Every February there's an event that reminds us all that the weather is about to change, the days are about to get longer, and spring is just around the corner. No, not Groundhog Day, that was so last week. I'm talking about an annual holiday that's just as important - Pitchers & Catchers reporting. This past Wednesday, Mets battery mates reported to spring training camp in Port St. Lucie. This coming Monday will be the first full squad workout. In other words, baseball's coming.
Along with the excitement of the impending season, the beginning of spring training also brings the intrigue of seeing the newly-acquired Mets playing their first games in blue and orange, even if they aren't the same uniforms they'll wear in the regular season. While the Mets added a few new players to the team, nobody will bring as much initial intrigue and fanfare as Juan Soto. This got me thinking...who have been the most successful Mets free agent signings. Hence, this week's The 5.
Of course, "success" can be defined in different ways. I could just simply look up players' WARs after signing with the Mets, although this would be somewhat misleading, especially because it would put some players near the top of the list who may not quite belong there. Still, it's hard to have specific criteria. So, while almost every edition of The 5 is an opportunity to initiate a conversation, I think this week accomplishes that to an even greater degree.
The only real ground rule that I created is that the free agent signing had to be with a player who was on a different team in the previous season. So while the Mets signed Mike Piazza as a free agent following the 1998 season, I'm not counting that here, great as it was.
There are some players who were strongly considered and didn't make the cut. Some of them were surprisingly pretty good as Mets, like Tom Glavine (really) and Bobby Bonilla (I'm serious). Others, like Bartolo Colon and Curtis Granderson, were fan favorites. And at least one free agent signing was Steve Trachsel. The five players that did make the list made a strong impact in their time with the Mets, either with personal success, or contributing to team success, or even both.
So, without any further explanation, here the 5 best Mets Free Agent Signings:
5. Lance Johnson (signed on 12/14/1995)
The 1996 Mets were not a successful team. They went 71-91 and at times looked downright terrible. They also had surprisingly noteworthy seasons from a few of their players. Todd Hundley set the Mets record for home runs in a season with 41 (now tied for third in Mets history). Bernard Gilkey had a complete season, batting .317 with 30 home runs, 117 RBIs, 44 doubles, 17 steals, and a .955 OPS. Still one of the best offensive lines in Mets history. And still, neither of these guys impacted the Mets record books like their newest free agent outfielder and leadoff hitter, Lance Johnson. The Mets signed One Dog following the 1995 campaign, in which he led the American League in hits (186) and at-bats (607), as well as a personal-best OPS of .766. By the end of 1996, Johnson was the new Mets record holder in hits (227), at-bats (682), runs scored (117), triple (21), and total bases (327). While most of those records have since been eclipses, he is still the Mets #1 (appropriately) in hits and triples. His .333 average that year, second best in Mets history at the time, still ranks in the top 4. He made the All-Star team for the first, and only, time in his career, and even got some MVP votes in 1996...for a 91-loss team.
Johnson had some success for the 1997 Mets as well, before being traded to the Chicago Cubs as part of the deal that brought Turk Wendell, Mark Clark, and Brian McRae to Queens. In all, while Lance Johnson's tenure with the New York Mets was brief, it's still held in high regard by fans as well as the record books.
4. Robin Ventura (signed 12/1/1998)
In 1988, the Chicago White Sox drafted Robin Ventura with the 10th overall pick in the first round of the draft. In 1989, Ventura made his MLB debut, and the following season, he was the White Sox starting third baseman. Ventura would remain in that role on Chicago's South Side through the 1998 season, before moving east to New York. By the time the Mets signed him, Ventura was an All-Star (once), a 100-RBI slugger (twice) and a Gold Glove winner (five times). While Sox GM Jerry Reinsdorf felt that Robin Ventura's skills were deteriorating, the Mets felt he was worth a 4-year investment. His first season in New York may have been enough to prove them correct.
In 161 games with the 1999 Mets, Ventura batted .301 with 34 home runs and 120 RBIs, which is still tied for 4th most in a single Mets season. Despite injuring his knee in August with what was later determined to be torn cartilage, he played in 161 regular season games, and 10 postseason games. And while the stats will say that he did not hit a postseason home run that year, the naked eye would suggest otherwise. Robin Ventura's "grand slam single" in that year's NLCS will remain an iconic moment in Mets postseason history forever.
The following two seasons of Robin Ventura's career with the Mets were marred by injuries. He had off-season surgeries on his knee and shoulder and never truly regained his 1999 form. Prior to the 2002 season, the Mets traded Ventura across town to the Yankees. Robin Ventura's time with the Mets might not have been lengthy, but he had some of the team's brightest moments in a year that needed every bit of clutch they could muster in order to make it to the postseason.
3. Rick Reed (signed 11/7/1995)
The baseball players strike of 1994-1995 introduced fans to some new sides of baseball that had not really been seen before. Chief among those was the concept of "replacement players" - players who crossed the picket lines for one reason or another, and played in spring training with their respective teams while the rest of the MLBA did not participate. Some of these players were former big leaguers looking to hang on just a little bit longer. Most others though, were players who had never been able to hang on to a consistent spot on a major league roster. One such player was right-handed starting pitcher, Rick Reed, who had a number of cups of coffee with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, and Texas Rangers prior to the work stoppage. Reed had pitched enough innings to qualify for health coverage, which enabled him to take of his ill mother.
So when the Mets signed Reed to a minor league deal before the 1996 season, it was fair to wonder if he would ever make impact for them. His entire 1996 season was spent in the minors. In 1997, however, Rick Reed got his shot, and took advantage. In his first full season as a starting pitcher, the 32 year-old righty went 13-9 with a 2.89 ERA and a 1.042 WHIP. The following season, Reed won 16 games and had 153 strikeouts (40 more than in '97), and earned his first All-Star nod.
