Al Leiter was coming off a down year (4.34 ERA, 1.48 WHIP) in 1997 pitching for the World Champion Marlins. Now that the Marlins had won it all, they entered the offseason knowing they intended on selling off high-salary veterans.
The Mets needed to acquire at least one starter heading into the 1998 season and had missed out several of the top free agent options.
On Feb. 6, 1998, the Mets traded former first round pick Rob Stratton, right-handed pitching prospect A.J. Burnett, and left-handed pitching prospect Jesus Sanchez to the Marlins for Leiter and infielder Ralph Milliard.
Leiter was fantastic in his first season in Flushing, posting a 2.93 ERA and a career-high 6.7 WAR. His ERA was tied for the third lowest in Major League Baseball and he finished sixth in the National League Cy Young voting.
During the 1998 season, the Mets acquired a good friend of Leiter, All-Star catcher Mike Piazza. The Mets would go 88-74 that season, but narrowly miss a wild card berth.
Both Piazza and Leiter were scheduled to be free agents following the season. Luckily, the Mets had money to spend, they brought Piazza back on a seven-year deal and Leiter received four years.
The 1999 season wasn’t elite for Leiter, but he still posed a respectable 4.23 ERA in 213 innings. The Mets won 97 games that year, which was good enough to secure a Wild Card spot. They would beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the division series to setup the NLCS with the Atlanta Braves. They would lose in six games.
Leiter bounced back with an All-Star season in 2000. He had a 3.20 ERA in 208 innings, as the Mets clinched a Wild Card spot again. The Toms River, New Jersey native pitched eight-innings of two-run ball in the NLDS, a series the Mets won 3-1 over the Giants. The veteran lefty then allowed three runs and struck out nine in seven innings against the Cardinals in the NLCS, another 3-1 series win for the Mets.
The Mets would end up falling to the Yankees in the World Series in five games, but to no fault of Leiter. He allowed only two runs in seven innings in Game 1 and gave up only three earned runs in 8 2/3 innings of Game 5. Unfortunately, that’s the last chance he would get to pitch in the playoffs for the Mets.
Leiter continued to be a solid starter for the Mets, posting a 3.50 ERA in 746 innings from 2001 to 2005. He would pitch seven seasons for the Mets with a 3.42 ERA and 124 ERA+ in 1360 innings.
The grunting lefties 25.0 WAR ranks sixth all-time for Mets starting pitchers and his 213 regular starts ranks sixth.
Al Leiter filled a big role in the Mets rotation for a long stretch and was the ace they needed during their 2000 World Series run.
