Mets/White Sox Quiz: 1983 Free Agent Compensation Draft

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Some "magical names" as Marty Noble put it

[seawolf17]

I was sure Backman was the manager one, forgetting that he got fired right away. John Gibbons, then.

[Gwreck]

Yes to Terrell and Gibbons.

[Edgy MD]

The New Tom Seaver, Tim Leary.

[Gwreck]

11 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

Some "magical names" as Marty Noble put it

Reviewing this list (even before we’ve revealed everything) confirms that most of the players protected were correct decisions.  Even the prospects that didn’t work out (a few of which got flipped for Carter and some in other trades).  There’s really just one or two really bad calls for inclusion over Seaver.

[Gwreck]

Yes to Leary.  The Mets’ #1 pick (second overall) from 1979, he had been hurt and had 3 MLB starts to his career at this point.  Traded after the 1984 season to Milwaukee in a deal that brought Frank Wills (who?) to NY as an temporary-offseason-only Met  before being flipped to Seattle for Wray Bergendahl (who?) a starting pitcher that never made it past Jackson.

[Edgy MD]

Roger the Shrubber McDowell.

[seawolf17]

El Sid!

[Edgy MD]

He's the author of a lot of walks, but even more groundballs, and his name is Doug Sisk.

[Gwreck]

Yes to Sisk and Fernandez.

No to McDowell.  In 1983, Roger was still a starting pitcher:  172.1 innings in 26 starts at Jackson.  It wasn’t going so well, either, with a 5.80 ERA and 1.59 WHIP.  He would get hurt in 1984 in Jackson (pitched only 3 games) but made the big league club in 1985 having never played a single game for Tidewater.

[Edgy MD]

Well, there goes my winning streak.

I want to say Dave Cochrane got protected after his 100-RBI season at Lynchburg, but he doesn't match up with any of the clues.

Randall K. Myers

Oh, wait.  Cochrane does match up.

Dave Cochrane.

[seawolf17]

Goodness, this thread just sent me down the craziest of rabbit holes. I decided to refresh my memory about why the "free agent compensation draft" existed, which sent me to the BR Bullpen.

From there, I saw this: "The end of the system came after its fourth and last installment in 1985. The Cardinals had just lost relief ace Bruce Sutter to the Atlanta Braves. They picked shortstop Angel Salazar, from the Montreal Expos, in compensation. Salazar was coming off a terrible season with Montreal, and never played a game with St. Louis, being involved in a minor league trade with the New York Mets before the end of spring training."

I had no memory of Salazar, so I clicked through to his record. (He also went by Argenis Salazar, who I *do* remember from his baseball cards.)_ He played all of 1985 in Tidewater. But he came to the Mets in the deal that sent Jose Oquendo to the Cardinals along with a pitcher named Mark Davis. Now, I remember Mark Davis being a closer for a long time, and I didn't realize he was in the Mets system. But this Mark Davis was a righty reliever who never made it out of the minors.

Salazar was dealt at the end of spring training 1986 to KC for a pitcher named Tony Ferreira, who I also had never heard of even though he was part of the Tidewater rotation most of the year in 1986. But I guess we didn't need much from the Tidewater rotation that season.

Then I decided to look up the closer Mark Davis, who it turns out WAS drafted by the Mets in 1978, but he never signed, so the Phillies drafted him in 1979 and he went from there.

I need to close all these tabs and get back to work.

[Gwreck]

Yes to Cochrane.  Promoted to Jackson in 1984, he hit 22 homers with an .842 OPS…but with lots of strikeouts.  Repeated AA in 1985 and tore a ligament in his right ankle running the bases which developed a serious infection and he missed the rest of the year (while being traded to Chicago).  8 MLB homers.

[Edgy MD]

I remain ever fascinated by the 1983 Lynchburg Mets.

There really should be a book about them while the principals are still alive.

[Edgy MD]

I don't know if he matches up with one of the clues, but I know Wes Gardner was one of the successful relievers with the '83 Lynchburg team.

[stevejrogers]

Was Shawn Abner in the McReynolds trade?

[stevejrogers]

20 minutes ago, Edgy MD said:

I don't know if he matches up with one of the clues, but I know Wes Gardner was one of the successful relievers with the '83 Lynchburg team.

Edgy, are you controlling my ChatGPT Bot!?

