more dingers to get there.

But McGriff will finish this Hall of Fame season — his tenth and final year on the ballot — short of the 75 percent threshold required for enshrinement.

“The Crime Dog” has appeared on just 35.5 percent of the public ballots released so far. This figure comes despite having credentials that should merit, at the very least, some serious Cooperstown consideration. McGriff had at least 20 home runs in 15 of 16 seasons from 1987 through 2002, and hit 19 in the one season he failed to hit 20.

McGriff also posts an impressive .284/.377/.509 career slash line with a 134 OPS+ to go along with his elite power numbers. McGriff’s OPS+ ranks higher than Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda, Billy Williams, Tony Gwynn, and Wade Boggs.

Mariano Rivera

This might seem like an odd choice for this list, given that Rivera is a lock to be inducted to the Hall this year — his first on the ballot. He has appeared on all of the public ballots cast so far, so Rivera has a strong chance of being inducted into the Hall of Fame with the highest vote percentage of any player ever.

But inevitably, the ninth inning’s G.O.A.T. will fall short of the unanimous approval that he has earned. Red Sox writer Bill Ballou has already written a 1,500-word screed explaining why he is not voting for Rivera, although he ultimately abstained from voting. Read it at your own risk.

So while Ballou’s abstinence has preserved Rivera’s unanimous public support, a few anonymous writers will inevitably follow Ballou’s lead by not voting for him. Especially given the fact that no player has ever received a unanimous vote into the Hall of Fame.

If there were any player especially deserving of being the first unanimous Hall of Famer, it’s Rivera, who is unquestionably the greatest closer of all time. There is no way that the Yankees would have won five World Series with an inferior closer. But instead of giving Rivera unanimous support, a few anonymous writers will likely spoil the day by instead voting for guys like Aaron Sele and Jacque Jones, who actually received one Hall of Fame vote each in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Curt Schilling

Curt Schilling should have been inducted into the Hall of Fame years ago. That he’s even still on the ballot is absurd.

While his traditional statline (216-146 with a 3.46 ERA and a 127 ERA+) is about as borderline as it gets, Schilling’s status as the best big-game pitcher of his era should tip the Cooperstown scales in his favor. Schilling was 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA in postseason games, including a 4-1 record with a 2.06 ERA  World Series games.

If it weren’t for Schilling’s clutch performances, the Curse of the Bambino may have never ended, and the Diamondbacks would still be trophyless.

Schilling, who is in his seventh year on the Hall of Fame ballot, currently appears on 73.4 percent of public votes — which would be far higher than the 51.2 mark he received on the final vote last season.

Now, here are four guys who are over-supported:

Billy Wagner

Wagner surprised some observers by getting double-digit support on his first year of eligibility– on a crowded ballot, no less. He posted an ERA+ below 140 just once in his 16 MLB seasons, and his career mark of 187 isn’t too far behind Mariano Rivera’s record-setting 205.

There’s no question that Wagner was one of the most underappreciated players of his day. But there are just seven closers who have made the Hall of Fame: Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersley, and Trevor Hoffman.

When Mariano Rivera is inducted this year, that will make it eight. There is no position in baseball with a higher Hall of Fame bar than the closer, which means that Wagner falls short on this one  — especially given his unsightly 10.03 career postseason ERA.

Mike Mussina

“The Moose” appears on 81.7 percent of public ballots, meaning he has a real chance of being inducted into the Hall of Fame this month. While it’s indisputable that Mussina was one of the greatest pitchers of his day, is it fair to say that he belongs in the same fraternity as Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez?

Unpopular opinion here, but no.

Mussina’s ERA+ of 123 is fantastic, but only makes him a borderline Hall of Famer. He finished in the top five of AL Cy Young voting just five times in 18 seasons, but never won the award. And Mussina’s 7.11 strikeouts per nine innings figure ranks just 18th among pitchers with at least 1,500 innings over the course of his career — behind Javier Vazquez, Chan-Ho Park, and Andy Benes.

Essentially, Mussina is Curt Schilling without the iconic October moments. And if Schilling hasn’t gotten the Hall call yet, neither should Mussina.

Omar Vizquel

Omar Vizquel has received a surprising amount of support from the BBWAA. In just his second year on the ballot, Vizquel appears on 36.7 percent of the publicly-released ballots, meaning he has a real chance of getting inducted into Cooperstown at some point over the next few years.

