Mets who you thought would be better

[Edgy MD]

Roberto had a rough time of it with the Japanese baseball media who, despite his consistently terrific performances, were seemingly more interested in writing about his marriage. Coming back to the States to play for Pawtucket at 34 cost him several million dollars.



He was terrific as usual but, you know, waiting for David Ortiz to get hurt.

[seawolf17]

There were a handful of guys in the late 80s who were "prospects" to me that I would add to my Micro League Baseball team, they'd go gangbusters, and I'd be like THE METS SHOULD CALL THIS GUY UP HE'S AWESOME. I would go through the yearbook, or the minor league team sets, and find these guys who hit twenty homers in AA or stole 40 bases in AAA and just assume they'd do the same thing in the majors.



Toca is one. So is Terrel Hansen.



Another guy who I'd add who hasn't come up yet is Chris Donnels. We shared a name, which I thought was cool because the Mets didn't have any other Chrises at the time, and he seemed like a guy who could do what Gregg Jefferies couldn't.



Also Julio Valera, who I think won 20 games multiple times for me in Micro League.

[roger_that]

I Dream of Petagine.

[kcmets]

=Fman99 post_id=95299 time=1654684129 user_id=86]
=kcmets post_id=95207 time=1654636661 user_id=53]Jorge Toca!

[Chad ochoseis]

Mo Vaughn deserves a shout out in this thread.



And, of course, as good as Doc and Straw were in the mid-80s, they never became the HOFers and career Mets that we'd hoped they'd become.



OE: Travis d'Arnaud!

[G-Fafif]

Prospect: Dave Schneck.

Established Star: Roberto Alomar.

Midseason Pickup: Tom Paciorek.

Recidivist: Jeromy Burnitz/Roger Cedeño 2.0.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Sidd Finch.

[Edgy MD]

=G-Fafif post_id=95337 time=1654702901 user_id=55]
Prospect: Dave Schneck.

Established Star: Roberto Alomar.

Midseason Pickup: Tom Paciorek.

Recidivist: Jeromy Burnitz/Roger Cedeño 2.0.

[roger_that]

Edgy MD wrote: Alomar arrived to the Mets coming of an MVP-caliber season — possibly (probably?) the best of his career.

According to BBref, his 1999 was a hair better than his 2001 (120/100 RBI, 138/113 R, 24/20 HR, 7.4/7.3 WAR. #3 MVP/#4 MVP) but point taken.



The part that killed me was how fiercely Mets fans resisted seeing what was in front of their eyes. Especially in the field--he was worse defensively than offensively, in my opinion, from the start, and I remember being told what a glove wizard he was and how he was helping the team on defense. I was all "B-b-but he looks like a monkey trying to fuck a football out there! WTF are you talking about, glove wizard my hairy Irish ass!" and so on and so forth.

[smg58]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=95244 time=1654647943 user_id=68]
=RealityChuck post_id=95242 time=1654647774 user_id=82]


I expected more for Jim Fregosi. He was on a potential HOF track until traded to the Mets.

[Edgy MD]

Hebner was fine.



Miserable, maybe, but fine. We probably won the Hebner/Espinosa trade.

[DocTee]

Carlos Baerga.



Alex Ochoa.



Ellis Valentine.

[Gwreck]

Chris Bassitt. (Too soon?)

[smg58]

How could I forget Greg Jefferies?

[Willets Point]

Despite not becoming the next generation of Mets' superstars, I was impressed that Gregg Jefferies, Dave Magadan, and Kevin Elster all played into the 2000s.

[MFS62]

Ike Davis.



Later

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Similar with Berenyi, I don't see Ike Davis --a guy whose career trajectory was so obviously impacted by injuries-- as a "thought he would do better guy."



He had a rookie season that was as good as a mid-career year for a "pretty solid major leaguer" much older than him; how much better could he have been?



Sure he never really improved on that but--that was injuries, then a disease that robbed him of his energy and strength. Who could have thought he *should* have better given that?



Should have been luckier? Sure.

[MFS62]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Similar with Berenyi, I don't see Ike Davis --a guy whose career trajectory was so obviously impacted by injuries-- as a "thought he would do better guy." He had a rookie season that was as good as a mid-career year for a "pretty solid major leaguer" much older than him; how much better could he have been? Sure he never really improved on that but--that was injuries, then a disease that robbed him of his energy and strength. Who could have thought he *should* have better given that? Should have been luckier? Sure.

I could. And did. He had his best year just before many major leaguers have their best years, age 27-32. I thought he would have had a longer, better, career than he ended up with.

