Kwiz: Hookie Rits

[Gwreck]

One of the “projected” guys has to be Jared Young, 2026

[Edgy MD]

2 hours ago, Cowtipper said:

Might be pushing it, but Agbayani '99?

Perhaps, yes, but the scoring system encourages pushing it.  Benny got 79 hits in 1999, which places him in 30th, one hot breath outside the tent, but outside nonetheless

-2 points, but the right spirit.

2 hours ago, whippoorwill said:

Rey-O ‘94ish

Rey Ordóñez' rookie year was 1996, while shortstops were ascendent.  He garnered himself 129 hits, and has garnered you 8 points!

2 hours ago, Cowtipper said:

Might be pushing it, but Omir Santos, '09?

You're showing some good style here, but not planting your landings.  Omir 09 had 73 hits, outside the money.

2 hours ago, Gwreck said:

Tyuoshi Shinjo, 2001

You're missing an S in the first name, but you will not be deducted as Tsuyoshi wasn't that consistent in spelling his name himself.  Sparkle is sparklingly correct, and you get a sparkling 10 and a half points!

First place!!

For now!!!

2 hours ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

The Mookster, 1980

Mookie Huh-Wilson is correct, but his rookie year, though despite a 1980 cameo, the rookie year we are looking for in his case is 1981.

2 hours ago, whippoorwill said:

Or Hubie same year

Hubie did indeed have the same rookie year after similarly coming up for a cuppa in 1980.  So you get six points for the guy, two points for being close but not quite on the year, and 1.3 difficulty points, for 9.3 total ticks added to your score.

Hubie led all rookies in either league in hits that year, and would have been a rock-solid Jackie Robinson/Rookie-of-the-Year Award candidate, had he not gone up against two legendery rookie seasons in the NL that season.

2 hours ago, Gwreck said:

Todd Hundley, 1991

Hundley's third, last, and hardiest rookie season was 1992, but his .209 batting average added up to 75 hits, leaving him outside the leader board for the sake of this contest, and investigating dubious supplements for the sake of his career.

2 hours ago, Cowtipper said:

Jeff McNugget, 2018. 

Jeff burned his rookie status with 63 games in 2018, and while that allowed him enough time to pile up 74 hitskis, the abbreviated season keeps him off of the leaderboard.

1 hour ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

Johnny Lagares 2013

If you asked me Juanito's rookie year, I would guess somewhere between 2007 and 2015, so congrats on nailing the right season.  That's 10.8 points from you, and you are pulling away from the pack.

1 hour ago, Cowtipper said:

Mazuo Katsui, 2004.

Going for guys starting from Opening Day is a tough way to fail, and that's 10.1 points for you, taking you from the red to the black.

1 hour ago, Gwreck said:

Francisco Alvarez, 2023

You get our biggest prize!  Francisco is #30, with 80 hits, scoring a whopping 12 points for you!!  Look out, Johnny Lunchbucket!!

1 hour ago, Cowtipper said:

How about Brett Baty 2023, too. I'm going with a lot of guys who had 70-something hits, man if I'm wrong my score is gonna be really bad. 

And Brett had exactly 75 hits.  You know your sweet spot, but you are leaning a little hard into it.

But DAMN! Things have heated up!!

#	SEASON	ROOKIE	HITS
PROJECTION 1
PROJECTION 2
1	2019	Pete Alonso	155
2	2003	Ty Wigginton	146
3	1963	Ron Hunt	145
4	2000	Jay Payton	142
5	2010	Ike Davis	138
6
PROJECTION 3
7
8	1977	Lee Mazzilli	134
9	1989	Gregg Jefferies	131
10	1996	Rey Ordóñez	129
11	2004	Kazuo Matsui	125
12
13	1981	Hubie Brooks	110
14	1983	Darryl Strawberry	108
15	2001	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	107
PROJECTION 4
16	1977	Steve Henderson	104
PROJECTION 5
17
18	2013	Juan Lagares	95
19
20
21
22
23	1981	Mookie Wilson	2.3
24
PROJECTION 6
25
26	1969	Wayne Garrett	87
27
28
29
30	2023	Francisco Alvarez	80

STANDINGS:

Johnny Lunchbucket: 50.6
Gwreck: 48.6
MFS62: 31.3
whippoorwill: 16.3
kcmets: 6.9
cowtipper: 2.1
ashie 62: -2.0

INCORRECT GUESSES:
Benny Agbayani
Brett Baty
Todd Hundley
Jeff McNeil
Omir Santos
Mike Vail

[whippoorwill]

Couldn’t remember when Rey came along :)

[MFS62]

Rod Kanehl 1962

later

[Gwreck]

Jose Reyes 2003

[Edgy MD]

8 hours ago, MFS62 said:

Rod Kanehl 1962

later

Hot Rod was one of ashie's former handles, so I figured he would be the one to play the Kanehl card — but you did and it gains you 11.6 points!

8 hours ago, Gwreck said:

Jose Reyes 2003

Jose did not have a full rookie year, but he had a fulsome one, which gains you a copious 11.9 points!

And you return to the lead!!

#	SEASON	ROOKIE	HITS
PROJECTION 1
PROJECTION 2
1	2019	Pete Alonso	155
2	2003	Ty Wigginton	146
3	1963	Ron Hunt	145
4	2000	Jay Payton	142
5	2010	Ike Davis	138
6
PROJECTION 3
7
8	1977	Lee Mazzilli	134
9	1989	Gregg Jefferies	131
10	1996	Rey Ordóñez	129
11	2004	Kazuo Matsui	125
12
13	1981	Hubie Brooks	110
14	1983	Darryl Strawberry	108
15	2001	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	107
PROJECTION 4
16	1977	Steve Henderson	104
PROJECTION 5
17
18	2013	Juan Lagares	95
19
20
21
22
23	1981	Mookie Wilson	2.3
24
PROJECTION 6
25	1962	Rod Kanehl	87
26	1969	Wayne Garrett	87
27
28
29	2003	Jose Reyes	84
30	2023	Francisco Alvarez	80

STANDINGS:

Gwreck: 59.9
Johnny Lunchbucket: 50.6
MFS62: 42.9
whippoorwill: 16.3
kcmets: 6.9
cowtipper: 2.1
ashie 62: -2.0

INCORRECT GUESSES:
Benny Agbayani
Brett Baty
Todd Hundley
Jeff McNeil
Omir Santos
Mike Vail

[MFS62]

1 hour ago, Edgy MD said:

Hot Rod was one of ashie's former handles, so I figured he would be the one to play the Kanehl card — but you did and it gains you 11.6 points!

Jose did not have a full rookie year, but he had a fulsome one, which gains you a copious 11.9 points!

And you return to the lead!!

#	SEASON	ROOKIE	HITS
PROJECTION 1
PROJECTION 2
1	2019	Pete Alonso	155
2	2003	Ty Wigginton	146
3	1963	Ron Hunt	145
4	2000	Jay Payton	142
5	2010	Ike Davis	138
6
PROJECTION 3
7
8	1977	Lee Mazzilli	134
9	1989	Gregg Jefferies	131
10	1996	Rey Ordóñez	129
11	2004	Kazuo Matsui	125
12
13	1981	Hubie Brooks	110
14	1983	Darryl Strawberry	108
15	2001	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	107
PROJECTION 4
16	1977	Steve Henderson	104
PROJECTION 5
17
18	2013	Juan Lagares	95
19
20
21
22
23	1981	Mookie Wilson	2.3
24
PROJECTION 6
25	1962	Rod Kanehl	87
26	1969	Wayne Garrett	87
27
28
29	2003	Jose Reyes	84
30	2023	Francisco Alvarez	80

STANDINGS:

Gwreck: 59.9
Johnny Lunchbucket: 50.6
MFS62: 42.9
whippoorwill: 16.3
kcmets: 6.9
cowtipper: 2.1
ashie 62: -2.0

INCORRECT GUESSES:
Benny Agbayani
Brett Baty
Todd Hundley
Jeff McNeil
Omir Santos
Mike Vail

(Slaps forehead) One of my first met heroes, Jim Hickman. I have one of his polo grounds home run balls. 1962
later

[Frayed Knot]

So that top projection slot thingie has got to be Benge in .... imma guess back in 2026

[Gwreck]

What about Kevin Mitchell, 1986?  He probably had a few hits.