If Vizquel were to be inducted, he may just be the worst offensive player to ever be enshrined in the Hall of fame. The longtime Indians shortstop batted just .272/.336/.352 (!) with an 82 OPS+ over the course of his career. These numbers are hardly even average, let alone Hall worthy. Proponents of Vizquel’s nomination point out his spectacular defense as the reason he should be in, and compare him to fellow light-hitting defense-first shortstop Ozzie Smith.

But Smith was a far superior player on both sides of the ball compared to Vizquel. Smith won 13 consecutive Gold Gloves and received MVP votes six times. Vizquel, on the other hand, only received MVP votes one time in his entire career: In 1999, when he finished 16th.

While Vizquel is unquestionably one of the best defensive players in MLB history, his subpar offense should preclude him from the Cooperstown conversation. At least Andruw Jones was a star hitter.

Andy Pettitte

Had Pettitte played for the Royals, nobody would even bat an eye at his candidacy. But since he played  on the late-90s/early-00s Yankees dynasty, his candidacy stands a far better chance of standing — albeit still an uphill battle.

Pettitte’s lifetime ERA of 3.85 and ERA+ of 117 both indicate an above-average career, but not an all-time great one. Far better pitchers than Pettitte have been five percented in their first years eligible. Kevin Brown, for example, posted career ERA’s of 3.36 and ERA+ of 127 over the course of his 20-year career — much of which came in the same era as Pettite’s — and led the league in ERA twice. He received 2.1 percent of the vote in 2011 and nobody even cared about it.

This year’s ballot also features Roy Oswalt. He has a 3.36 ERA and an ERA+ of 127 — marks far better than Pettitte’s. He has 1.2 percent of the vote. Let’s not pretend that Andy Pettitte is an all-time great player because he pitched for all-time great teams.

The post Four Over-Supported, Under-Supported Players On HOF Ballot appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The way you hear critics of the Robinson Cano trade talk about the second baseman’s age, you’d think he was Bartolo Colon.

Well, Mets fans are lucky that Cano is not Colon. He’s younger, more statistically elite, and not as big — or sexy, for that matter. He is just two years removed from a top-ten MVP finish and has missed the All-Star Game just twice in the last nine seasons.

But this has not stopped the critics from suggesting that at 36, the Cano the Mets traded for will not resemble the Cano that played for the Yankees or even the Mariners. Critics have also pointed out that the five years and $120 million remaining on Cano’s monster deal (negotiated in part by one Brodie Van Wagenen) could become a major albatross on the Mets’ relatively minuscule payroll in years to come.

While the wisdom of parting with two of your top four prospects for Cano (and let’s not forget about Edwin Diaz, who was arguably baseball’s best closer last season) is certainly debatable — and the $120 million on Cano’s contract is certainly a *bit* more than you’d want to be paying a guy his age — let’s not pretend that he’s a latter-day Julio Franco. Cano is still an elite offensive second baseman, and his recent track record indicates that he’s still more than capable of being a solid middle-of-the-order hitter.

Since signing with the Mariners before the 2014 season, Cano has been one of the rare players who has not skipped a single beat after cashing in on a big contract. During his M’s tenure, Cano ranked third among all second basemen in home runs (107), sixth in runs (389), fifth in batting average (.296), and seventh in on-base percentage (.353). He finished top-ten among second basemen in fWAR in each of his seasons in Seattle, save for last year’s suspension-shortened season.

Further, Cano’s stats with the Mariners were roughly the same as they were with the Yankees. Cano batted .309/.355/.504 in Pinstripes, and .296/.353/.472 with Seattle. And after adjusting for park factors, he actually fared slightly better with the Mariners: His 129 OPS+ in Seattle is higher than his 126 career figure with the Yankees.

And while Cano certainly isn’t Roberto Alomar… wait, bad example. While Cano certainly isn’t Joe Morgan defensively, metrics indicate that he’s still an above-average defender. Cano posted a 0.3 dWAR in 80 games last year and has posted a positive number in that category in four of his five years in Seattle. Cano also saved nine defensive runs above the league average last season; he has saved below the league average just once in the last ten years. You can do a lot worse than Cano defensively.

All the talk about Cano “not hustling” is sort of moot when Cano puts up numbers like this. The fact that he continues to play at an elite level despite having a $240 million fully-guaranteed contract suggests that “hustle” seems to be a fairly small barrier to Cano excelling on the field.

