Mets in the 2014 Playoffs

[Edgy MD]

Baltimore

• Darren O'Day (pitched last night, had been grabbed by the Mets in December 2008 in the Rule 5 draft, and lost on waivers the following April to Texas)

Detroit
[crossout]Nobody[/crossout] (Not so, see below!)

Los Angeles (A)

• Bazooka Joe Smith (lost by the Mets as part of the disastrous three-team J.J. Putz trade)
  
• Collin Cowgill (traded by the Mets, to avoid wavers, in mid-2013 to the Angels, for fringy prospect Kyle Johnson, who spent 2014 outfielding for Binghamton)

Kansas City

• Jason Vargas (also coughed up in the Putz deal)

Oakland

• Scott Kazmir (never a Met, but a Met property --- anybody remember how we lost him?)

Washington

• Scott Hairston (signed away by the Cubs following the 2012 season)

St. Louis
Null

Los Angeles (N)

• Justin Turner (signed away by the Dodgers following the 2013 season after the Mets non-tendered him)

San Francisco

• Yusmeiro Petit (a Mets minor league soldier Omar Minaya sent away way back in the Carlos Delgado deal)

Pittsburgh

• Jon Holdzkom (a minor league flame throwing freak that the Mets couldn't do anything with or keep particularly healthy, released following the 2010 season, and finally surfacing with P-Burgh for nine games this season, and apparently making the one-game post-season roster)
  
• Chase d'Arnaud (never a Mets property, but some of his DNA is)

Seems like not a lot, in the great scheme of things. If so, you can look at that two ways: that guys who've played for the Mets stink too much to make the roster of playoff teams, or that the Mets have grown wise and have kept the better guys while shedding the stooges.

I get the idea that Washington has a lot of future Mets.

[Guest d'Kong76]

• Scott Kazmir (never a Met, but a Met property --- anybody remember how we lost him?)

Oakland

D'oh, SNAP!

[G-Fafif]

Detroit Nobody

Not so fast there, Bill Laxton-breath!

Outfielder Ezequiel Carrera was signed out of Venezuela by the Mets in 2005 when he was 17 and made it as high as St. Lucie before he was packaged as part of the three-team blockbusterish deal that made J.J. Putz unfortunate...I mean a Met. Last night the Detroit Tiger reserve notched his first postseason PA, walking as a pinch-hitter in the ninth to load the bases before his Bengals bowed out, 12-3.

As Ted Berg pointed out, three different players the Mets sent away in that December 2008 transaction played postseason ball yesterday: Carrera, Joe Smith and Jason Vargas.

Hope you enjoyed those bagels, Omar.

[Lefty Specialist]

• Scott Kazmir (never a Met, but a Met property --- anybody remember how we lost him?)

Oakland

It was real crowded in the Mall that day, and Jim Duquette was distracted by the fall fashion mannequins in the window at Macy's. When he turned around......little Scotty was GONE!!

[Edgy MD]

Detroit Nobody Not so fast there, Bill Laxton-breath! Outfielder Ezequiel Carrera was signed out of Venezuela by the Mets in 2005 when he was 17 and made it as high as St. Lucie before he was packaged as part of the three-team blockbusterish deal that made J.J. Putz unfortunate...I mean a Met. Last night the Detroit Tiger reserve notched his first postseason PA, walking as a pinch-hitter in the ninth to load the bases before his Bengals bowed out, 12-3. As Ted Berg pointed out, three different players the Mets sent away in that December 2008 transaction played postseason ball yesterday: Carrera, Joe Smith and Jason Vargas. Hope you enjoyed those bagels, Omar.

Man, good call. That trade just keeps giving.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

That's a lot of Putz-ing around.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Re: Kazmir from bbrdotcom
June 4, 2002: Drafted by the New York Mets in the 1st round (15th pick) of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed August 2, 2002.
July 30, 2004: Traded by the New York Mets with Jose Diaz to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bartolome Fortunato and Victor Zambrano.

