Name that Common Thread

[Edgy MD]

Apart from being celebrated Mets, what do the following ballplayers have in common?

• Bud Harrelson
• Roger McDowell
• Bartolo Colon
• Carlos Beltran
• Asdrubal Cabrera

[Gwreck]

They all played for the Mets and the Rangers…but there are many other players who also fit in that group. 

They are the 5 non-active players with the highest Mets WAR who also played for the Rangers?

[Edgy MD]

More specifically, they all had easily overlooked late-career tenures with the Rangers for reasons known only to themselves and God.

Your clarification would be pretty close to true, if the list included Rusty Staub.

[Gwreck]

Matlack too.  Forgot about him.

[Edgy MD]

There's a more interesting question developing.  Name your 10 bWARriest Mets to play for the Rangers also.  Named guys will be automatically penciled in.

1. Carlos Beltrán: 31.1 Mets WAR (0.3 for the Rangers)
2.  
3. Bud Harrelson: 18.6 (0.7)
4.  
5. Rusty Staub: 6.8 (1.3)
6. Asdrúbal Cabrera: 6.7 (-0.2)
7.  
8.  
9.  
10.  

[Gwreck]

Shouldn’t deGrom be #1?

[Edgy MD]

I listed only hitters.  I'll put up a better threadrick with pitchers.

(collating data ... please wait.)

[Edgy MD]

TWENTY bWAR-RIEST METS WHO ALSO PLAYED FOR THE RANGERS

1. Jacob deGrom 41.2
2. Carlos Beltrán 31.1
3. Jon Matlack 26.6
4.  
5. Bud Harrelson 18.6
6.  
7.  
8. Lee Mazzilli 12.5
9.  
10. Rusty Staub 6.8
11. Asdrúbal Cabrera 6.7
12.  
13.  
14.  
15. Bartolo Colon 4.7
16.  
17. Roger McDowell 4.3
18.  
19.  
20.  

[Gwreck]

Scherzer should have put up about 7 WAR in his season and a half with the Mets.

[Edgy MD]

He Scher is!

9 minutes ago · IP

TWENTY bWAR-RIEST METS WHO ALSO PLAYED FOR THE RANGERS

1. Jacob deGrom 41.2
2. Carlos Beltrán 31.1
3. Jon Matlack 26.6
4.  
5. Bud Harrelson 18.6
6.  
7.  
8. Lee Mazzilli 12.5
9. Max Scherzer 7.3
10. Rusty Staub 6.8
11. Asdrúbal Cabrera 6.7
12.  
13.  
14.  
15. Bartolo Colon 4.7
16.  
17. Roger McDowell 4.3
18.  
19.  
20.  

[Benjamin Grimm]

Nolan Ryan? 

[Edgy MD]

Nolan Ryan, with 3.0 pitching bWAR as a Met, falls in 21st place.

Lest it go unsaid, bWAR is a good metric for such quizzes, but I don't think it's all that.

[whippoorwill]

Rode horses

[Benjamin Grimm]

Doug Flynn???

[Gwreck]

R.A. Dickey 

[Edgy MD]

16 minutes ago, Benjamin Grimm said:

Doug Flynn???

There's bWAR for you.  Not only does the metric have little respect for glove-first infielders of the seventies, the contempt compounds with Flynn's extended tenure to not only deprive him of status among the top twenty Mets bWAR compilers who also played for the Rangers, it goes much further, ranking him dead last among all Mets who spent time in Arlington, with -3.9 bWAR. 

No other once or future Ranger complied less than -1.7 bWAR as a Met.  Dougie is truly in a class by himself.

[Edgy MD]

5 minutes ago, Gwreck said:

R.A. Dickey 

R.A. Dickey was a relatively hapless Ranger (and wouldn't The Hapless Ranger make for a delightful family-oriented comic western?), but a celebrated Met, firmly established as the seventh bWAR-riest Met to have also toiled in a Texas uniform

TWENTY bWAR-RIEST METS WHO ALSO PLAYED FOR THE RANGERS

1. Jacob deGrom 41.2
2. Carlos Beltrán 31.1
3. Jon Matlack 26.6
4.  
5. Bud Harrelson 18.6
6.  
7. R.A. Dickey 12.9
8. Lee Mazzilli 12.5
9. Max Scherzer 7.3
10. Rusty Staub 6.8
11. Asdrúbal Cabrera 6.7
12.  
13.  
14.  
15. Bartolo Colon 4.7
16.  
17. Roger McDowell 4.3
18.  
19.  
20.  

