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This column focuses on impactful trades in Mets history. Well, the first three World Series appearances of the Mets were fortified by three different consequential trades with the Montreal Expos! The Mets most likely do not see 1969 (Donn Clendenon), 1973 (Rusty Staub), and 1986 (Gary Carter) without these dynamic trades. Do not worry, Washington Nationals fans, its not that I'm ignoring the Nats, its just that the most significant trades were made when they were Les Expos.

Dave Giusti, a name Mets fans may not immediately place on the all time villains list but one that somehow always feels familiar, passed away on January 11, 2026, at the age of 86 If you grew up watching the Mets in the late 1960s and 1970s, Giusti was not a headline name like Gibson or Carlton. He may have not scared you like they did. What he did do, reliably, persistently, and often, was show up. And very often, that meant showing up against the Mets. Giusti appeared in 6

The 2010s were yet another decade of transition for the New York Mets, and few positions reflected that churn more clearly than first base. From early promise and unmet expectations to a thunderous finish that redefined the franchise’s power identity, the Mets’ first basemen told a story of trial, error, and, ultimately, transformation. The decade opened with Ike Davis, a former first-round pick and the heir apparent to the position. Davis burst onto the scene in 2010, showin

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we brush the dust off the bubble gum cards, flip through the curling pages of old yearbooks, and rediscover the players who once made you pause mid–potato knish and mutter, “Hold on… he was a Met, right?” Last week, class focused on Joe Frazier , not the heavyweight champion, but the Mets manager whose brief tenure somehow produced a better winning percentage than Ter

The 2004 season was eventful for the New York Mets, not all of it in a good way.                The season saw the arrival of a pitching guru whose self-confidence would, in the end, hurt the team; the major league debut of an iconic third baseman who would make it to the Mets’ (if not MLB’s) Hall of Fame; a flurry of deadline deals, including one that would haunt the team for years; and a Mets-signature second half collapse that would cost both the manager and the general ma

Week 8 of Franchise Fridays took us on the road to Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium, where the All-Time Mets Greats faced off against the All-Time Braves Greats. The opponent was chosen by fan vote, the setting chosen by nostalgia, and the pitching matchup ordained by the baseball gods themselves. Thanks to Strat-O-Matic and the Franchise Greats sets, these dream matchups aren’t just imagined—we play them out, pitch by pitch, and get to study a real, honest-to-goodness box sco

This time of year we are all used to hearing about Kansas City when it comes to football. The Mets and the Kansas City Royals have had lopsided trades that have had severe impacts on both teams. Get ready to hear about almost-was and never-was and could have beens. No, I'm not talking about the Mets getting Ambiorix Burgos or giving up Jeff Keppinger (think a light version of the Squirrel, Jeff McNeil). July 30, 2004. Mets trade OF Jose Bautista for 1B Justin Huber. Did you f

With John Olerud leaving Queens for Seattle after the 1999 season, the Mets had to get creative in filling their first base position. Todd Zeile, whose natural position was originally catcher but who had played nearly 2,000 Major League games at third base, was chosen to man first base for the Mets in 2000. Zeile knew he had a lot of work ahead to master the footwork and nuances of first base. So he reached out to one of the best to ever do it—a Mets legend. "I worked with Ke

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we brush the dust off the bubble gum cards, flip through the curling pages of old yearbooks, and rediscover the players who once made you pause mid potato knish and mutter, “Hold on… he was a Met, right?” We closed out 2025 by revisiting one of the strangest detours in Mets history, when Tom Seaver, Ron Swoboda, Ralph Kiner and Yogi Berra paid a visit to Sing Sing pri

Fred and Jeff Wilpon tried mightily to erase the sting of the awful 2002 season by bringing in new personnel, but all they ended up with was a repeat in 2003: a team of high-paid underachievers led by a manager who, if you listened to the pundits at the time he was hired, was not up to the task, and a general manager who would finally pay the price for moves that did not work.                The end result: another last-place finish, nine games worse  than 2002.              

