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Looking at the Mets history with two-trade days, I think two patterns emerge. First, they seem to have been a lot more common during the Steve Phillips era than at any other period in the team's history. Second, whether we realized it at the time or not, they often seem to be easy to associate with the beginning or end of a manager's era, whether the team is folding its cards one regime, or ante-ing up for the next. This could often be true even if the regime that the trades would help define wasn't yet in place.
Today, for instance, could be a day that helps define an as-yet-unknown Teufel Era or Backman Epoch.
[list]April 26, 1962
New York Mets purchased Harry Chiti from the Cleveland Indians.
New York Mets traded Bobby Gene Smith to the Chicago Cubs for Sammy Taylor.
Cash-for-players-times-two. Sorta qualifies.
[list]May 6, 1962
New York Mets traded Don Zimmer to the Cincinnati Reds for Bob Miller and Cliff Cook.
New York Mets traded Jim Marshall to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Vinegar Bend Mizell.
The first housecleaning.[/list:u]
October 11, 1962
New York Mets purchased Norm Sherry and Dick Smith from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
New York Mets purchased Ron Hunt from the Milwaukee Braves.
Was this some sort of roster pinch, where these teams would lose these guys if they didn't deal them off? Because this was a good day for the Mets, even if only one of these guys panned out.
[list]May 10, 1967
New York Mets traded Larry Elliot to the Kansas City Athletics for Ed Charles.
New York Mets purchased Bob Johnson and John Miller from the Baltimore Orioles.
This was the year Bing Devine went crazy.[/list:u]
November 27, 1972
New York Mets traded Tommie Agee to the Houston Astros for Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris.
New York Mets traded Brent Strom and Bob Rauch to the Cleveland Indians for Phil Hennigan.
The first trade was a fading talent for a going-nowhere talent, but we lost an actual player in the second deal. Strom was years away from his brief period of usefulness though.
[list]December 12, 1975
New York Mets traded Rusty Staub and Bill Laxton to the Detroit Tigers for Mickey Lolich and Billy Baldwin.
New York Mets traded Gene Clines to the Texas Rangers for Joe Lovitto.
You can't judge the Staub trade without considering the Billy Baldwin factor... oh, wait, yes you can.[/list:u]
June 15, 1977
New York Mets traded Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds for Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Pat Zachry and Dan Norman.
New York Mets traded Dave Kingman to the San Diego Padres for Bobby Valentine and Paul Siebert.
New York Mets traded Mike Phillips to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joel Youngblood.
I don't remember these trades. How'd they work out? What time of day did they occur?
[list]June 15, 1979
New York Mets traded Bob Myrick and Mike Bruhert to the Texas Rangers for Dock Ellis.
New York Mets purchased Andy Hassler from the Boston Red Sox.
More or less viable mid-season veteran pitching additions... for a team desperately needing hitting. Both welcome additions, but to what end? Ellis would be dealt back to the eventual Pirates with 10 days to go in the season, as they desperately tried to stave off the Expos. Hopefully whatever post-season share he got for his late-season appearances was well-spent.[/list:u]
April 6, 1981
New York Mets traded Ed Glynn to the Cleveland Indians for Dominick Bullinger.
New York Mets traded Mark Bomback to the Toronto Blue Jays for Charlie Puleo.
New York Mets sold Butch Benton to the Chicago Cubs.
Puleo would become the main part of the deal that brought Seaver back two years later, so... .
[list]December 11, 1981
New York Mets traded Doug Flynn and Danny Boitano to the Texas Rangers for Jim Kern.
New York Mets traded Frank Taveras to the Montreal Expos for Steve Ratzer.
While the Torre era died this day, it's also notable in that Frank Cashen made noise about actually wanting Jim Kaat, but flipped him two months later in the Foster deal, without him throwing a single pitch as a Met.[/list:u]
June 15, 1983
New York Mets traded Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the St. Louis Cardinals for Keith Hernandez.
New York Mets sold Mike Jorgensen to the Atlanta Braves.
In its own way, the far-shorter Bamberger era died this day.
[list]January 16, 1986
New York Mets traded Billy Beane, Bill Latham and Joe Klink to the Minnesota Twins for Tim Teufel and Pat Crosby.
New York Mets traded Ronn Reynolds and Jeff Bittiger to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ronnie Gideon and Rodger Cole.
The first one looks like a classick Frank Cashen fleecing, wherein step one is to establish your system as elite, and step two is trade minor league guys in your system who are over-valued for big-league talent. Nonetheless, for the second time, in their history (after Dallas Green), the Mets lose a revolutionary front office figure before his time. Perhaps the third, if you count Tom Grieve.[/list:u]
August 30, 1990
New York Mets traded Kevin Brown and Julio Machado to the Milwaukee Brewers for Charlie O'Brien and Kevin Carmody.
