Thursday Trade Tracker: Toronto Blue Jays. The Knuckleball, The Man with the Helmet, and the Best At Bat in Mets History

Trading hs been described as a zero-sum game, but the history between the Mets and Blue Jays suggests a more complicated relationship. Over the 50 years of Toronto history, these two clubs have frequently used one another to solve their most pressing roster crises. Whether it was the Mets looking for an ace or a three-hole bat or the Jays adding to a championship core, the swaps between these two Eastern clubs has produced some of the most debated trades in Mets history.

Although they were not traded for each other, each team has a key addition from the other this year. The Mets signed clutch hitter Bo Bichette (.381 RISP) while Toronto picked up bullpen submarine-thrower Tyler Rogers (1.98 ERA).

December 20, 1996. Mets get 1B John Olerud for RHP Robert Person.

The Mets relationship with Olerud started in college. They drafted him in the 27th round of the June 1986 amateur draft, but he chose to attend Washington State University instead. It was in college that Olerud suffered a brain aneurysm. It is why he always wore a helmet on the field, even on defense. There is a famous story that when Rickey and Olerud were 1999 Mets teammates, Rickey said, "I played with another guy in Toronto who also wore a helmet!" Olerud simply replied, "That was me, Rickey."

Olerud won a batting title in 1993 with Toronto, hitting .363, and finished third in the MVP race. After a slow season in 1996, Toronto decided to move on from the high-salaried first baseman in order to open up a spot for young slugger (and future Met) Carlos Delgado. It was one of the greatest trades in Mets history. Olerud had three of the greatest seasons in a row that any Met first baseman has ever had. (Sorry Keith! Sorry, Pete!). Seasons of 102, 94, and 98 RBI. Averages of .294, .354, and .298. The .354 is still the Mets record. Cleon Jones had held the record for 29 years with .340. These are magical Mets numbers that you must already have memorized! Olerud's 125 walks in 1999 was the team record for 26 years until Juan Soto had 127 walks last year.

The 1999 Mets infield was called the Best Infield Ever by Sports Illustrated. The team only allowed 20 unearned runs all year! For comparison, the Mets beat the Astros 16-4 at Shea on July 27, 1985. All 16 Mets runs were unearned! Yes, your friendly neighborhood writer, the Gump of the Mets, was there.

In the 1999 post season, Olerud went 15-43 (.349) with 12 RBI in only 10 games.

Olerud leaving the Mets to go to his home state of Washington was a brutal loss for the team. Maybe the Mets win the 2000 World Series with Olerud (DO NOT GET ME STARTED). Seattle had the best record in baseball history in 2001 with John stationed at first.

Person would show up later with the Phillies, where he had a 15 victory season.

TEACHER SAYS A+. Steve Phillips made this genius trade. (Phillips has been known to read Kiner's Korner). Way to go, Stevie!

December 17, 2012. Mets get catchers John Buck and Travis d'Arnaud, RHP Noah Syndergaard and minor leaguer Wullmer Becerra for RHP R.A. Dickey and catchers Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas.

Quick! Name the 4 Cy Young winners in Mets history. The Franchise did it three times. Jacob DeGrom twice. One of the greatest seasons by any pitcher ever was Doc in 1985. You might win a bet with newer fans, but R.A. Dickey won it in 2012.

The Mets decided to trade the 38 year old knuckle baller to maximize his value. They didn't have a good year, despite Dickey's 20 wins and were hesitant to sign the aging righty. Toronto felt they were THISCLOSE to winning, so they unloaded a haul of top prospects which led directly to a Mets rebuild and a World Series appearance in 2015. Syndergaard, still only 33 years old today, was the key figure. The 6 ft, 6 in Texan truly dominated until injuries zapped him. In his rookie year, in which the Mets won the NL pennant, Noah went 9-7 with a 3.24 ERA. The next year, another Mets post-season appearance, he went 14-9 on a 2.60 ERA.

In some of his most talked about efforts, on May 11, 2016, Noah hit two homers and pitched 8 innings in a 4-3 win over the Dodgers and on May 2, 2019 he hit a homer and pitched a complete game, 4 hit shutout to defeat the Reds 1-0. The last pitcher before him to hit a home run in a 1-0 shutout was Bob Welch in 1983.

Syndergaard's most clutch Mets performance was in the 2016 Wild Card Game, where he threw 7 shutout innings, only giving up 2 hits and striking out 10. However, he was matched by Madison Bumgarner in the eventual 3-0 Giants win. Are you really going to make me mention the name Conor Gillaspie? I won't do it!

