How do we properly value what a baseball player accomplishes on the diamond? That answer may vary depending on the person getting asked, but if we’re looking at it strictly from a numbers perspective, Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is the best way to quickly evaluate a player’s total contributions in one number.

Is WAR a perfect advanced statistic? Well, no, of course not — most statistics have some sort of flaw associated with them. It’s the easiest way for us to compare player values, though, especially when trying to look at performances across different generations.

As we continue attempting to keep ourselves busy while (im)patiently waiting for baseball to return so there can be some semblance of normalcy again, I was curious as to which New York Mets players were the most consistent with regard to their on-field value.

Method to the Madness

As with any arbitrary process, I had to set some rules and limitations so I knew what to look for. The basis of everything is on FanGraphs’ version of WAR, which will be referenced as fWAR.

Then, there’s the determination of what’s valuable, along with what could be considered “consistently valuable”. According to the above linked FanGraphs article, a single-season performance between 4.0 and 5.0 is considered All-Star, between 5.0 and 6.0 is superstar status, and anything above 6.0 is MVP level. With that in mind, I decided to make 4.0 fWAR the cut-off for consideration in this exercise.

When it comes to the “consistently valuable” aspect, I simply counted up who had the most seasons where at least 4.0 fWAR was generated by their play. I only looked at position players and starting pitchers because only one reliever — Armando Benitez in 1999 — has generated more than 3.0 fWAR in a single season (it was 3.1).

Technically, the ones at the top of the list didn’t have to also have the most cumulative fWAR — they just needed to get to at least 4.0 in the most seasons. For those thinking this exercise sounds a little ridiculous — I hear you. But I’m also bored and need to keep myself busy, so there’s that.

The Most Consistently Valuable Position Player

There have been 61 different individual seasons where a Mets position player has produced at least 4.0 fWAR over the course of a typical 162-game schedule. Some have accomplished this feat more than others, of course, as this group of occurrences includes 30 different players. Of those 30 players, 12 have amassed at least 4.0 fWAR in a season on multiple occasions while donning the orange and blue.

The player who has reached that specific number the most often during his career in Queens, though? That’d be third baseman, David Wright. Are you really surprised? I mean, the man’s name is littered throughout nearly every offensive record in franchise history.

While the end of Wright’s career included more rehab and frustration than anyone would’ve liked, the beginning of it was arguably on a Hall of Fame track. Each of his first four full big-league seasons ended up with the third baseman eclipsing 4.0 fWAR, and he cleared it by an easy margin (5.8, 4.7, 8.4, 7.0). This span of time also included three trips to the All-Star Game, four top-20 finishes in National League MVP voting (three in the top 10), two Gold Gloves, and two Silver Sluggers.

Wright still remained productive between 2009 and 2011 (when he was on the field) before returning to this particular form for his two final elite season-long performances in 2012 and 2013. Then, of course, everything began breaking down, and we’ve been thinking about the “What could’ve been?” question ever since.

Honorable Mentions: Mike Piazza and Darryl Strawberry (five seasons), and Jose Reyes, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Keith Hernandez (four seasons)

The Most Consistently Valuable Starting Pitcher

New York has been built upon elite starting pitcher performances throughout its history, which is displayed in this particular list. There have been 56 separate instances where a hurler has amassed at least 4.0 fWAR in a single season. This includes 21 different players, with 11 of them accomplishing it more than once.

The hurler who has done it more than anyone else shouldn’t be surprising at all, either. It’s Tom Seaver. He surpassed this particular plateau on nine occasions during his time with the Mets. Similar to Wright, Seaver didn’t waste any time in getting started.

After making the All-Star game and winning NL Rookie of the Year honors thanks to a 3.3-fWAR performance that included a 16-13 record in 251 innings pitched, Seaver never finished with an fWAR lower than 4.4 between 1968 and 1976. He was on track to do the same thing in 1977 before the Mets traded him to the Cincinnati Reds, too (I know, it’ll always be too soon to talk about that).

This streak of dominance included four seasons of 20-plus wins, three ERA titles, five strikeout titles, eight All-Star Game appearances, three NL Cy Young awards, and one World Championship. There’s one statistic that also shows how much the game has changed — during this period of time, Seaver never finished with fewer than 12 complete games in a season, totaling 143 overall. In 2019, no MLB team finished with more than six (the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox each tied at the top).

Unlike Wright, The Franchise used this incredible start to his career as a launching pad toward becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1992 by earning 98.8% of the vote.

Honorable Mentions: Dwight Gooden (seven seasons), Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack (five seasons), Jacob deGrom and David Cone (four seasons)