Trade Tracker Thursday: Mets–Orioles Trade History: Grading the Most Impactful Deals From Armando Benitez to Cedric Mullins

Now that last week's incredibly painful Winter Meetings are over, let's get back to some all-time impactful historical trades between the Mets and Pete Alonso's new team. Surprisingly, there haven't been that many major trades between the 1969 World Series opponenets.

December 1, 1998. Mets get RHP Armando Benitez from Baltimore for C Charles Johnson.

Before you throw your phone away because Charles Johnson was never a Met, he was on paper! They got Charles in a three-team trade which included giving up the possibly roided up Todd Hundley and flipped Johnson immediately to Baltimore. I apologize for some of your feelings of nausea by bringing up Armando, but the Mets made the playoffs two years in a row for the first time in their history with him as their set-up man and closer.

Side note on Johnson: After a career of homers in the 15 to 19 range and RBI from about 30 to 60, he had a career year in 2000 with two teams by pounding 31 homers, 91 RBI and hit .304! He previously was a 4 time Gold Glove winner! Should the Mets have kept him or do you forget a certain Hall of Fame catcher they acquired in 1998?

Benitez had been a major problem as a post season pitcher for the Orioles. In 12.1 post season innings, Benitez gave up 8 earned runs and 6 home runs! He was the pitcher that gave up the nightmarish "homer" for Yankee-haters, the Jeffrey Maier pop fly. Interesting note: Jesse Orosco also pitched for Baltimore in the Maier game, but didn't Jesse pitch for every team at one time or another?

In 207 games for Baltimore, he had a high 3.62 ERA compared to a 2.70 ERA for the Mets in 333 games. Even though he squeezed the ball a little tighter in the fall, spring saves vs. Pittsburgh or Milwaukee were a sure thing.

You might feel Benitez was himself a nightmare for the Mets in the post-season, but he only gave up 4 earned runs in 18 innings! And if you recall tons of homers given up, it was just one: J.T. Snow in San Francisco. Although that game-tying blast was a true gut-punch, the Mets won that game in the tenth and later won that series.

Benitez will always remain a Mets villain due to his blown save in Game 1 in the 2000 World Series. I still say if he doesn't walk a finished Paul O'Neil, the Mets win that series! Debate me on it!

TEACHER SAYS B. Benitez got us to the playoffs twice and was dominant at times. Wait, I take it back! I just remembered the Brian Jordan homer!

July 28, 2000. Mets get SS Mike Bordick from Baltimore for INF-OF Melvin Mora and 3 minor leaguers.

Rey Ordonez, a flashy, brilliant three-time Gold Glove award winner, went down with an injury during the pennant winning year in 2000. The Mets tried to play Melvin Mora there for about 40 games. Mora was a revelation in 1999. As a defensive replacement for Rickey Henderson, Mora showed off an Ellis Valentine-like cannon in the outfield. But while I remember him giving some tough at-bats, his .161 average tells different. His 2000 Mets .260 was better, but with what would be a combined 19 errors, the Mets decided to go for the consistent glove of Bordick. Bordick also seemed to finally find some success at the plate, by driving in a career high 77 RBI with an average of .277. They would both be eclipsed by Mike in 2000. He even hit a homer in his first Mets at-bat!

However, he only hit .121 (4-33) in the 2000 post season before going down with an injury himself. Backup Kurt Abbott took over, and, sorry for more nausea, just couldn't stop that dribbler of dribblers by Luis Sojo in the ninth inning of World Series Game 5. Would Bordick have made that play? Probably. Would Ordonez have made that play? ABSOLUTELY! (So would Buddy Harrelson).

What made this trade a total failure was the astounding career of Mora. He went on to play 10 years for the Orioles, with 1,323 hits, 158 homers and 662 RBI! He was also a two-time All Star and a Silver Slugger winner for them.

TEACHER SAYS F. The Mets only got Bordick because Barry Larkin turned down a trade from the Reds.