[MFS62]

Waitaminit!

nobody remembers a guy named david wright all the way back in 2004?

later

[Frayed Knot]

And Projection #2 would be Joe AJ McEwing

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Kevin Elster 87

[Gwreck]

Edgardo Alfonzo 1995

[Edgy MD]

1 hour ago, MFS62 said:

(Slaps forehead) One of my first met heroes, Jim Hickman. I have one of his polo grounds home run balls. 1962
later

HIckman '62 is indeed #17 with 96 hits, one of which is apparently on your bookshelf, keeping him one hit ahead of Juan Lagares.  That's 10.7 poins!

1 hour ago, Frayed Knot said:

So that top projection slot thingie has got to be Benge in .... imma guess back in 2026

Congratulations for being the first to break the tape on the projectorinos!  Benge 2026 was on a pace for 162 hits when we first started this exciting quiz, but after his two hits last night, he's upped that pace to ... 163.157142857!  You get 10 points for landing a projection slot!  You get three points for getting the season right!  And you get ... let's see ... 0.67 bonus points for getting a slot that's above the current first guy!  That ain't much of a bonus, but the rest of your scoring is sweet!!!

53 minutes ago, Gwreck said:

What about Kevin Mitchell, 1986?  He probably had a few hits.

Yes!  Kevin, like many on this list, was a World Series hero!  And he got to that Word Series by producing 91 hits, without even actually having a position to play from day to day!  Kevin gets you 11.2 points!  Teamwork!  Dream work!  You are threatening to take your lead, run away, and hide!  Like the 1986 Mets!

39 minutes ago, MFS62 said:

Waitaminit!

nobody remembers a guy named david wright all the way back in 2004?

later

I imagine most remember him, and even remember fondly remember many of his 77 hits, but while those hits did thrill and amaze, they did not qualify him for this list!

22 minutes ago, Frayed Knot said:

And Projection #2 would be Joe AJ McEwing

You have the right guy, but the wrong slot.  That's no sin, so I still will give you your 10 points.  No three-point bonus for getting the year right, because you neglected to include said year, but you get 1.65 degree-of-difficulty points.

And, I'm about to post the score and I get a notification!  Looks like one of our leaders has woken up!

13 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

Kevin Elster 87

Well, shit, it looks like you uncovered another hidden rookie season.  Kevin's true rookie season was 1988.  Fangraphs doesn't acknowledge it as such, under the digital delusion of him having burned all that in passing usage in 1986 and 1987.  We're going to defer to baseball-reference here, and say, yes, in 1988, Ellie was still a rook. 

You get six points for the dude, two points for being one off on the year, 2.6 points for degree of difficulty, and 0.1 points for making me look like a hump.  Again.  It's 10.7 points for you and you are BACK IN THE GAME!

#	SEASON	ROOKIE	HITS
PROJECTION 1
PROJECTION 2	2026	Carson Benge	163.2
1	2019	Pete Alonso	155
2	2003	Ty Wigginton	146
3	1963	Ron Hunt	145
4	2000	Jay Payton	142
5	2010	Ike Davis	138
6
PROJECTION 3
7
8	1977	Lee Mazzilli	134
9	1989	Gregg Jefferies	131
10	1996	Rey Ordóñez	129
11	2004	Kazuo Matsui	125
12
13	1981	Hubie Brooks	110
14	1983	Darryl Strawberry	108
15	2001	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	107
PROJECTION 4
16	1977	Steve Henderson	104
PROJECTION 5	2026	AJ Ewing	99.5
17	1962	Jim Hickman	96
18	2013	Juan Lagares	95
19
20
21
22	1986	Kevin Mitchell	91
23	1981	Mookie Wilson	89
24
PROJECTION 6
25	1962	Rod Kanehl	87
26	1969	Wayne Garrett	87
26B	1988	Kevin Elster	87
27
28
29	2003	Jose Reyes	84
30	2023	Francisco Alvarez	80

STANDINGS:

Gwreck: 71.1
Johnny Lunchbucket: 61.3
MFS62: 51.6
Frayed Knot: 23.32
whippoorwill: 16.3
kcmets: 6.9
cowtipper: 2.1
ashie 62: -2.0

INCORRECT GUESSES:
Benny Agbayani
Brett Baty
Todd Hundley
Jeff McNeil
Omir Santos
Mike Vail
David Wright

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Ron Gardenhire, 82?

