Trade Tracker Thursday: Three-Team Chaos! Benny gets Zeile of Approval, but will Jeromy's Bat Speak Loudly?

In the high-stakes theater of hot stove transactions, few deals capture the chaotic ambition of a winter overhaul quite like the January 2002 megadeal involving 11 players between the Mets, Brewers, and Rockies.

Trades involving this many moving parts are rare enough; rarer still are those that completely alter the emotional and structural fabric of the teams involved.

For us Mets fans, the centerpiece was a reunion. Jeromy Burnitz, the hard hitting All-Star who was drafted by the Mets in the first round 10 years prior, was heading back to Queens. Meanwhile, the departure of steady veteran presence Todd Zeile to Colorado - alongside fan favorite Benny Agbayani - signaled the end of an era for the core that had carried the Mets to the 2000 National League Championship.

January 21, 2002. Mets get OF Jeromy Burnitz, INF Lou Collier, OF Mark Sweeney and RHP Jeff D'Amico from Brewers. Mets send OF Benny Agbayani and INF Todd Zeile to Rockies. Mets send INF Lenny Harris and LHP Glendon Rusch to Brewers. Rockies send 1B Ross Gload and RHP Craig House to Mets and OF Alex Ochoa to Brewers. ,

Mets get Burnitz, Collier, Sweeney, D'Amico, Gload, and House for Agbayani, Zeile, Harris, and Rusch.

Rockies get Agbayani and Zeile for Gload, House, and Ochoa.

Brewers get Harris, Rusch, and Ochoa for Burnitz, Collier, Sweeney, and D'Amico.

Burnitz was drafted in the first round by the Mets in the 1990 draft as the 17th overall pick. That was the pick where Chipper "Larry" Jones went # 1 to the Braves and Todd Van Poppel, the golden child who was going to be the next Nolan Ryan. However, he had ridiculous (for the time) salary demands and fell # 9 to Oakland. He never made it big.

Three picks after Burnitz, the Orioles took Hall of Famer Mike Mussina. Don't you hate when that happens?

Other notable names taken after Burnitz in that draft: Garrett Anderson, Brett Boone, Mike Hampton, Andy Pettitte, Jason Varitek, and Jorge Posada. Eventual NY Giants Super Bowl QB Kerry Collins was also in that draft, taken by the Tigers, but he did not sign.

Burnitz was first traded by the Mets to Cleveland in 1994 for Paul Byrd, Jerry DiPoto, and Dave Mlicki. Byrd did little as a Met before actually becoming an All-Star in Philadelphia! He had five seasons of double digit victories and won 109 Major League games.

DiPoto was a gas can in two Mets bullpen seasons before eventually becoming the GM in Seattle. He is known as a fearless trader and came within a few innings of getting the Mariners to their first World Series in 2025.

As for Mlicki, you know his only real career highlight, don't you? In the first interleague game between the Mets and the Yankees on June 16, 1997, Mlicki pitched a complete game 6-0 shutout at Yankee Stadium! (Just in case Mlicki is reading this....Yes, Dave, I will mention you won 14 games for the Dodgers in 1999).

Who hit the last home run for the Brewers as an American League team? It was Burnitz. In 1998, Burnitz powered 38 homers with 125 RBIs for Milwaukee. He had become a star. In the famous 1999 All-Star Game in Fenway, (Remember Pedro striking out the planet? Ted Williams being surrounded and honored by the entire squads?) Burnitz was the starting right fielder, replacing the injured Tony Gwynn. He batted 8th, right after a most unusual 7th place hitter, Mike Piazza!

He was the first Brewer to start an All-Star Game since Hall of Famer Paul Molitor 11 years earlier.

On September 25, 2001, Burnitz and Richie Sexson became the only teammates to ever both hit three home runs in a game. (No, Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert have not done it this year).

In his final four seasons in Milwaukee, Burnitz hit 38, 33, 31, and 34 homers and drove in 125, 103, 98, and 100 runs. It looked like the Mets were getting a solid player. But of course (right, Peralta?) guys forget how to play in the orange and blue.

Burnitz hit .215 with 19 homers and 54 RBI as a Met in 2002. Mock cheers of "MVP!" often greeted him. Of course, he moved on and found his stroke again (37, 110 with LA and 24, 87 with the Cubs).

Collier played 8 years as a bench player, never suiting up with the Mets.

Sweeney, not his All-Star brother Mike, was immediately released by the Mets, and was a valuable pinch hitter for another seven years in the bigs.

D'Amico was a rare "soft-tossing righthander." He did win 12 games with a 2.66 ERA in 2000, but suffered as a Met. He went 6-10 with a Peralta-like 4.94 ERA in his only Mets season in 2002. (Sorry, Freddy, but you deserve it. And stop telling us how great you are. Show it!). D'Amico signed as a free agent with Pittsburgh in 2003 and lost 16 games.