None of this, of course, means that the Mets’ trade for Cano is necessarily a good trade — in fact, it’s certainly troubling on a number of levels, especially considering the potential Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn both have. But the notion that Cano has nothing left in the tank is not established by recent statistics. Optimistic Mets fans (if they still exist) have a lot of material to savor in Cano’s recent seasons if they want to get excited about 2019.

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As you may have heard by now, 2018 hasn’t exactly been a high-water mark for the Mets franchise.

It’s all been downhill in Flushing since that amazing 11-1 start. The Mets are now the second-worst team in the National League, have a DL payroll almost double that of their active roster, and just experienced the most lopsided loss in franchise history. To make matters worse, the Mets don’t exactly have an elite farm system, or many big-league ready prospects that offer a short-term turnaround potential. In other terms, there doesn’t appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel — it’s looking like the Mets are going to be a basement-dweller in the NL East for a while.

This reality is obvious to just about everyone — except for the people running the Mets, whoever they may be. Assistant GM John Ricco has said that he believes that the Mets can contend in 2019. How exactly? Well, that’s not totally clear.

“We have to collectively look at our position players because I’ve spoken about how we feel about the pitching,” Ricco said. “But on the other side of the ball, the areas where we feel comfortable heading in [2019] and the areas where we need to improve. So that’s what we’re going to look at over the next two months.”

To be fair, it isn’t like the Mets have no talent at all: They’ve still got the best pitcher in baseball right now, Jacob deGrom, and solid young No. 2’s in Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, and Steven Matz  They have a fantastic opportunity to build around that rotation if they wanted to contend soon, and it’s not impossible for teams to bounce back quickly after an awful year. Just ask the 2013 Red Sox or the 2014 Giants.

But outside of that fantastic rotation, the rest of the roster isn’t looking too hot. The Mets have the third-worst bullpen ERA in the National League. They have scored the second-fewest runs in the senior circuit this year. And since the start of 2017, only the Padres have a worse record in the NL than the Mets, who have been remarkably consistent in showing who they are over the past two seasons. The 2015 World Series team is long gone.

To think that a team like this is one year away from contending is downright absurd… Unless the Mets have a plan. Knowing the Mets, they probably don’t. Or if they do, it almost certainly isn’t a good one. But the Mets owe it to their fans to explain in some rough terms what exactly the blueprint for 2019 contention is. Selling false hope in order to sell a few extra season tickets is turning into a tired act.

If this plan entails being active in free agency, it’s certainly possible to think that the Mets can indeed return to the World Series. This year’s free-agent class includes Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Craig Kimbrel, Andrew Miller, and a litany of other top-tier players at positions the Mets need to improve upon. If they splurge to correct their bullpen and lineup issues — and keep the rotation in tact — a 2019 pennant run isn’t out of the question.

But let’s be real, Mets fans: We all know this probably isn’t happening. The post-Madoff Wilpon regime has made it abundantly clear that it has little interest in facilitating a high payroll. So realistically, the Mets will have to cross their fingers on their current players’ health, and then maybe sign a few middle-of-the-road guys to patch things up.

The most realistic offseason scenario for the Mets would seem to be consistent with what they’ve done over the past few years: Sign one or two second-tier free agents (a la Joe Mauer, Marwin Gonzalez, or, if we’re really lucky, D.J. LeMahieu), maybe a few lower-level middle relievers, and hope for the best to happen. This hasn’t worked so far, and shouldn’t be considered a serious plan for contending in 2019. If this is the plan, then it’s clear that the “We Expect To Contend In 2019” talk is nothing but a snake-oil sales job from the front office and ownership.

And if this is what they plan to do, they should at least be up front about it. Because realistically, the Mets aren’t going to have much of that coveted “payroll flexibility” in building for 2019. They already have a total of $92.5 million in salary commitments next season — and that’s before they have to play players eligible for arbitration. $44 million of those commitments will go to Yoenis Cespedes and David Wright alone. Another $30.5 million will go to Jay Bruce, Jason Vargas, and Anthony Swarzak — who have all also been non-factors this season. This effectively amounts to about $74.5 million in dead weight to carry into next season, before any improvements can even be made. That’s not a recipe for success.

Jon Heyman recently reported that the Mets are in “excellent financial health” going into next year. Good. Now let’s prove it. The Mets need to back up their stated intentions to contend in 2019 with actions. And if they don’t, MLB should do to the Wilpons what they did to Frank McCourt’s Dodgers. This pathetic act has gone on for far too long.

