With rumors swirling about Zack Wheeler, and the Mets apparent interest in Starling Marte, the hot stove season is starting to get warmed up. Offseason moves have burned the Mets in recent years, but they also made some excellent additions over the past decade.
Let’s take a look at the Mets five best offseason acquisitions from 2010-2019.
5. Neil Walker for Jon Niese
This trade couldn’t have worked out any better for the Mets. Niese’s career imploded after the deal, while Walker enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career.
In 2016, Walker batted .283/.347/.476 with 23 home runs and a .823 OPS in 113 games. Even though he was injured for the final month season and the Wild Card game, Walker’s solid production (3.6 WAR) made him a key part of the team’s success.
Meanwhile, Niese labored so badly in Pittsburgh (4.91 ERA, 5.36 FIP) that he was traded back to New York that same season for Antonio Bastardo. In his return to the Mets, Niese was torched, yielding 14 runs in 11 innings. He would never pitch another MLB inning.
Sure, if the Mets re-signed Daniel Murphy, there wouldn’t have been a need for Walker. But given Niese’s struggles and Walker’s productivity, it’s hard to argue against this trade being one of the Mets’ best. The Mets saw that Niese’s stock was trending downwards after a subpar 2015 (4.13 ERA, 4.41 FIP), and they flipped him for a productive hitter while the southpaw still had value.
4. Asdrubal Cabrera: Two years, $18.5M
Like Neil Walker, Cabrera was acquired after the 2015 season to beef up the Mets’ middle infield. Cabrera was a significant upgrade at the plate over the light hitting Ruben Tejada, and he was a more skilled fielder at short than the defensively challenged Wilmer Flores.
In his first year with the Mets, Cabrera batted .280/.336/.474 and 23 homeruns in 141 games. He also delivered the biggest hit of that season with a walk off blast against Philadelphia to push the Mets atop the Wild Card standings in late September.
Cabrera didn’t hit quite as well in 2017 with 14 home runs and a.785 OPS, but he produced enough for the Mets to pick up his team option in 2018. During his three-year stint, he hit .279/.339/.464 with 55 homeruns and a 117 OPS+, making his contract one of the best bargains of Sandy Alderson’s tenure.
3. Bartolo Colon: Two Years, $20M
From 2014-2016, the Mets were stacked with electric young arms that could overpower the opposition. Pitchers like Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergarad were taking New York by storm, but there was one pitcher that didn’t quite fit this mold: 41-year-old Bartolo Colon.
Despite his age, Colon stunned the league with his remarkable command and consistency. In his three seasons with the Mets, he posted a 44-34 record with a 3.90 ERA and 3.79 FIP. He also recorded a 1.32 BB/9, which was the fourth best mark in the MLB during this time.
When the Mets signed him in 2014, nobody thought that his renaissance with the A’s and Yankees was sustainable. His 2.65 ERA with the A’s looked like a fluke, especially since it seemed like ages ago that Colon won the Cy Young award with the Angels in 2005.
But as Met, Colon always proved his doubters wrong. He never slowed down until after his contract with the Mets expired. He rewarded the team for their gamble with three solid seasons, while also providing them entertaining moments, such as his homerun in San Diego, and his slick behind the back throw in 2015.
2. Curtis Granderson: Four Years, $60M
Many fans were disappointed after Granderson batted .227/.326/.388 with 20 homeruns in his first Mets’ season, but the veteran outfielder quickly made up for his slow start. In 2015, he upped his homerun total to 26 while slashing .259/.364/.457 as the team’s primary leadoff hitter.
His 5.0 bWAR that season was second behind only Jacob deGrom for the NL Champion Mets. Granderson also excelled in the post season, batting .389 in the NLDS and crushing three homeruns in the World Series.
While the Mets usually don’t have a lot of luck with expensive acquisitions, Granderson bucked that trend. He ended his Mets career with 95 homeruns, 27 steals, and a 116 OPS+, and became a fan favorite during his successful time in Queens.
Honorable Mentions
Before we get to the top acquistion on this list, let’s review some moves that missed the cut but are still worthy of disucssion.
J.D. Davis for Luis Santana, Ross Adolph, and Scott Manea
How will this trade be viewed in the years to come? If Davis continues to hit like he did in 2019, then this trade could become one of the decade’s best. Davis batted .307/.369/.527 with 22 homeruns in 140 games this year. But as of now, the trade is too early to judge, especially since we don’t know how the prospects the Mets gave up will perform.
Marlon Byrd: Minor League Contract
Picked up on a minor league deal in 2013, Byrd produced excellent numbers for the Mets. He batted .285/.330/.518 with 23 homeruns in 117 games before the Mets traded him to Pittsburgh for Dilson Herrera and Vic Black.
R.A. Dickey: Minor League contract
This signing just missed the cutoff date for the decade as happened in December of 2009. But it is such a good move that it needs to be mentioned.
When the Mets signed Dickey to a minor league deal, nobody knew what an tremendous impact he would make. In 2010 and 2011, Dickey shocked everyone with a 3.08 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 383 innings, but he was only getting started.
In 2012, he won the Cy Young Award with a 20-6 record, 2.73 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. While this was last year with the Mets, his impact to the organization would live on. The Mets used him as the centerpiece of a trade that is still providing major dividends for the Mets.
1. Noah Syndergaard, Wuilmer Becerra, John Buck, and Travis d’Arnaud for R.A. Dickey, Josh Thole, and Mike Nickeas
While it was hard to see Dickey go after such a remarkable Cy Young campaign, this trade undoubtedly tops this list. The Mets sold high on the knuckleballer, and they got Toronto to part with three enticing prospects.
D’Arnaud never quite lived up to the hype, and Becerra never made it to the MLB. But it’s Syndergaard who made this trade a massive steal for the Mets.
Syndergaard suddenly blossomed into one of the game’s most exciting young prospects in the Mets system. He thrived instantly in the majors, recording a 3.24 ERA with 166 strikeouts in 150 innings in his rookie year. And in his first full season in 2016, he won 14 games with a 2.60 ERA and led the league in FIP at 2.29.
Syndergaard hasn’t been quite as dominant since missing most of 2017 due to injury, but he still ranks among the game’s top 20 starters. In what was a down year by his standards, Syndergaard still ranked 17th in the MLB in WAR at 4.4.
As for Dickey, he was never able to replicate his 2012 dominance with Toronto. In four years with the Blue Jays, Dickey owned a 4.05 ERA with a 1.25 WHIP over 130 starts. He may not have been terrible, but it certainly wasn’t the kind of production the Blue Jays were hoping for.
But as Mets’ fans know, this list is only half of the story. There were plenty of other moves that weren’t successful, so stay tuned for next week’s article on the Mets five worst offseason acquisitions from 2010-2019.
