On this date in 1987, the Mets traded for a young right-handed pitcher from the Royals, David Cone.
Cone, 24 at the time of the trade, struggled in his first taste of the major leagues with the Royals in 1986. The former third round pick posted a 5.56 ERA and 1.85 WHIP in 22 2/3 innings.
The Mets sent catcher Ed Hearn, pitcher Rick Anderson, and pitching prospect Mauro Gozzo to Kansas City for Cone and one of the Royals top prospects in catcher Chris Jelic.
Early results from the trade were good for the Mets as they tried to repeat as World Champions in 1987. Cone pitched in 21 games (13 starts) that season, posting a 3.71 ERA in 99 1/3 innings. Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Jelic had a .869 OPS in the minors.
The 1988 season is when they struck gold.
Cone went 20-3 with a 2.22 ERA, and 145 ERA+ over 231 innings for the Mets. He was an All-Star, finished third in the Cy Young voting, 10th in the MVP voting, and posted a 5.5 WAR.
The Kansas City native didn’t have the same type of stellar season in 1989, but still managed a respectable in 3.52 ERA in 219 innings.
Mets then got two fantastic seasons in a row starting beginning in 1990, when Cone led the majors with 233 strikeouts. Both his 9.9 K/9 and 3.58 SO/W in 211 innings were tops in the National league.
In 1991, Cone led the majors with a 2.52 FIP and 241 strikeouts in 232 innings for the Mets. Cone’s highlight of the 1991 came on October 6, when he twirled a complete game shutout with 19 strikeouts against the Phillies.
The 1991 season was a failure for the Mets, as a second-half collapsed clinched their first losing record since 1983.
They made big roster changes coming into the 1992 season – trading for Bret Saberhagen, signing Bobby Bonilla, Willie Randolph, and Eddie Murray – and also hired Jeff Torborg to be their manager.
Despite the moves, the Mets were on their way to a 72-90 season and decided to trade pending free agent Cone to the Blue Jays for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson (player to be named later).
Cone would go on to start two games in the 1992 World Series for the Jays, a series they won 4-2.
That offseason Cone signed to return to his hometown Royals. In 1994 for the Royals, Cone won the American League Cy Young award and finished ninth in the MVP voting.
Cone was traded twice in 1995, once in April back to the Blue Jays and then in July to the Yankees. David stayed with the Yankees for six seasons and threw a perfect game for them in 1999. He was an All-Star twice for the Bronx Bombers and won four more World Series rings.
After a season with the Red Sox in 2001, Cone didn’t play baseball at all in 2002. He decided to try a comeback in 2003 with the Mets, but it lasted only four starts and would announce his retirement during the season.
Cone finished his terrific Mets career with a 3.12 ERA (7th among Mets all-time starters), 24.8 fWAR (7th among starters), and a 2.95 FIP (6th) over 169 starts.
While Cone was a big hit for the Mets, the Royals got almost nothing of value from Anderson, Hearn, and Gozzo. Luckily for KC, Jelic would go just 2-for-11 in four big league games for the Mets in 1990, his only major league action.
Anderson struggled in two seasons with the Royals (6.89 ERA), Hearn played in only 13 big league games in Kansas City, and Gozzo lasted only one year in the organization.
The Mets ultimately paid a minuscule price to get one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball during the stretch that Cone was in Flushing.