How about some ridiculous Madison Bumgarner trivia? In a 2014 Sports Illustrated interview, Bumgarner revealed he dated a girl also named Madison Bumgarner in High School! No, they were not related. (And, no, there weren't any girls named Mitch Green in Bronx Science).

d'Arnaud, still active with the Angels, was a Mets starter for 5 years. He later became a recipient of a Silver Slugger Award , was an All-Star, and won a World Series with Atlanta.

TEACHER SAYS A. Dickey had five more double-digit win seasons after the trade, but the Mets reached the playoffs in two consecutive years for only the second time in their history. (1999-2000 and 2015-16)

August 27, 1992. Mets get 2B Jeff Kent and OF Ryan Thompson for RHP David Cone.

I mentioned Cone's Mets history in the Royals Trade Tracker, but the Mets wound up with a future Hall of Famer. Kent played parts of 5 seasons with the Mets, never hitting below .270 in full seasons, with a pair of 20 home run seasons. However, it was Kent's prickly personality that did not wash in Flushing. In 1992, usually on the last road trip of the year, rookies get their clothing taken and have to wear silly costumes in a usual, expected prank. Kent refused and demanded his clothes back. That led to what was described as long-term tension between his teammates. His Mets performance was fine, but he did not develop into a star player until he arrived in San Francisco, hitting with Barry Bonds (who he also did not get along with). Kent was very proud of his defense, but was labeled as a poor defender in New York.

Kent's personality reared its ugly head last week! He was in the Giants' TV booth and Jon Miller brought up the time Alex Rodriguez slid into him and injured his knee in 1998. Kent said, "He tore my knee up. He slid and rolled his fat ass past the base, the son of a bitch!" Kent had to be helped off the field and missed a month.

Kent wound up hitting the most home runs as a second baseman in major league history and was elected to the Hall of Fame in December.

One afternoon, I saw Jeff having lunch at the Pine Tavern in the Bronx. He was a Met at the time and I told him what a smooth swing he had and he was going to be a great hitter. He signed my doggie bag. Can I get credit for his stardom??

Thompson played with six teams in parts of nine seasons. He had some power, hitting 18 home runs in 98 games in 1994, but he struck out a lot. Ralph Kiner used to credit him as being one of the only Mets to ask him for advice on hitting.

TEACHER SAYS C. Cone continued his fantastic career. Kent would never have found long term success with his personality here.

July 28, 2019 Mets get RHP Marcus Stroman for pitchers Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods-Richardson.

Stroman, listed at 5 ft 7 inches, is one of only a handful of pitchers below 5 ft 10 inches to make a major league start. He was drafted by Toronto in the first round in the 2012 draft, becoming the first player from Duke ever selected in the first round. He grew up on Long Island, the son of a police detective.

He was a Gold Glove winner and All-Star before being acquired by the Mets. He sat out the 2020 season by choice, due to covid. He rebounded with a 10 win season in 2021 with a 3.02 ERA in 179 innings. He was not resigned by the Mets in free agency. Like Kent, Stroman was known to have a troublesome personality. A Blue jays writer once called him "disruptive, narcissistic and confrontational." He was known to bash teammates after tough losses, calling them "F-ing terrible."

Simeon-Richardson has found minor success with Minnesota, where he is expected to be in the regular rotation.

TEACHER SAYS C. Meh. Stro had some good games, but also caused agita. Grade goes down if SWR becomes a solid starter.

July 31, 1989. Mets get LHP Jeff Musselman for OF Mookie Wilson.

One of the most popular Mets ever has his ten-year tenure come to a close with this trade. The Mets Hall of Famer was known as perhaps the fastest to ever wear the jersey, a flash of excitement in the tough years of the early 80s, and let's see....am I leaving anything out.....THE BEST AT BAT IN METS HISTORY!

Coming to the plate as the possible last out of the first Boston World Championship since 1918, Mookie's epic ten-pitch at bat featured the wild pitch by Bob Stanley that scored Kevin Mitchell with the run that tied the score. Stanley still blames his catcher, Rich Gedman. Three pitches later, Mookie hits the "little roller up along first....behind the bag! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight and the Mets win it!!"

Would Mookie have beaten Buckner to the base? Who cares!

Mookie was always looked at by teammates as a salt of the earth guy. While Darryl and Dykstra were tearing up the plane, Mookie was in the front, away from the madness. He was a voice of sanity and reason. He even released a gospel CD in 2001 and is an ordained Baptist minister.

TEACHER SAYS D. How can you trade Mookie? I could "Boo" this trade, but it would sound like, "Mooooook!"

There are other interesting names in Mets-Blue Jays trade history: Bob Bailor, Roy Lee Jackson, Mark Bomback, Tony Fernandez, Tony Phillips, and Steven Matz.