January 22, 2006. Mets get RHP John Maine and RHP Jorge Julio for RHP Kris Benson.

Benson was the # 1 Draft Pick in the nation in 1996 by Pittsburgh, and had 2 double digit win seasons early in his career with the Pirates. He would have two more with the Mets (one season split with Pittsburgh). But with ERAs always over 4, the Mets traded him for Julio and Maine. Benson's wife, Anna, was undoubtedly more famous than Kris. She was a former Playboy model (Its good to be the # 1 pick!) and garned attention for dressing as a barely-dressed elf at the Mets Christmas Party for children!

Maine came with little write-up, but in his second Mets season, won 15 games and then won 10 the next. As a post-season performer, he started three games, won one, and had a 2.63 ERA. John is most remembered for a dominant performance vs Florida in the second to last game in 2007 with the Mets fighting for their playoff lives. He pitched 7.2 scoreless innings, struck out 14, and only gave up one hit. A slow infield roller by backup catcher Paul Hoover (a great trivia name for Mets fans).

Maine was also featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated! On a 2007 cover highlighting GM Omar Minaya (SI called him a "Mix Master"), John shared the cover with Minaya miracle finds Endy Chavez, Willie Randolph, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez and Oliver "El Puke-ay" Perez.

TEACHER SAYS B. Maine's career was too short.

July 31, 2025 Mets get CF Cedric Mullins from Baltimore for 3 minor leaguers.

I'll never see what David Stearns saw, because other than Mullins's All Star 2021 which featured a 30-30 seaon and a Silver Slugger, Mullins had been on a steady downward spiral before falling off the planet with his .182, 2 homer effort in 42 games with the Mets this year. His last 4 averages with the Orioles were .258, .233. .234, and .229. What did you see, David? He had one spectacular catch in the outfield this year that must have been replayed a thousand times. Was that it, David?

TEACHER SAYS F. Even if none of those minor leaguers makes the majors. Can you imagine if one of them has an impactful MLB career himself? How much lower can a teacher's grade get?

December 8, 1987. Mets trade RHP Doug Sisk to Orioles for LHP Blaine Beatty.

I know, I know, not impactful in any way. But I am here to praise Sisk, not bury him! Poor Dougie remains the only member of the 1986 World Champions to be booed at every reunion! Randy Niemann and Ed Hearn, both who NEVER APPEARED in a post-season game, each get ovations!

Sisk came up at the end of 1982 and had a 1.04 ERA in 8.2 innings. In 1983, while you were going bonkers at the return of Tom Seaver on Opening Day, Sisk was a hero, throwing the last 3 scoreless innings for the save!

(Great trivia for that Opener...the starting right fielder, Mike Howard, had the game winning RBI. It was his last major league appearance).

Sisk threw 104.1 innings in 83 with a 2.24 ERA and 11 saves and followed it up in 1984 with a 2.09 ERA in 77.2 innings and 15 saves. I dare you to boo that! His 1985 was worthy of your scorn with a 5.30 ERA, but finished up his Mets career with two seasons that featured ERAs of 3.06 and 3.46. Should I remind you of Stanek, Gregory Soto and Helsley last year? My favorite Doug trivia: In the tenth inning of Game 6 in the 86 Series, as Mookie was having his epic at-bat with the score tied, guess who was warming up in the Mets bullpen? DOUG SISK! I always wondered if he would have gotten booed if the the score remained tied and they went to the 11th.

Doug's finest game of 1985 might have been in that horrendous 26-7 loss in Philadelphia (my 21st birthday and I was there...future article about this travesty of a game for sure). Sisk not only threw 2.1 scoreless innings, but contributed an RBI in 2 at bats.

TEACHER SAYS: INCOMPLETE. This trade doesn't warrant a grade. (Didn't you hate incompletes? It meant you had to work more!)

Let me know if you find any other Mets-Orioles trades that you felt were impactful. The Mets could use a first baseman. I think Baltimore just got one.