Exactly five days after Gload was traded by the Rockies, they purchased him back. He had some decent years off the bench in the majors. He hit .321 with 44 RBI for the 2004 White Sox and .288 with 51 RBI for the 2007 Royals. He was also on two Philadelphia post-season rosters in 2010 and 2011. Nice job, Ross, you Brooklyn boy, with a career .281 average in 10 seasons. However, he also never suited up as a Met.

House pitched to a 7.24 ERA (no more Peralta comments!) in a few games in 2000, but never pitched again. Here's the pattern...he also was never a Met.

Hawaiian Benny Agbayani started his Mets career with a bang! A club record 10 homers in the fastest time ever, 73 at bats. He wore # 50 like the first Hawaii native to play for the Mets, Sid Fernandez. Benny cooled down, but later revealed he was playing with a broken elbow. He still finished 1999 hitting .286 with 14 homers.

He started 2000 with another bang...hitting an extra-innings Grand Slam for a victory vs the Cubs in Japan. He continued to hit all year, with a .289 batting average and very healthy .391 on base percentage. He credits teammate Rickey Henderson with helping him improve the ability to walk. Do you remember Benny started over 30 games as the leadoff man?

Agbayani had a tremendous 2000 post season. He hit .333 in the NLDS vs San Francisco, capped by a 13th inning walk-off blast to left field off Aaron Fultz. After 5 hours and 22 minutes, this author was in heaven as the ball floated over the huge skull of Barry Bonds.

Benny hit safely in all 5 games in the NLCS vs St. Louis, hitting .353. He then hit the game winning double in the 8th inning in the only victory the Mets would get in the 2000 World Series.

Sadly, Benny only had about 170 at bats after leaving the Mets.

Zeile played for 11 teams in his 16 seasons. He came up as a catcher, but then Cardinal manager Joe Torre felt Todd's bat would play better at another position, so he became a third baseman. Here's a useless stat for you, along with Gregg Zaun and Jeff Zimmerman, Todd joined the 1999 Rangers to become only the second team to have three Z names, after the 1916 Cubs!

In 2004, Zeile became one of 69 players to hit a home run in his final at-bat. It was also the last homer given up by a Montreal Expo. Zeile was the only player to homer for at least 10 different teams. More Todd facts? He was married to Olympic Champion Julianne McNamara. He is also a direct descendant of Presidents John and John Quincy Adams.

Zeile drove in 79 and 62 runs in his only Mets seasons. Even though I kind of remember him playing other positions in those years, he only played first base. He hit .368 (9-17) in the NLCS vs the Cardinals in 2000, and .400 (8-20) in the World Series. But what we would all give for a certain drive to left-center to go 6 inches further. (Run, Timo!)

After a stint with the Yankees, he returned to the Mets in 2004 for his final season, where he pitched an inning and caught again in his final game. Zeile only played three more years after the three-team trade. His only Colorado season showed Todd liked the thin air, driving in 87 runs.

Lenny Harris is the All-Time leader in most pinch hits in baseball history with 212. Who is second? Previously mentioned Mark Sweeney with 175. That's why we love baseball!

Rusch, previously written about in the Royals Trade Tracker, won 11 games in the 2000 season. His first two years in Milwaukee went 10-16 and 1-12. The 1-12 season was with a 6.42 ERA.

For Mets : TEACHER SAYS D. Meh! Didn't get much, didn't give much.

The only player not yet mentioned, Alex Ochoa, went from Colorado to Milwaukee. He played for 6 teams in his 8 years, starting out as a Met.

He was originally Orioles property, and was traded to NY for Bobby Bonilla. I hope you all enjoyed July 1st, Bobby Bonilla Day!

Ochoa was another in a long line of Mets prospects who couldn't miss, yet did. Let's list - Fernando Martinez, Lastings Milledge, John Christensen, Earl Snyder, Mark Vientos, Kirk Presley (Elvis's cousin...really) and Shawn Abner.

Ochoa's one Mets highlight was hitting for the cycle on July 3, 1996 in Philadelphia.

For Rockies: TEACHER SAYS B. Gave up nothing for a good Zeile season.

For Brewers: TEACHER SAYS C. Burnitz, even though he wasn't as a Met, was a star at the time. Milwaukee should have received more.

NEXT WEEK: Trade Tracker starts some "Almost" trades. Here are some names the Mets "almost" had: Don Sutton, Pedro Guerrero, Rick Sutcliffe, Dickie Thon, Willie Mays Aikens, Barry Larkin, and Ken Griffey, Jr. Read all about it!!