New York Mets traded Nikco Riesgo and Rocky Elli to the Philadelphia Phillies for Tom Herr.
New York Mets traded Archie Corbin to the Kansas City Royals for Pat Tabler.
One of the more ineffectual arming-ups for the stretch run in team history. Tabler got some key hits, but the Mets still finished four games back.
[list]March 30, 1994
New York Mets traded Steve Long to the Florida Marlins for Robert Person.
New York Mets traded Anthony Young and Ottis Smith to the Chicago Cubs for José Vizcaino.
Shedding Torborg players for Green players. That first one is impressive, trading a never-will be for a guy who brought us five wins and Jon Olerud.[/list:u]
November 27, 1996
New York Mets traded Jerry Dipoto to the Colorado Rockies for Armando Reynoso.
New York Mets traded Rico Brogna to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ricardo Jordan and Toby Borland.
The Green era... thus far and no further.
[list]July 31, 1998
New York Mets traded Bill Pulsipher to the Milwaukee Brewers for Mike Kinkade.
New York Mets traded Leo Estrella to the Toronto Blue Jays for Tony Phillips.
New York Mets traded Bernard Gilkey and Nelson Figueroa to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Jorge Fabregas and Willie Blair.
As stretch run retellings go, this one is sad — seemingly more about getting rid of distracting player than gaining missing parts, with the Mets dealing off a bloated contract with a developing drinking problem in Gilkey, a phenom sadly failing to work his way back in Pulsipher, and a homeboy who would finally appear for the Mets 10 year later in Figgy.[/list:u]
December 1, 1998
New York Mets traded Todd Hundley and Arnold Gooch to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Roger Cedeño and Charles Johnson.
New York Mets traded Charles Johnson to the Baltimore Orioles for Armando Benitez.
This was two transactions, but it was really just two legs of a single three-way transaction.
[list]December 4, 1998
New York Mets traded Butch Huskey to the Seattle Mariners for Lesli Brea.
New York Mets traded Willie Blair to the Detroit Tigers for Joe Randa.
Brea turned out to be three years older than he claimed to be, but this wasn't discovered until after the Mets dealt him to the Orioles. Joe Randa, professional hitter, turned out to beat the Mets in Pedro Martinez's otherwise remarkable debut.[/list:u]
July 31, 1999
New York Mets traded Craig Paquette to the St. Louis Cardinals for Shawon Dunston.
New York Mets traded Jason Isringhausen and Greg McMichael to the Oakland Athletics for Billy Taylor.
New York Mets traded Brian McRae, Rigo Beltran and Tom Johnson to the Colorado Rockies for Darryl Hamilton and Chuck McElroy.
Gearing up for a very exciting stretch run here.
[list]July 28, 2000
New York Mets traded Melvin Mora, Mike Kinkade, Pat Gorman and Lesli Brea to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Bordick.
New York Mets traded Paul Wilson and Jason Tyner to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bubba Trammell and Rick White.
Trades that probably did more harm than good, come October. Certainly beyond.[/list:u]
[list]January 21, 2002
New York Mets traded Benny Agbayani and Todd Zeile to the Colorado Rockies for Alex Ochoa, Craig House and Ross Gload.
New York Mets traded Alex Ochoa, Lenny Harris and Glendon Rusch to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jeromy Burnitz, Jeff D'Amico, Lou Collier and Mark Sweeney.
Two legs of one giant, stupid trade that was part of one giant, stupid offseason retooling.[/list:u]
July 31, 2002
New York Mets traded Bobby Jones, Jason Bay and Josh Reynolds to the San Diego Padres for Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed.
New York Mets traded Jay Payton, Mark Corey and Robert Stratton to the Colorado Rockies for John Thomson and Mark Little.
End of the Bobby Valentine era. Totally.
[list]July 30, 2004
New York Mets traded Scott Kazmir and Joselo Diaz to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato.
New York Mets traded Justin Huber to the Kansas City Royals for José Bautista.
New York Mets traded Ty Wigginton, José Bautista and Matt Peterson to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Kris Benson and Jeff Keppinger.
Among other things, Duquette's folly shows how hard it is to deal for the stretch run with one eye on next year at the same time.[/list:u]
March 30, 2015
New York Mets traded Cory Mazzoni to the San Diego Padres for Alex Torres.
New York Mets traded Matt den Dekker to the Washington Nationals for Jerry Blevins.
The first two acquisitions of 2015.[/list:u]
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