1980 deal--Fred Lynn for Mookie, Tim Leary and Jeff Reardon

[roger_that]

Never heard this one before: https://twitter.com/GlobeChadFinn/status/1480635463518019591/photo/1https://twitter.com/GlobeChadFinn/status/1480635463518019591/photo/1



Colossal dumbness, even to consider it. Though I don't know how much older Lynn is than Mookie. Five years maybe?

[Willets Point]

If Mookie Wilson is a Red Sox, does it change the course of the 1986 World Series?

[A Boy Named Seo]

I don't know. Not to besmirch the great name of Mookie Hayward Wilson, but from 80-86 (arbitrary, but glorious end point), Lynn picked up 19.6 fWAR (age 28-24) and the trio of Mookie, Leary and Allen racked up a combined 22.7 fWAR (21.9 with Reardon in there instead). It's not great, but doesn't seem colossally dumb on first glance.



What cooks my noodle is would we still have gotten Keith if we didn't have Neil Allen to dump on St. Louis?

[Edgy MD]

I'm of the mind that fWAR doesn't accurately represent closers, but it sure creates an interesting alternate history.

[roger_that]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: What cooks my noodle is would we still have gotten Keith if we didn't have Neil Allen to dump on St. Louis?

I think Whitey woulda took a package of Tom Hausman and Brent Gaff just to unload Keef on the last-place Mets.

[roger_that]

On second thought, maybe not so dumb. Lynn was almost precisely (one week off) four years older than Mookie, and he became a corner outfielder at just about the time the Mets called up Lenny Dykstra and made a corner outfielder out of Mookie, In the article I linked to, the deal included Jeff Reardon OR Neil Allen, so either would have been acceptable to Herzog for Keef. Of course, that means we wouldn't have been able to deal Reardon or Allen for Ellis Valentine, which might have been a good thing in itself.



Funny alternate history, Lynn in 1986 Series against the Sox.

[roger_that]

I keep mulling this one over.



I think I was wrong. It was just the idea of losing Mookie and to the Sox, thus turning 1986 into a non-event, that messed me up.



Now thinking it over, it might well have worked. Lynn was a better player, all in all, than Mookie. Less lovable, sure. We still could have gotten Keith (for Allen or Reardon, whichever one the Sox left us, and we didn't need them what with Jesse and McDowell coming along. No Ellis Valentine, but that's no loss.



I just can't get my head around on Mookie on the Red Sox and Fred Lynn in CF for the Mets. Every time I think about it, my head just esssplodes