[Benjamin Grimm]

Hmmm. I'm really striking out here. I'll try again with Willie Montanez.

[Benjamin Grimm]

And wait! Nobody said Brandon Nimmo????

[Edgy MD]

25 minutes ago, Benjamin Grimm said:

Hmmm. I'm really striking out here. I'll try again with Willie Montanez.

 

25 minutes ago, Benjamin Grimm said:

And wait! Nobody said Brandon Nimmo????

Hmmm ... Ben's breaking that time-honored tradition against consecuguessing.  He's just gonna have to pick one of those answers to go with.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'll just take Nimmo from him, along with the points

[seawolf17]

Zeile?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Whenever in doubt, Todd Zeile.

He played for Texas after Florida and before the Mets 

[Centerfield]

Julio Franco. 

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The Gambler, Kenny Rogers

 

I know not enough bwar

[Edgy MD]

2 hours ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

I'll just take Nimmo from him, along with the points

All's fair in love and bWar.  Nimmo was just hanging out there in the four hole, waiting like a piñata to be whacked and to explode with candy.

1 hour ago, seawolf17 said:

Zeile?

 

1 hour ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

Whenever in doubt, Todd Zeile.

He played for Texas after Florida and before the Mets 

Yeah, there really isn't a baseball trivia question that Todd is a bad answer for, but he is just outside the money on this one, with 2.7 bWAR, 23rd place among Mets with a Texas tenure.  He gets damaged by a -0.4 bWAR sCORE in his 2004 return.

1 hour ago, Centerfield said:

Julio Franco. 

Alas, Julio's storied career lacked a key element that might've qualified him for this list, as his geriatric tenure with the Mets netted him a -0.1 bWAR, tied for 106th among all Mets who also Rangered.

52 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

The Gambler, Kenny Rogers

 

I know not enough bwar

Pitcher, golfer, and humanitarian Kenny Rogers, despite his infamous last stand as a Met, had a good run with the team, but too short a tenure to appear here.  He is 41st in bWAR as a Met among rostermates who also were Rangers, with 1.2 bWAR.  

TWENTY bWAR-RIEST METS WHO ALSO PLAYED FOR THE RANGERS

1. Jacob deGrom 41.2
2. Carlos Beltrán 31.1
3. Jon Matlack 26.6
4. Brando Nimmo 26.0
5. Bud Harrelson 18.6
6.  
7. R.A. Dickey 12.9
8. Lee Mazzilli 12.5
9. Max Scherzer 7.3
10. Rusty Staub 6.8
11. Asdrúbal Cabrera 6.7
12.  
13.  
14.  
15. Bartolo Colon 4.7
16.  
17. Roger McDowell 4.3
18.  
19.  
20.  

[Benjamin Grimm]

Not Willie Montanez?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Lenny Randle

[Edgy MD]

12 minutes ago, Benjamin Grimm said:

Not Willie Montanez?

Gullermo "Willie" Montañez was a productive Met in 1978 — at least, by the terribly low standard of that terribly unproductive season for the Mets offense.  But that just mean 0.4 on the bWAR meter, and that was quickly offset by his sickly performance in 1979 sucking -2.1 from his total, giving his an embarrassing -1.7 bWAR, good (though also, very bad) for a tie for 173rd among the 176 qualifying Mets who would also take a job with the Rangers at some point in their careers.

He then compounding that folly by giving the Rangers a 40-game run of some of the best baseball of his career.

To your credit, having now corralled both Flynn and Montañez, you are running away with the bizzarro version of this quiz.

2 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

Lenny Randle

Lenny Randle may have throttled Frank Lucchesi and made enemies of other skippers, but he found Joe Torre too young and vigourous to fuck with.  He is number 13 on our list!

 

TWENTY bWAR-RIEST METS WHO ALSO PLAYED FOR THE RANGERS

1. Jacob deGrom 41.2
2. Carlos Beltrán 31.1
3. Jon Matlack 26.6
4. Brando Nimmo 26.0
5. Bud Harrelson 18.6
6.  
7. R.A. Dickey 12.9
8. Lee Mazzilli 12.5
9. Max Scherzer 7.3
10. Rusty Staub 6.8
11. Asdrúbal Cabrera 6.7
12.  
13. Lenny Randle 5.0
14.  
15. Bartolo Colon 4.7
16.  
17. Roger McDowell 4.3
18.  
19.  
20.  

[Centerfield]

I suck at this. The only other  Rangery Met I can think of is Bobby Valentine. And I’m guessing managing doesn’t count.