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Well, today’s the day Mets fans. Today’s the day that Bobby Bonilla gets that $1.1 million paycheck from his former team. Time for the mockery, the memes, and the misery of knowing that Bonilla is still — almost 20 years after his last game with the Mets — one of their highest-paid players.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past seven years, you probably know the deal with Bonilla’s Mets contract: The team owes him $1.19 million every July 1 from 2011 through 2035, as part of a buyout agreement reached with Bonilla after the 1999 season. The Mets had the choice of paying Bonilla $5.9 million upfront or paying him $29.8 million over 25 equal payments. They chose the latter.

Bonilla’s annual salary has become one of the biggest jokes in professional sports for a number of reasons. “Bobby Bo” was hated by Mets fans long before his retirement salary became an issue; he first came to the team in 1992 after signing a then-record five-year, $29 million contract. While he was by no means awful with the Mets (he had a career 128 OPS+ with them), he failed to live up to the lofty standards of his contract and was traded to the Orioles in 1995. The Mets later brought him back for the 1999 season, and this is where things really became a problem: He batted just .160/.277/.303 for them that year and routinely clashed with management. Needless to say, they had to get rid of him for the 2000 season.

And the manner in which he was bought out — though costly — did have some major silver linings. In fact, those silver linings arguably make those annual $1.2 million payments worth it.

The $5.9 million the Mets avoided paying Bonilla for the 2000 season gave them some extra payroll flexibility. This allowed them to trade for ace pitcher Mike Hampton, who became the ace of that pennant-winning Mets team. Hampton went 15-10 with a 3.14 ERA (142 ERA+) that year — not to mention a Silver Slugger-winning .274/.313/.274 at the plate. Had it not been for Hampton, the Mets likely wouldn’t have made it to the World Series.

And that’s not all the Mets got out of deferring Bonilla’s contract. Once Hampton signed with the Rockies, the Mets received the 38th overall pick in the 2001 draft as compensation for his departure. With that pick, the Mets took David Wright.

It goes without saying that that pick worked out well for them.

Wright has played 13 seasons for the Mets, and is their all-time leader in hits, at-bats, runs scored, walks, total bases, extra-base hits, and bWAR. If he’s ever able to come back (and it’s looking like there may be cause for cautious optimism on that front), he’ll need just 11 home runs to become their all-time home run leader. This may have been the best draft pick in Mets history, and there’s a good chance it wouldn’t have been possible without deferring the $5.9 million the Mets owed to Bobby Bonilla in 2000.

So enjoy the well-deserved mockery, the memes, and the jokes the Mets will be the butt of today. Bobby Bonilla Day will probably be the last day the Mets get this much attention for a while, but just know that not everything caused by Bonilla’s deferment was awful.

Oh, and since we’re on the subject: The Mets are still paying Carlos Beltran ($3.1 million) and Bret Saberhagen ($250 thousand) as well. Many other teams have this same situation too as Michael Mayer notes. It’s not just Bonilla and the Mets.

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The Mets offense is built to live and die by the home run ball. Right now, they’re dying. Big time.

For all of the Mets’ faults, the one thing they’re supposed to be good for is hitting home runs. The team was second in the National League in homers in 2016, and tied for the league lead last season, despite an otherwise awful year. This year, they’re 13th in the NL in home runs — only the Padres and Marlins have fewer. This inability to hit the ball out of the park is unquestionably the biggest reason why the Mets have the second-fewest runs in the NL this year.

Outside of Asdrubal Cabrera, who has 11 home runs, and Brandon Nimmo, who has eight in somewhat limited playing time, the Mets are without any major power threats. Case and point: Yoenis Cespedes is still tied for second on the Mets with eight home runs — despite having been out for almost a month. That tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the state of power in the Mets’ lineup.

The Mets have plenty of other individual disappointments on their path to a powerless lineup. Michael Conforto, who hit 27 homers in 109 games last year, is on pace for just 19 this year. Adrian Gonzalez had just six home runs this year, a far cry from his 30-homer days with the Padres. And most disappointing of all, Jay Bruce has just three home runs all season — and none since May 7. Outside of that, injuries to guys like Cespedes, Todd Frazier, and Wilmer Flores have made the Mets’ lineup one of the weakest in the game.