Week 7 of Franchise Fridays brought us back home really home to Shea Stadium, where the All-Time Mets Greats opened a marquee matchup against the All-Time Braves Greats. The opponent was chosen by fan vote, the setting chosen by nostalgia, and the pitching matchup chosen by the baseball gods themselves. And thanks to Strat-O-Matic and Franchise Greats sets, we don’t just imagine these dream matchups—we get to play them out, roll by roll, and actually stare at a real, honest-t

The calendar has officially flipped to 2026, which in Mets terms means two things. First, we are now legally allowed to worry about a season that has not started yet. Second, the excuses have expired. This is the point on the baseball calendar where optimism either matures into strategy or sits on the couch in sweatpants, scrolling through old box scores and whispering, “Trust the plan. There is definitely a plan.” I have maintained all along, often loudly, that David Stearns

If you’ve followed our Kollectors Hall of Fame series, you already know this is where we celebrate the diehards, the fans whose devotion to the orange and blue does not stop at the final out. These are the people who live Mets baseball, preserve its history, and build their lives around the memories the team has given them. This month’s inductee is a little different, not just because of how he collects, but because he is someone I have known for more than 40 years. Over that

The wind is howling, the snow is accumulating, the temperatures are dropping, and my mind wanders towards the beauty of San Diego. The Mets and Padres have had their share of impactful trades with beloved (and not so beloved players). December 20, 1973. Mets trade RHP Jim McAndrew for RHP Steve Simpson. Trading a solid, if unspectacular, pitcher for someone who never pitched a game for the Mets may not be impactful, but McAndrew threw for six seasons on the Mets, two of tho

Every few years, baseball social media gathers like villagers with torches and pitchforks to anoint The Worst Free Agent Signing of All Time. This winter, the mob has pointed west, squinting into the Anaheim haze, yelling one name in unison: Anthony Rendon. And look — fair. Very fair. The conversation flared back to life because the Angels just quietly reworked the final year of Rendon’s seven-year, $245 million deal, a move that functioned less like roster planning and more

The 90s at 1st base for the Mets started as the 80s ended. The contact-hitting, maybe a little boring, Dave Magadan was named the team's full-time player at the position. There were no other real competitors on the team for the position. Magadan had a backup, journeyman Mike Marshall, who played 42 games at 1st base that year. But it was Magadan's job, and he played tremendously in 1990. Magadan batted .328 with 6 HR and 72 RBI, and a .878 OPS. Not too shabby for a player no

Welcome back to Sunday School: Forgotten Faces of Flushing, our weekly rummage through the Mets’ attic, where we brush the dust off the bubble gum cards, flip through the curling pages of old yearbooks, and rediscover the players who once made you pause mid potato knish and mutter, “Hold on… he was a Met, right?” Last week, we told the story of Jim Beauchamp, a baseball lifer whose time in Flushing was brief, bruising, and ultimately redemptive, a reminder that baseball caree

The 2002 Mets were yet another example of the maxim that winning the offseason does not translate into winning the pennant.                Determined to avoid a repeat of the 2001 debacle, when the Mets limped to a 77-84 fifth place finish, general manager Steve Phillips worked feverishly to overhaul the roster, jettisoning some longtime Mets and bringing in some well-known replacements. And most media members and baseball insiders commented at the time that Phillips absolute

Week 6 of Franchise Fridays returned us to Citi Field, where the All-Time Mets Greats hosted the All-Time Giants Greats in what has become our favorite winter pastime: using Strat-O-Matic All-Time Great teams to give Mets fans something glorious to stare at when the real box scores are frozen solid. Dice were rolled. Cards were flipped. Legends were unleashed. Looking for back-to-back wins, the Mets entered play hoping to gain their first bit of momentum all season. After ope

How many of you are still hurting from the Mets not making the playoffs this year? To me, it hurts even more because it was to the Reds. For what seems like a lifetime, ( It was a lifetime. The creaky Nick Castellanos was born in 1992, well after the Reds last won a title) the Reds have made the playoffs again at the Mets expense. The history of Mets-Reds trades has to start with the greatest Met of them all. The statue, The Franchise, Tom Terrific. June 15, 1977 is a date st