In 1999, Reed earned 11 wins, none bigger than a 3-hit complete game shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates in early October that kept the Mets tied with the Cincinnati Reds in the wild card race. Reed kept up his solid performances when they got to the postseason, with a win over the Diamondbacks in the NLDS, and a quality start in an eventual win against the Braves to keep the Mets season alive.
While age and injury began to impact his performance at this point, Reed remained a reliable starter for the 2000 Mets, with his second-straight 11-win season. Reed struggled a bit early in 2001. Still, he was chosen by manager Bobby Valentine to represent the Mets in the All-Star Game. Reed ultimately skipped the game due to a neck injury. A few weeks later, with the Mets struggling offensively, Reed was dealt to the Twins for outfielder Matt Lawton.
Known more as a control specialist than a power hurler, the "poor man's Greg Maddux" as he was sometimes called, is currently among the Mets all-time leaders in walks per 9 innings, and is also currently second (to Dwight Gooden) in career winning percentage.
2. R.A. Dickey (signed 12/21/2009)
Every offseason, teams sign players that seem like warm bodies brought in just to fill the roster. When the Mets signed pitcher R.A. Dickey to a minor league deal in December if 2009, most fans probably didn't notice. And can you blame them? Up to that point in his career, Dickey had pitched for 3 organizations and not especially impressively. His ERA in the previous year was 4.62. And that was actually his best season, by far. Dickey is most remembered on the mound for his knuckleball and in the clubhouse for his intellect and dry wit. The Mets saw something in him, I suppose, and gave him an invitation to their 2010 spring training in Port St. Lucie.
Dickey began the season with the Mets then-Triple A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. Dickey pitched well in Buffalo. In 8 starts, he had 4-2 record with a 2.23 ERA, and even a complete game 1-hit shutout. The Mets called Dickey up to the big league squad on May 19th, and he never looked back. He finished the season with an 11-9 record, a team-best 2.84 ERA, and a 1.187 WHIP. All remarkable improvements on what had been an uninspiring career up to that point. The following season, Dickey started 32 games, easily the most in his career to that point. His 8-13 record does not paint an accurate picture of what he did on the mound. It does, however, stand as a good representation of how the Mets did that year.
The following season was when things really changed for Dickey. In 2012, R.A. Dickey became the first Mets pitcher to win 20 games in a season since Frank Viola did it in 1990. Beyond that though, Dickey led the National League in games started (33), complete games (5), shutouts (3), innings pitched (233.2), batters faced (927) and strikeouts (230), all to go along with a 20-9 record and a 2.73 ERA. This was enough to earn a Cy Young Award for the knuckleballer. The warm body the Mets had signed to a minor league contract just a few years earlier had now cemented a spot as one of the best pitchers in baseball.
While Dickey's final pitch of the 2012 season was also his final pitch as a member of the Mets, he wasn't done helping his team. That offseason, the Mets, knowing that it would take a few players to help them improve their 74-88 record, traded Dickey, along with catchers Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas, to the Toronto Blue Jays in a deal that netted future Mets mainstays, catcher Travis d'Arnaud and pitcher Noah Syndergaard, as well as catcher John Buck and minor league outfielder Wuilmer Becerra.
1. Carlos Beltran (signed 1/13/2005)
When the Mets signed center fielder Carlos Beltran in January 2005, it was described as the beginning of "the new Mets." They had a new General Manager (Omar Minaya), a new manager (Will Randolph), a new ace in the rotation (Pedro Martinez), and now a new slugger in the middle of the lineup. Beltran was coming off a remarkable postseason performance with the Astros (.435 batting average, 8 home runs, 21 runs scored and a 1.557 OPS) and was about to enter his prime. So instantly, this was new territory for the Mets. Despite a solid start, 2005 proved to be a disappointing year for the outfielder. Fans who had high expectations were frustrated with Beltran's shortcomings, and were unsurprisingly vocal about it. The following season, however, Beltran delivered on the promise he showed prior to arriving in Queens, with career highs in home runs (41), runs scored (127), RBIs (116), OPS (.982), walks (95), and WAR (8.2). He finished fourth in NL MVP voting, while also winning a Gold Glove award, a Silver Slugger award, was elected as a starter in the All-Star Game, and was the centerpiece in the Mets first-place lineup.
The following two seasons yielded similar results for Beltran, with two more Gold Glove awards, another Silver Slugger awards, and another All-Star Game appearance.
In 2009, Beltran got off to a scorching start, but a right knee injury ultimately cost him half a season. When he did play, he played great. Like the 2009 Mets team in general, Beltran's year fell short of expectations. Prior to the 2010 season, Beltran underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee, much to the team management's chagrin, and didn't make his season debut until mid-July. In all, Beltran played just 64 games for the 2010 Mets. The following season, the final of the 7-year contract he signed in 2015, Beltran returned to his All-Star form. However, the Mets front office remained concerned about the injuries Beltran had been dealing with in the seasons prior, as well as his (somewhat) advancing age, ultimately trading him to the San Francisco Giants for highly-touted minor league pitcher, Zack Wheeler.
Beltran retired following the 2017 season. In November 2019, the Mets hired Beltran to replace Mickey Callaway as the team's manager. Two months later, following the release of an MLB report about the 2017 Houston Astros sign stealing scandal, the Mets fired Beltran. In February 2023, he rejoined the Mets as a special assistant to the general manager and, is currently a special assistant to President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns.
While Beltran has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame, his voting results have increased in each of his first three years of eligibility, and there is expectation among some that next year will be his year.
Please share your thoughts/memories/suggestions in the comments below.
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