This trade almost broke the somewhat-still-young internet.

[G-Fafif]

A little more on those Omar bagels...

[Gwreck]

Edgy MD wrote: Joe Smith (lost by the Mets as part of the disastrous three-team J.J. Putz trade)

I was reminded about that watching Smith last night. He reached free agency after the 2013 season, so we have a pretty good idea of where this trade wound up.

The Mets got:
JJ Putz, Negative 0.5 WAR in 2009, and paid him $6 million
Jeremy Reed, Negative 0.7 WAR in 2009, and paid him $925k
Sean Green, zero WAR in 2009 and Negative 0.2 WAR in 2010; paid $1.4 M over the two seasons.
All of these players were lost as free agents with no draft pick compensation.

The Mets traded away:
Maikel Cleto. Has pitched 45 major league innings, almost all badly. Traded away by Seattle before reaching the majors, and has been with three other organizations since.

Ezequiel Cabrera. Traded by Seattle to Cleveand (in a separate deal) before reaching the majors. Negligible value/minimal salary as a bench player for Cleveland before singing as a free agent with the Tigers this offseason.

Endy Chavez. Was a minimally effective bench player for Seattle at $2M salary, for one year before reaching free agency.

Mike Carp. Put up 1 win above replacement, cumulative, over 4 seasons, at minimal salary. Seattle sold his contract to Boston where he was a useful bench player for their WS-winning team in 2013.

Aaron Heilman. Had two arbitration years left, and got $3.7M salary. Seattle flipped him to the Cubs almost immediately, where he put up a 0.9 WAR season. Traded to the Diamondbacks for the next year, he had a poor year (negative 0.1 WAR).

All of that wouldn't be so bad, except for:

Joe Smith. Put up 5.9 WAR over five seasons with Cleveland before reaching free agency, for just $6.5M of total salary. OUCH.

[G-Fafif]

Ooh, one more: Drew Butera, now of the Dodgers (interviewed between innings while fending off a shower of sunflower seeds from his teammates), late of the Twins after the Mets sent him as partial payment for Luis Castillo, the J.J. Putz of second basemen, except longer and more painful.

[smg58]

Have we forgotten Ike already?

[G-Fafif]

smg58 wrote: Have we forgotten Ike already?

Ike Who?

[Fman99]

The Metliest thing about the postseason to me is hearing Ronnie call games for TBS with whomever these other two dorks are.

[MFS62]

Add to that Bal'mer list Nelson Cruz, who was originally signed by the Mets, then traded away as a minor leaguer:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cruzne02.shtml

Later

[Edgy MD]

Mike Moustakas: Former Mets batboy.

[G-Fafif]

Joaquin Arias still a Giant, once a Met.

[Frayed Knot]

Don't know that this means much, more like just a quirky thought that came to me while watching Delmon Young

Former 1/1 Draft picks in the 2014 playoffs:
Josh Hamilton - 1999: Originally drafted by the TB Rays, now playing with the LA Angels
Adrian Gonzalez - 2000: Marlins/Dodgers
Delmon Young - 2003: Rays/Tigers
David Price - 2007: Rays/Tigers
Steven Strasburg - 2009: Nationals/Nationals
Bryce Harper - 2010: Nationals/Nationals
Gerritt Cole - 2011: Pirates/Pirates


1/1 picks (1993-2011) NOT participating this year:
Alex Rodriguez - 1993: Marinerz/Yanquis
Paul Wilson - 1994: Mets/---
Darin Erstand - 1995: Angels/---
Kris Benson - 1996: Pirates/---
Matt Anderson - 1997: Pirates/---
Pat Burrell - 1998: Phillies/---
Joe Mauer - 2001: Twins/Twins
Bryan Bullington - 2002: Pirates/---
Matt Bush - 2004 - Padres/---
Justin Upton - 2005: DBacks/Braves
Luke Hochevar - 2006: Royals/---
Tim Beckham - 2008: Rays/Rays