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Sometimes Deals Work Out Strangely

MFS62 Aug 16 2005 10:33 AM

Someone mentioned the name Jody Davis, and I decided to do some research. The Mets had John Stearns, so decided to trade Jody,a catcher, for lefty reliever Ray Searage, who lasted one year with the club. As a result, for a while, the Mets catching corps consisted of Mike Fitzgerald and Junior Ortiz (who actually combined for NO home runs one year) while Davis went on to hit 20+HR with 80+ RBI for a few years and make an All Star Team. But if the Mets had held onto Davis, would they have ever traded for Gary Carter? Can you think of any other Mets trades that opened up a hole that eventually led to them getting a much better player, but a year or two later? Later

Edgy DC Aug 16 2005 11:57 AM

It was 1980 when the Mets had no homers from their catching staff (Trevino, Injured Stearns, Ron Hodges, Butch Benton). Fitzgerald got just 20 at-bats in 1983, but his one homer was just enough to save an otherwise dinger-free season by Hodges, Ortiz, Ronn Reynolds, the late and legendary Mike Bishop, and the out-of-position Tucker Ashoford. In 1984, Bishop became the primary starter, and two homers from him and one from Hodges was a minor windfall.

rpackrat Aug 16 2005 12:50 PM

Your description of Davis' career is not technically inaccurate, but it is misleading. Davis hit "20+" HRs twice in his career -- and those were 3 years apart, in 1983 and 1986. He also had "80+" RBI only twice in his career -- 1983 and 1984. For his career, his OPS+ (park-adjusted OPS) was 92, or 8 percent below league average. While he may have been better than the guys who replaced him in the short term, he was not a greta hitting catcher. His career line was .245-.307-.403, 127 HRs and 490 RBI in a 10 year career.

MFS62 Aug 16 2005 06:21 PM

Thank you for the corrections, but neither of you answered my question. Can you think of other instances where the Mets traded someone they might have needed in the future (they couldn't have predicted Stearns' injuries), sucked it up with sub-par replacements for a while, then got a player who was better than the one they might have kept? Later

Valadius Aug 16 2005 09:55 PM

Absolutely. If the Mets hadn't traded Joe Randa, would we have ever seen David Wright?