[Edgy MD]

Holy shitbears! I missed a guess!

13 hours ago, Gwreck said:

One of the “projected” guys has to be Jared Young, 2026

Jared Young!  Good guy!  Productive Met!  Patriotic Canadian!  Kinda bad at rundown plays!

Not a rookie in 2026!  That'll cut into your lead!

Let's see if you can win those points back!

20 minutes ago, Gwreck said:

Edgardo Alfonzo 1995

Yes!  A sparkling rookie!  A Mets Holla Famer!  A beloved World Series performer!  And the 19th-ish guy on our list!

That's 10.9 points for you to more than offset the two you lost!

14 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

Ron Gardenhire, 82?

You kill me!  You murder me!!  You take me out back and put two in my chest and one in my head!!  You have found a THIRD rookie season that FanGraphs has missed!

They think (erroneously, I conclude) that he burned up all his rookie shit in 1981!  But his 95 hits in 1982 score you six points for the dude, three for the year, two more for degree of difficulty, and 0.2 for making a flaming ass out of me!  Again!!

Now, excuse me whilst I take a shower and scrub away all of this ignorance!

#	SEASON	ROOKIE	HITS
PROJECTION 1
PROJECTION 2	2026	Carson Benge	163.2
1	2019	Pete Alonso	155
2	2003	Ty Wigginton	146
3	1963	Ron Hunt	145
4	2000	Jay Payton	142
5	2010	Ike Davis	138
6
PROJECTION 3
7
8	1977	Lee Mazzilli	134
9	1989	Gregg Jefferies	131
10	1996	Rey Ordóñez	129
11	2004	Kazuo Matsui	125
12
13	1981	Hubie Brooks	110
14	1983	Darryl Strawberry	108
15	2001	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	107
PROJECTION 4
16	1977	Steve Henderson	104
PROJECTION 5	2026	AJ Ewing	99.5
17	1962	Jim Hickman	96
18	2013	Juan Lagares	95
19	1995	Edgardo Alfonzo	93
20
20B	1981	Ron Gardenhire	95
21
22	1986	Kevin Mitchell	91
23	1981	Mookie Wilson	89
24
PROJECTION 6
25	1962	Rod Kanehl	87
26	1969	Wayne Garrett	87
26B	1988	Kevin Elster	87
27
28
29	2003	Jose Reyes	84
30	2023	Francisco Alvarez	80

STANDINGS:

Gwreck: 80.1
Johnny Lunchbucket: 72.5
MFS62: 51.6
Frayed Knot: 23.32
whippoorwill: 16.3
kcmets: 6.9
cowtipper: 2.1
ashie 62: -2.0

INCORRECT GUESSES:
Benny Agbayani
Brett Baty
Todd Hundley
Jeff McNeil
Omir Santos
Mike Vail
David Wright
Jared Young

[MFS62]

Jason Phillips circa 2003

later

[Gwreck]

Daniel Murphy, 2009.  Was he still a rookie then?  (Or did he use up his eligibility in 08)?

[MFS62]

What about (Little) Stevie (Wonder) Henderson? around 1982-ish. Wasn't he lovely?

Later

[Gwreck]

One of the five tools is hitting for average, right?  Give me Alex Ochoa, 1995.

[Edgy MD]

2 hours ago, MFS62 said:

Jason Phillips circa 2003

later

Well, JP is another phantom rookie.  fangraphs says his rookieness expired between his 2001 and 2002 appearances, but baseball-reference says no.  Unlike Jose Reyes and Ty Wigginton, he didn't get any RoY votes in 2003, but I'm still inclined to give you and baseball-reference the benefit of the doubt and count him.

And that answer comes with 10.45 points.  And 0.3 of those points come from shaming me.

2 hours ago, Gwreck said:

Daniel Murphy, 2009.  Was he still a rookie then?  (Or did he use up his eligibility in 08)?

Murph and the Magictones' official debut was in 2008 — a terrific but abbreviated showing of 45 hits.

Please take two steps back.

1 hour ago, MFS62 said:

What about (Little) Stevie (Wonder) Henderson? around 1982-ish. Wasn't he lovely?