This is obviously going to have to change if the Mets’ season is to turn around. Not that it will, but they’ll need it to if they want to start scoring runs. The greatest shame of the Mets’ recently snapped losing streak is that their starting pitching has been fantastic. Their starters had a 2.16 ERA over their eight-game losing streak. It’s almost unfathomable that a team that pitches that well over an eight-game stretch would have not a single win to show for it. But thanks to the Mets’ lack of power, there is no “new low” that’s too low. It can always go lower.

Over the Mets’ aforementioned eight-game losing streak, they hit just six home runs — and four of them came with nobody on base. In their win against the Yankees Sunday night, they still managed only one thanks to Todd Frazier. They haven’t hit many non-homer extra-base hits either; they’ve hit just eight doubles and one triple over the past eight games. And with this lack of power, it should come as no surprise that the Mets have scored more than one run just three times in the past nine games.

The Mets were built to be a team that pitches. Recently, they’ve had no problem doing that — at least the starters haven’t. The offense was supposed to be built around home runs. At this point, it’s become clear that the Mets’ power deficiencies are perhaps most responsible for their woeful past two months. And that’s going to have to change in the future — at least if the Mets plan on winning. Which may or may not be the case.

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Last week, the New York Daily News ran a cover depicting Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard in Yankees uniforms. The cover story, penned by John Harper, speculated whether or not it would make sense for the Mets to trade their aces to the Yankees in order to tap into the Yanks’ rich prospect pool. Harper essentially argued that the Mets, with a struggling MLB roster and a barren farm system, would be best to sell high on deGrom and Syndergaard, in order to replenish their farm system and aim for another rebuild.

While the cover was patently sensationalist — deGrom and Syndergaard aren’t going anywhere, and especially not to the Yankees — Harper’s case may not be completely off-base. The Mets clearly have little interest in giving deGrom or Syndergaard much to work with, as evidenced by their frugal offseason and habitually-low annual payrolls. After losing 92 games last season, the Mets entered 2018 with a payroll only $2.3 million higher than in 2017. And shockingly enough, the Mets find themselves struggling again. Who could have seen that coming?

If they’re going to continue down this course, the Mets might as well trade deGrom and Syndergaard. There’s no sense in wasting their talent on mediocre Mets teams that are going to miss the playoffs year in and year out.

The fact that we’re even having a conversation about trading deGrom and Syndergaard is proof positive that the Mets are failing them. deGrom is under team control through 2020, and Syndergaard until 2021. To have two pitchers that talented under team control for that long a period is a rare opportunity for any team. You’d expect this to be the Mets’ window of contention, and any functioning franchise would be going for broke trying to capitalize on this window.

But, of course, the Mets aren’t a functioning franchise. So instead, we get third-rate signings like Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Reyes while division rivals go for guys like Jake Arrieta and Max Scherzer. Somebody should remind the Mets that they play in New York, and not in Seattle or Baltimore — who both have higher effective payrolls than the Mets, by the way. It’s almost like the Mets don’t realize the opportunity they have.

And it doesn’t look like things are going to be looking up in this department anytime soon. The Mets’ effective payroll, when excluding the money reportedly covered by the insurance on David Wright‘s contract, is 15th in all of baseball. This rank is roughly consistent with where the Mets have been since about 2012 — and likely will remain the status quo as long as the Wilpons  are around. And when this inability (or unwillingness) to spend is coupled with a lack of top-tier prospects to use as trade bait, the Mets’ avenues for talent look pretty limited.

None of this is to say that the Mets should trade deGrom or Syndergaard. What the Mets should do is supplement their aces with proper run support and a solid bullpen, so that 2-1 losses and blown eighth-inning leads aren’t a common commodity. Because two aces can take you a long way in the playoffs — just ask the 2001 Diamondbacks.

Even sneaking in as a second Wild Card could mean another pennant for the Mets, so long as deGrom and Syndergaard are around. As bad as things have been for them over the last two seasons, it’s crazy to think that they’re still only a move or two away from becoming contenders again, all thanks to deGrom and Syndergaard.

And that’s what’s most frustrating about this whole ordeal. The Mets are just a few steps away from contention, and are simply opting out of taking those steps. Hopefully things will change, and the Mets will have a 2001 Diamondbacks-esque run to the World Series — with a real lineup and another capable starting pitcher. But don’t hold your breath. If the Mets are just going to keep running a second-rate operation, do deGrom and Syndergaard a favor and just trade them to a team that actually cares to invest in them.

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