Saturday Seasons: For 1998, It's The Light With the Piazza

The way the Mets began 1998, it looked like they would be playing a long season. They ended it much shorter than they hoped.

               In-between, they made some key acquisitions – including perhaps the biggest acquisition in their history (the jury remains out on Juan Soto, long-term) –won 88 games, the same as in 1997 – and fell a single game short of what would have been a three-way tie for what was then the only wild card spot.

               The first key acquisition came on December 18, 1997, when general manager Steve Phillips dipped his toe into the World Champion Florida Marlins’ post-victory fire sale, swapping two minor leaguers for setup man Dennis Cook. As the season progressed, Cook paired with Turk Wendell to form a potent lefty-righty bridge to closer John Franco.

               Seven weeks later, Phillips visited the Marlins’ player shop again, sending three more minor leaguers (the most notable of them A.J. Burnett) to Miami for Al Leiter. At the time, Leiter was viewed as more of a fallback acquisition than a coup. “After months of pursuing deals for more accomplished and higher profile pitchers,” Newsday’s Marty Noble wrote, “the Mets imported Al Leiter Friday without the slightest hint of disappointment.” He added, “Leiter’s presence provides depth, left-handed-right-handed balance and experience.” All Leiter did was win 17 games to lead the team, striking out 174 in 193 innings and posting a 2.47 ERA, becoming unexpected the ace of the staff.

               The rotation was solid.  Behind Leiter was Rick Reed, the poor man’s Greg Maddux, who went 16-11; prior ace Bobby Jones, 9-9; Masato Yoshii 6-6; and a combination of Armando Reynoso, Hideo Nomo and Dave Mlicki.

               Another key offseason move was signing first baseman John Olerud, who had come to the Mets in a 1997 trade and was a free agent. Olerud was not only a veritable hit machine – he batted .354, a team record and second best in the league, with 22 home runs, 93 RBI and a .447 on-base percentage, also a team record – he was a veritable vacuum cleaner at first base (a year later, he would form part of what has been called the best fielding infield in major league history). Carlos Baerga, Rey Ordonez and Edgardo Alfonzo rounded out the infield, and Brian McRae roamed center field. But the team lacked the second big bat in the lineup, especially with catcher Todd Hundley shelved until mid-season after elbow ligament replacement surgery.

               That the Mets lacked oomph in their lineup became clear on Opening Day, when 49,142 fans showed up – the largest Shea first-day crowd in five years – to see the Mets take on the Phils. It was a warm April afternoon, a pleasant enough day that led team owner Fred Wilpon to wax poetic with Newsday columnist Steve Jacobson about the new, domed ballpark he had planned, with an Ebbets Field-like rotunda and an Polo Grounds-ish upper deck in right field extending over the playing field, to be completed in 2001 (so he only missed by eight years and one roof).

               By the time the game ended about five hours later, it was dark and cold, and the Mets and Phillies had played 13 scoreless innings, more than any opener since 1926, when the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics went 14 scoreless before the Senators won in  the fifteenth. Third-string catcher Alberto Castillo, the last position player on the bench for the Mets, left the bullpen to get himself a cup of hot chocolate when he realized he was being called upon to pinch hit with the bases loaded. Castillo – a .243 career minor league hitter – singled to right to drive in McRae with the only run of the game and send the roughly half of the crowd still in the stands home happy.

               As the season progressed, it continued to be clear that the Mets needed to add punch to the lineup. And it came in perhaps the most unlikely way. All-star catcher Mike Piazza had been in the midst of contentious contract extension negotiations with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had made it clear they were not receptive to Piazza’s request for $105 million over seven years; they had offered $76 million over six. Piazza also didn’t help his case when he blasted his team after his demands were criticized by fans and the media, most notably legendary broadcaster Vin Scully.

               So. On May 15, the Dodgers traded Piazza  to the budget-cutting Marlins, who amazingly seemed to have cut their payroll while adding both Piazza and Todd Zeile – sending the Dodgers Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson and Jim Eisenreich. And the Marlins had no intention of keeping either Piazza or Zeile. In fact, the rumor mill apparently was swirling even before Marlins GM Dave Dombrowski consummated the deal.

“I had more phone calls from clubs in a short time period than I’ve had over one player in my entire career,” Dombroski told the Miami Herald after the Mets shocked the baseball world by acquiring Piazza a week later. “Based solely on rumors, I had four teams call me even before the deal with the Dodgers had been made.”

               If you believe the stories at the time, the Mets were not one of those clubs. General manager Steve Phillips told the media – and, more importantly, Hundley -- that he did not want to “duplicate a strength” by adding another offensive-minded catcher. But then, some other deals Phillips was working on fell through and owners Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday publicly contradicted Phillips, saying the Mets did have interest.

               Being a good company man, Phillips sealed the deal: Preston Wilson, Mookie’s stepson/nephew, and two other prospects for Piazza. And Wilpon immediately chimed in to say that he didn’t want Piazza to be a one-season rental. “We want Mike here for the long term,” he said.

               The Florida papers were properly incredulous. “Traded Piazza: Isn’t this bizarre?” Was the headline on a Miami Herald story that led to a Greg Cote column with the subhead: “Quick! Deal Piazza (before we actually have to pay him).”

“Suddenly ex-teammates were dropping by to shake Piazza’s hand and wish him well,” Cote wrote. “After introducing themselves.”

               “Seems like I’ve had more press conferences in the past three days than in my whole career,” Piazza said in his exit interview. “I feel like the president.”

               In New York, the trade was greeted with considerable euphoria. “The Mets are in play again, and maybe at last,” Mike Lupica wrote in the Daily News. “The Mets got up yesterday. The Mets got tired of being an afterthought, of reading about the Yankees day after day.”

               For Phillips, the toughest part of the deal was telling Hundley, still rehabbing from his surgery. “I don’t have a reaction,” Hundley was quoted as saying. “Today, the New York Mets are a better team. Time will tell if I change positions.

”

               Piazza’s presence did provide an immediate spark for the Mets, who went on a nine-game winning streak to end May with an 18-8 record for the month. June and July? Not so good – until Hundley returned to the lineup on July 11. Playing left field.

               “Todd Hundley strutted into Shea carrying the promise of great power. He brought a swagger and confidence the Mets needed, too,” Thomas Hill wrote in the Daily News. “For one night, no home runs were necessary. Hundley’s arrival alone injected his teammates with energy and their ballpark with life.”

               Alas, Hundley had difficulty judging fly balls and presented a danger to himself and others in the outfield. The once potent bat was quiet. And the bad elbow acted up again sending him to the disabled list from August 28 to September 12. Hundley did catch two games in September, when Piazza needed a rest (including one game of a doubleheader), and the two did homer in a crucial game down the stretch as the team vied for the wild card. But there were questions about whether Hundley – who ended up hitting .161 on the season, less than half of Piazza’s .348 – would even be on the postseason roster.

     That is, if the Mets even made the postseason. With a week left in the season, they had a four-game lead over the Giants for the wild card and a one-game lead over the Cubs. But they lost their last five games, to miss out on what would have been a three-way tie.

               It was a team effort, but in particular, the bats went silent. They scored only seven runs in their final 44 innings. No home runs in their last five games. Piazza left 15 runners stranded in the final three-game series against the division-winning Braves.

               “We got Clark Kented out of the race,” super utility man Lenny Harris said. “These guys played with capes on. And we couldn’t find no stores selling kryptonite.”