Sometimes, the best trade is the one you don’t make. The New York Mets have found that out themselves in some instances.
If you’re a baseball fan, right now is one of the craziest times of the year. It’s fun as hell, but it’s also incredibly exhausting.
With the non-waiver trade deadline inching closer, though, the end is in sight. Once 4 p.m. ET passes on Tuesday, the rampant rumors about all kinds of players will cease. Well, to a degree — it’ll then shift to the waiver trade deadline, which is Aug. 31.
Rumors on which teams are interested in certain players can seem ridiculous. However, it’s even more ridiculous to hear about are all the trades that were close to happening before falling apart for one reason or another.
New York Mets fans are well aware of this thanks to the 2015 trade deadline, featuring a failed trade for Carlos Gomez, tears from Wilmer Flores, and a relieved Zack Wheeler who was at home rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
As the wheeling and dealing kicks into another gear, let’s take a quick look at five other potential trades involving the Mets that at least had some chance of happening at one point in time.
Trading David Wright to the Toronto Blue Jays
Of all the potential trades that’ll be discussed here, this is probably the one most Mets fans are aware of…at least, I was.
The year was 2002, and third baseman David Wright was just a 19-year-old minor leaguer in the midst of his first full season of professional baseball. As the trade deadline approached, former general manager Steve Phillips approached J.P. Ricciardi — then of the Toronto Blue Jays — about acquiring Jose Cruz Jr. in exchange for Wright.
ESPN’s Keith Law addressed the trade that never was a number of years ago during a chat with readers:
“The offer was made, though; I was there when the call came in. It was the first time I’d heard of Wright, since I wasn’t with Toronto in 2001 nor had I followed the draft when Wright was in it. JP’s reaction was, ‘I’m not trading a major league player for some guy in the Sally League.’ And that was pretty much that.”
Wright not playing in a big-league game since the 2016 season sure makes it seem like he’s not around anymore, but could you ever imagine the Mets without him at the hot corner since he debuted in 2004?
I can’t and don’t want to. All he’s done is put his name at or near the top of every offensive category of the franchise’s record books, along with winning two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers, and appearing in seven All-Star Games.