Bad luck derailed that.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

=MFS62 post_id=95453 time=1654816206 user_id=60]
Bad luck derailed that.

[Centerfield]

Roberto Alomar

George Foster

Victor Diaz

Dave Magadan

Lee Mazzilli

Dwight Gooden

Alex Ochoa

Frank Viola

Johan Santana

Matt Harvey

David Wright

Luis Castillo

Oliver Perez

Yoenis Cespedes

Gregg Jeffries

Noah Syndergaard

Steven Matz

Jason Tyner

Jeromy Burnitz

Alex Escobar

Fartinez

Ahmed Rosario

Eddie Kunz

Butch Huskey

Roger McDowell

David West

Billy Beane

Mike Jacobs

Eddie Murray

Vince Coleman

Aaron Heilman

Tommy Herr

Edgardo Alfonzo

Tony Fernandez

Hideo Nomo

Kaz Matsui

Pedro Astacio

Pedro Martinez

Kevin Appier

Juan Samuel

Pete Harnisch

Bill Pulsipher

Jason Isringhausen

Paul Wilson

Bernard Gilkey

Todd Hundley

Daniel Murphy

Carlos Baerga

Duaner Sanchez

Lance Johnson

Len Dykstra

Bobby Ojeda

Ike Davis

Dilson Herrera

Ron Darling

Bobby Parnell

Rico Brogna

David Segui

Randy Milligan

Mo Vaughn

Jason Bay

Tom Glavine

Guillermo Mota

Satoru Komiyama

Robin Ventura

Richard Hidalgo

Pedro Astacio

Grant Roberts

Cliff Floyd

Sean Green

Tony Fernandez

Nolan Ryan

Jeff Kent

Donnie Stevenson

Garth Brooks

[MFS62]

Not counting over-the-hill retreads in the post-expansion years and untried rookies with big hype, the player who fit this description who started it all in my mind - a player who came to the Mets, who had decent years with his prior club, then got to the Mets and started his decline - was George Altman. I expected at least a few decent years from him.

I gave this a name - the George Altman Syndrome, a malady that would continue to affect many Mets acquisitions over the years, many of whom have been listed in this thread.



Later

[seawolf17]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Similar with Berenyi, I don't see Ike Davis --a guy whose career trajectory was so obviously impacted by injuries-- as a "thought he would do better guy." He had a rookie season that was as good as a mid-career year for a "pretty solid major leaguer" much older than him; how much better could he have been? Sure he never really improved on that but--that was injuries, then a disease that robbed him of his energy and strength. Who could have thought he *should* have better given that? Should have been luckier? Sure. I could. And did. He had his best year just before many major leaguers have their best years, age 27-32. I thought he would have had a longer, better, career than he ended up with. Bad luck derailed that. Later

Yeah, I'll agree with 62 on this. I think Ike falls into the same sort of weird "quad-A slugging 1B" bucket that Dom is in right now (and so many other guys, some of whom have been mentioned here, like Petagine).

[G-Fafif]

Leon Brown had a world of speed. We blinked and he was gone.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Davis is only disappointing if you didn't know he was hurt.

[Willets Point]

Scott Kazmir

[MFS62]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Davis is only disappointing if you didn't know he was hurt.

The original post said this thread was about

"Who are some Mets who you thought would have a better career in the orange and blue? This doesnt mean you thought the guy would be a top player, just have a better career here than they ending up having. Not necessarily stars or top prospects either, any kind of player will do.

It says nothing about cause.

Davis fits that description to me.



Later

[MFS62]

I woke up this morning and one name came to me.

Bill Wakefield.

He started and relieved for the 1964 Mets, with one of the best ERAs on the staff.(3.61?)

Next year, he was gone from the majors - forever.



I gotta' get a life.

Later

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Using the some of the literal interpretations of this question my answer can only be Benny Ayala. I literally thought he would hit a home run in every at-bat over the course of a long career, and once it was clear that was no longer a realistic expectations for Ayala, I was unable adjust my expectations and therefore, am still compelled to think of Benny Ayala first among the 1,100 players to have passed through the org as guys I thought would have better careers as Mets.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy MD wrote: Hebner was fine. Miserable, maybe, but fine. We probably won the Hebner/Espinosa trade.

Hebner was also popular among organized Catholic youth — and his popularity was deemed a bigger story by the Daily News than the farewell to a Shea Stadium institution.



http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/wp-content/uploads/25EB957C-78C3-4017-B3BD-03676B0E8022.jpeg>