 

”Yeah. 😂🤷🏻‍♂️

Which is honestly kind of criminal considering what that team was. A 96–43 championship club featuring Gooden, Dykstra, and a pile of future major leaguers, and nobody thought, “Hey, somebody should write this story.”

At least you can win the bar argument with confidence:

“I checked. There isn’t a book. I looked.” 🍻⚾️

And if somebody produces a dusty 1984 Lynchburg self-published tome from their uncle’s attic, I’ll happily eat crow. 😎”

[Gwreck]

Yes to Wes Gardner.  Not particularly successful as a Met but went to Boston in the Ojeda trade and had a pretty good 1988 as a swingman…and then a pretty bad 1989 in the same role.

Shawn Abner did go to San Diego in the McReynolds deal…but at the time of this draft he was playing for Mechanicsburg Area High School in Pennsylvania.  The Mets would take him #1 overall in the June 1984 draft.

[seawolf17]

AH! THE MCREYNOLDS TRADE - Stan Jefferson.

[Gwreck]

Correct.  After his MLB career ended, Jefferson returned to NYC (he’s originally from the Bronx) and became a NYPD officer (retiring in 2004 due to WTC-related health conditions).

[stevejrogers]

Last 83 starting pitcher?  Please tell me it wasn’t Swanie!?

[Edgy MD]

Steve, guessing by unguessing.

HOST: For 10 million dollars, who was the first governor of Texas?

STEVE: It wasn't Sam Houston, was it?

HOST: Is that your answer?

STEVE: Tell me it wasn't him!

[Gwreck]

Well, I won’t tell you that Swan had a no-trade clause in his contract, and won’t tell you that that meant he was required to be among the 26 protected players, and thus I won’t tell you it’s a right answer.  Except I did just tell you.

One answer left on the board, the hardest one since he never made the majors anywhere.

[Edgy MD]

I was torn between Lynch and Holman for that last MLB-in-1983 guy.  I didn't have faith in either answer, so I didn't put either forth.

But Swan was right out.

The last guy is Kevin Brown — memorable only because (a) so many people in the Kevin McReynolds trade were named Kevin, and (b) he was the wrong Kevin Brown, and in my mind forever shares a home with the wrong Pedro Martinez, the wrong Bob Gibson, and the wrong Reggie Jackson.

[stevejrogers]

9 hours ago, Edgy MD said:

Steve, guessing by unguessing.

HOST: For 10 million dollars, who was the first governor of Texas?

STEVE: It wasn't Sam Houston, was it?

HOST: Is that your answer?

STEVE: Tell me it wasn't him!

LOL!

To be fair future HOF who was just a couple of years removed from his most recent CY winning caliber season, and still has stuff left in the tank,  Or a serviceable back of a rotation guy, a few years removed from his one-year-wonder campaign who is literally on his last legs of his career

Not exactly a Sophie’s Choice scenario ;)

[stevejrogers]

10 hours ago, Edgy MD said:

 

The last guy is Kevin Brown — memorable only because (a) so many people in the Kevin McReynolds trade were named Kevin, and (b) he was the wrong Kevin Brown, and in my mind forever shares a home with the wrong Pedro Martinez, the wrong Bob Gibson, and the wrong Reggie Jackson.

And he’s not even the Kevin Brown I use as an example of “yeah, we really don’t give a fuck” “crack research” by, well really anyone presented with a question, but the example was a major market sports radio station!  

At least THAT Kevin Brown netted us Charlie O’Brien, as opposed to the future MFY bust who a caller thought was the ex-MLB Met!

[Gwreck]

18 hours ago, Edgy MD said:

The last guy is Kevin Brown — memorable only because (a) so many people in the Kevin McReynolds trade were named Kevin, and (b) he was the wrong Kevin Brown, and in my mind forever shares a home with the wrong Pedro Martinez, the wrong Bob Gibson, and the wrong Reggie Jackson.

And the wrong Brian Giles.  The Mets did have the right Bobby Jones though (and also the other one too at one point).

Kevin Brown (not the one who would play for the Mets) is correct.  Nicely done.

[Edgy MD]

23 minutes ago, Gwreck said:

And the wrong Brian Giles.  The Mets did have the right Bobby Jones though (and also the other one too at one point).

The key to getting the right Bobby Jones was to gather together all the Bobby Joneses and figure out the right one by process of elimination.

[Frayed Knot]

Ambler knew who the better Bobby Jones was just from a spring training outing. He was wrong, of course, but he always was a bit of a 'not always right but never in doubt' kind of guy.