Later

Henderson, alas, has already been answered, but we will not dock you.

1 hour ago, Gwreck said:

One of the five tools is hitting for average, right?  Give me Alex Ochoa, 1995.

The invocation of Alex brings more shame upon my dojo, for he too is not on my list but should be.  His 1995 season was brief, but he retained (according to reasonable sources) his rookie eligibility in 1996.  He got 83 hits and therefore belongs here.

I'm giving you six points for being correct, two more for almost getting the correct year, 2.95 degree-of-difficulty points, and 0.4 stumping-the-DJ points, for an 11.35-point windfall, bumping your game-leading grand total up within one successful ABS challenge of 90 points!

#	SEASON	ROOKIE	HITS
PROJECTION 1
PROJECTION 2	2026	Carson Benge	163.2
1	2019	Pete Alonso	155
2	2003	Ty Wigginton	146
3	1963	Ron Hunt	145
4	2000	Jay Payton	142
5	2010	Ike Davis	138
6
PROJECTION 3
7
8	1977	Lee Mazzilli	134
9	1989	Gregg Jefferies	131
10	1996	Rey Ordóñez	129
11	2004	Kazuo Matsui	125
11b	2003	Jason Phillips	120
12
13	1981	Hubie Brooks	110
14	1983	Darryl Strawberry	108
15	2001	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	107
PROJECTION 4
16	1977	Steve Henderson	104
PROJECTION 5	2026	AJ Ewing	99.5
17	1962	Jim Hickman	96
18	2013	Juan Lagares	95
19	1995	Edgardo Alfonzo	93
20
20B	1981	Ron Gardenhire	95
21
22	1986	Kevin Mitchell	91
23	1981	Mookie Wilson	89
24
PROJECTION 6
25	1962	Rod Kanehl	87
26	1969	Wayne Garrett	87
26B	1988	Kevin Elster	87
27
28
29	2003	Jose Reyes	84
29B	1996	Alex Ochoa	83
30	2023	Francisco Alvarez	80

STANDINGS:

Gwreck: 89.45
Johnny Lunchbucket: 72.50
MFS62: 62.95
Frayed Knot: 23.32
whippoorwill: 16.30
kcmets: 6.90
cowtipper: 2.10
ashie 62: -2.00

INCORRECT GUESSES:
Benny Agbayani
Brett Baty
Todd Hundley
Jeff McNeil
Daniel Murphy
Omir Santos
Mike Vail
David Wright

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Jeromy Burnitz? 93

[MFS62]

Brian Giles 83

later

[Edgy MD]

31 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

Jeromy Burnitz? 93

JB hit 13 homers in 1996, but only 51 other hitzkoviches, for a total of 64.  Outside the money.

5 minutes ago, MFS62 said:

Brian Giles 83

later

Giles definitely turned in his rookie card in 1982, during which he had but 29 kitkowskis.

#	SEASON	ROOKIE	HITS
PROJECTION 1
PROJECTION 2	2026	Carson Benge	163.2
1	2019	Pete Alonso	155
2	2003	Ty Wigginton	146
3	1963	Ron Hunt	145
4	2000	Jay Payton	142
5	2010	Ike Davis	138
6
PROJECTION 3
7
8	1977	Lee Mazzilli	134
9	1989	Gregg Jefferies	131
10	1996	Rey Ordóñez	129
11	2004	Kazuo Matsui	125
11b	2003	Jason Phillips	120
12
13	1981	Hubie Brooks	110
14	1983	Darryl Strawberry	108
15	2001	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	107
PROJECTION 4
16	1977	Steve Henderson	104
PROJECTION 5	2026	AJ Ewing	99.5
17	1962	Jim Hickman	96
18	2013	Juan Lagares	95
19	1995	Edgardo Alfonzo	93
20
20B	1981	Ron Gardenhire	95
21
22	1986	Kevin Mitchell	91
23	1981	Mookie Wilson	89
24
PROJECTION 6
25	1962	Rod Kanehl	87
26	1969	Wayne Garrett	87
26B	1988	Kevin Elster	87
27
28
29	2003	Jose Reyes	84
29B	1996	Alex Ochoa	83
30	2023	Francisco Alvarez	80

STANDINGS:

