Thursday Trade Tracker: Kansas City Royals. MLB's Best Prospect, Two Cy Young Winners, and the Top Centerfielder of a Decade

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 forget Bautista was Mets property? He never suited up for the Mets, and was immediately flipped to Pittsburgh for Kris Benson and Keppinger. Two Jeff Keppinger references in two separate trades! That's why we love baseball. Bautista went on to hit almost 300 home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays! Do you think the Mets could have used that 50 homer bat? Bautista in the middle of that Wright-Reyes-Beltran-Delgado fire? By the time the Mets signed him in 2018, he was toast. His Met highlight was hitting the only walk-off home run of his 344 home run career.

Huber was an Australian signed by Omar Minaya in 2000. It seemed like we heard his name as a top prospect constantly, as he hit around .300 in the minors. Of course he never really made it, hitting .224 with three teams over 72 games.

TEACHER SAYS F. What could have been.

September 14, 1999. Mets get LHP Glendon Rusch for RHP Dan Murray.

Murray pitched one game for the Mets while Rusch was a valuable starting pitcher for the 2000 NL Champions. (Hmmm...i seem to forget what happened after the NLCS. Yankee friends texting me in 3...2...1). Rusch won 11 games over 190.2 innings. How many million would that get him today? He did not start in the post season, but had a good showing out of the bullpen, throwing 8.1 innings, only allowing 1 earned run (That's a 1.08 ERA).

His Met highlight was a combined one-hitter against Boston on July 14, 2000. Rusch pitched 8 innings and struck out 10 hitters over 117 pitches (Can you imagine that today?). Armando Benitez (sorry for giving you a feeling of nausea) pitched the ninth for the win. The only "hit" of the game was by future Met Trot Nixon in the first inning. Nixon laid down a bunt (the runner on first reached on an error by Lenny Harris, making only his fourth start of the season at first base). Harris fielded the bunt and threw to second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo covering. Fonz touched the base, but collided with Nixon and dropped the ball. Nixon was credited with the only hit of the game! (Yes, your friendly neighborhood author, the Gump of the Mets, was there).

TEACHER SAYS A. Useful lefthanded starter that helped them win a pennant!

December 3, 1969. Mets trade OF Amos Otis for 3B Joe Foy.

Here is where we start with trades that altered franchises. Third base had long been a black hole with the Mets. If you want a treat, look up the Mets video "An Amazing Era: The New York Mets 25th Anniversary". At the 45:00 mark is a memorable song listing the then 79 players who played third for the Mets.

Otis was an outfielder, considered by most the best overall centerfielder in the decade of the 1970s. You can say it was Fred Lynn, but he came up in 1975. The desperate for a third baseman Mets tried to move Otis there, with poor results, so they traded for the veteran Foy. Foy only played 99 games in his only Met season, but Otis thrived for Kansas City. Over 14 seasons, he hit 193 home runs with 992 RBIs. Two Gold Gloves. Four seasons finishing in the top 8 for MVP ballots. Five All-Star Games. 340 stolen bases! Surprisingly, he did not get any Hall of Fame votes . I'd take Otis over Harold Baines, Scott Rolen, and Derek Jeter. Ha! Did I get you on that last one? Also not getting votes on that Hall of Fame ballot were old friends Ken Singleton and John Stearns. Tug McGraw got 6 and Bucky Dent even got 3! Sorry Red Sox fans.

TEACHER SAYS F. Can I go lower? One of the worst trades in Mets history and maybe baseball history.

March 27, 1987. Mets get RHP David Cone with OF/C Chris Jelic for C Ed Hearn, RHP Rick Anderson, and RHP Mauro Gozzo.

Kansas City quickly gave on their home-grown prospect who was actually from Kansas City! They needed a catcher, and thought Gary Carter backup Hearn was their man. Hearn only played 13 games (not a typo) for KC over two years. He is, however the answer to the trivia: Who were the two players on the post season rosters in 1986 who never appeared in any game? Hearn and Randy Niemann. Yes, Carter caught every inning in all of those long games.

Mauro Gozzo was not even the only Mauro in MLB. He was, however, the only Gozzo.

Cone won 81 games over his seven Mets years. His 1988 season was one of the best in Mets history. He went 20-3 with a 2.22 ERA. The only reason he finished third in Cy Young balloting was due to tremendous seasons by Cincinnati Red Danny Jackson (23 wins) and Los Angeles Dodger Orel Hershiser (legendary 59 consectutive scoreless innings). Cone's top three strikeout seasons as a Met listed 261, 241, and 233. On October 6, 1991 Cone struck out 19 Phillies, tying the Mets and then National League record.

The Mets traded Cone in 1992. At least they got a Hall of Famer for him! It was Jeff Kent.

TEACHER SAYS A++. Not often the Mets are on the better end of a trade. This is one of the best in their history.

December 11, 1991. Mets get RHP Bret Saberhagen and INF Bill Pecota for OF Kevin McReynolds, INF/OF Keith Miller and INF Gregg Jefferies.

McReynolds was in last week's article about Padres trades and Miller is best known as David Wright's agent. Pecota's place in Mets history was that he was the first position player to EVER take the mound for the Mets! It took them 30 years, with all of those losing seasons and long lost games to finally throw in the towel. He pitched only that one inning and gave up a homer (9.00 ERA!).

Saberhagen was a two time Cy Young winner for KC and was also the World Series MVP in 1985. Two wins, two complete games! 18 innings with one earned run allowed. His first two Mets years were littered with various injuries. The 1994 Strike year was his best. He went 14-4, struck out 143 in 177.1 innings and only walked 13 (not a typo). He was an All-Star, finished third in Cy Young voting, and even picked up MVP votes. However, 29 wins in four seasons were not what the Mets and their fans were expecting.

Where do we start with Jefferies? Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year in both 1986 and 1987. A 6th place Rookie of the Year finish in 1988 in only 29 games played. 40 doubles in 1990. But...(earned? unearned?) reputaion as a crybaby. Had his bats shipped separately. Used his father as a batting coach. Showed too much emotion on the field. (Paul O'Neill?). Could Gregg have been nutured instead of taunted by the Mets veterans? It's been written at length that Met veterans were upset that Jefferies, never one of the hard living Mets, was taking at-bats away from team-beloved Howard Johnson and Tim Teufel. GM Frank Cashen had long started his dismantling of the Champions. Jefferies and his tantrums reached a boiling point in his 1991 letter to fans that included lines like, "I'm not going to take it anymore. I'm tired of being butchered. (Some days) you think they really like me and the next day you read something they say about you." Ripping your teammates in public is never a good way to go. I always thought a book about the taking apart of the 1986 winners and the appointment and fall of Jefferies as savior would have been an interesting read.

After a decent .285 season with the Royals, he was traded to the Cardinals where he was moved to first base and had two All-Star seasons featuring .342 and .325 averages!

TEACHER SAYS C. Meh. Many big names, but McReynolds was done, Saberhagen delivered little to the Mets, and Jefferies needed to be moved.

Other names in Mets- Royals trades: Graeme Lloyd, Endy Chavez, Brent Mayne, Al Shirley (former first round pick), Jason Jacome, Vince Coleman, Pat Tabler, Juan Berenguer, Ken Sanders, Tom "The Blade" Hall, and Jerry Cram.