Gwreck: 89.45
Johnny Lunchbucket: 70.50
MFS62: 60.95
Frayed Knot: 23.32
whippoorwill: 16.30
kcmets: 6.90
cowtipper: 2.10
ashie 62: -2.00

INCORRECT GUESSES:
Benny Agbayani
Brett Baty
Jeromy Burnitz
Brian Giles
Todd Hundley
Jeff McNeil
Daniel Murphy
Omir Santos
Mike Vail
David Wright
Jared Young

[Gwreck]

I didn’t see anything in the rules that you had to make your MLB debut as a Met.  John Stearns played 1 MLB game for the Phillies before getting traded to the Mets so probably was still a rookie in…ummm…1976?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'm following Lucas Duda here -- 2010 or 11

Lucas Duda (@wefollowlucasduda) • Instagram video

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

---

4,208 likes, 379 comments - wefollowlucasduda on August 2, 2015: "Photo cred/commentator: @cgrand3 who is ready for some Sunday night baseball? #playerofthemonth #duda...

 

[Edgy MD]

18 minutes ago, Gwreck said:

I didn’t see anything in the rules that you had to make your MLB debut as a Met.  John Stearns played 1 MLB game for the Phillies before getting traded to the Mets so probably was still a rookie in…ummm…1976?

All that is true about the rules and about Stearns, but he was (a) a second-stringer and (b) really bad at the plate in 1975, and so his 32 hits puts him out of the range of this chart.

11 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

I'm following Lucas Duda here -- 2010 or 11

Good answer, coming up with the future Tampa Bay Ray, but you're copping out on naming the correct year.

I'm giving you six points for the dude, one for the year, and 2.4 for degree-o'-diff.  You're Gwreck's worst nightmare, but you've got to commit if you're going to catch him — none of that holding back safely and trying to accumulate Winston Cup points!

#	SEASON	ROOKIE	HITS
PROJECTION 1
PROJECTION 2	2026	Carson Benge	163.2
1	2019	Pete Alonso	155
2	2003	Ty Wigginton	146
3	1963	Ron Hunt	145
4	2000	Jay Payton	142
5	2010	Ike Davis	138
6
PROJECTION 3
7
8	1977	Lee Mazzilli	134
9	1989	Gregg Jefferies	131
10	1996	Rey Ordóñez	129
11	2004	Kazuo Matsui	125
11b	2003	Jason Phillips	120
12
13	1981	Hubie Brooks	110
14	1983	Darryl Strawberry	108
15	2001	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	107
PROJECTION 4
16	1977	Steve Henderson	104
PROJECTION 5	2026	AJ Ewing	99.5
17	1962	Jim Hickman	96
18	2013	Juan Lagares	95
19	1995	Edgardo Alfonzo	93
20
20B	1981	Ron Gardenhire	95
21
22	1986	Kevin Mitchell	91
23	1981	Mookie Wilson	89
24	2011	Lucas Duda	88
PROJECTION 6
25	1962	Rod Kanehl	87
26	1969	Wayne Garrett	87
26B	1988	Kevin Elster	87
27
28
29	2003	Jose Reyes	84
29B	1996	Alex Ochoa	83
30	2023	Francisco Alvarez	80

STANDINGS:

Gwreck: 87.45
Johnny Lunchbucket: 79.90
MFS62: 60.95
Frayed Knot: 23.32
whippoorwill: 16.30
kcmets: 6.90
cowtipper: 2.10
ashie 62: -2.00

INCORRECT GUESSES:
Benny Agbayani
Brett Baty
Jeromy Burnitz
Brian Giles
Todd Hundley
Jeff McNeil
Daniel Murphy
Omir Santos
John Stearns
Mike Vail
David Wright
Jared Young

[Gwreck]

What about Justin Turner?  Similar to Stearns, he played a couple of games elsewhere first (Baltimore) but would have been a rookie with the Mets in 2011.

[seawolf17]

Mike Fitzgerald, Good But Not Great Catcher on the 1984 team. ("Hear me out. What if we trade him for Gary Carter?")

[Gwreck]

Good but not great catcher Travis D’Arnaud was acquired in 2013 at the same time as John Buck, who the Mets took back to eat salary and played for a year until his contract ran out.  Travis should have been a rookie in 2014 then, and he probably (?) played most of that season as the starter.