New York Mets: Revisiting 5 blockbuster trades that almost happened

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.

Trading Jacob deGrom to the Boston Red Sox

Jacob deGrom literally can’t buy a win right now despite being completely dominant. Just take a second to think about what the Boston Red Sox would look like if he was doing what he’s currently doing in Beantown, though.

Well, it almost happened. It’s a good thing Sandy Alderson double-checked before he committed to anything.

Kelly Shoppach ended up having a brief tenure with the Mets toward the end of 2012, and as it turns out, that eventual transaction was a few months in the making. Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily detailed how things went down between Alderson and former Boston GM, Ben Cherington:

In May, 2012, the Red Sox were working on a deal with the Mets for catcher Kelly Shoppach. Ben Cherington asked Sandy Alderson for a soon-to-be 24-year-old righthanded pitcher in the Florida State League who had missed the 2011 season after surgery. The name? Jacob deGrom. Alderson seemed comfortable with the original idea, but checking with his minor league people caused him to tell Cherington he had second thoughts. So, finally, Boston received Pedro Beato. Second thoughts that may have altered two franchises’ histories.

DeGrom has seen his name get thrown into the rumor mill more than he probably expected. Still, the thought of him not even being in the organization for the past few years is mind-blowing.

This somehow didn’t get on my radar when it was reported in 2015, but I suppose that’s because I was too focused on the mess New York was in before they landed Yoenis Cespedes en route to a National League pennant.

That was fun. Ahhh, simpler times.

Acquiring Manny Ramirez From the Boston Red Sox

Manny Ramirez was a phenomenal hitter during his prime, but he came with his own special, well, circumstances. The term “Manny being Manny” didn’t just happen for no reason, ya know.

Despite being named World Series MVP in 2004 as part of the “idiots” that broke Boston’s 86-year championship curse, Ramirez almost became a Met the following winter.

As detailed on MLB Trade Rumors via WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford, the Red Sox wanted to spend big in free agency and had their eyes on both J.D. Drew and Adrian Beltre. To do that, though, they wanted to clear some money.

New York was interested in Ramirez (again, who wouldn’t want that bat in their lineup?), and while the total package did change, Lastings Milledge and Cliff Floyd were the two constants. It seems like this deal could’ve really happened if the Red Sox contributed some of the $77 million Manny was owed at the time (the more things change, the more they say the same…am I right?).

Selfishly, I’m glad this didn’t happen because Cliff Floyd is my totally random favorite Met outside of the usual suspects. The visual of him catching Josh Willingham’s liner to clinch the National League East in 2006 is a vivid memory that’ll never go away.

Acquiring Ken Griffey, Jr. From the Seattle Mariners

Ken Griffey Jr. didn’t officially become a first-ballot Hall of Famer until a couple years ago, but many would argue he already had that title locked up following the 1999 season. He had appeared in 10 straight All-Star Games, won 10 straight Gold Gloves, and won seven Silver Sluggers.

And just for good measure, he was fresh off his fourth consecutive year of 48-plus homers (leading the league from 1997 to 1999). The Mets were looking for someone to not only pair with Mike Piazza, but to also get them over the hump and into the World Series.

Griffey was looking to leave Seattle, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Each side actually agreed on a deal in principle: New York would receive Griffey, while the Mariners would acquire a package headlined by Octavio Dotel, Armando Benitez, and Roger Cedeno.

As a player with 10-and-5 rights (10 years in the big leagues, five years with his current team), Griffey used his rights to veto that trade. He eventually got traded to where he wanted to play — the Cincinnati Reds — and signed a nine-year, $116.5 million deal that didn’t pan out how anyone hoped because of injuries.

By the way, that’s a deal the Reds are still paying off in deferred payments.

Trading Noah Syndergaard to the ... Tampa Bay Rays

Remember the Mets’ shortstop debacle that ended with Wilmer Flores taking the reigns of the position for most of 2015? Well, Alderson tried to fix the issue in the winter leading up to the season.

Let’s do two things here: give Sandy points for trying to get creative, and give him more points for not making any rash decisions.

This was a potential blockbuster between the Mets, Washington Nationals, and Tampa Bay Rays, and would’ve included names such as Ian Desmond, Yunel Escobar, and Ben Zobrist. Desmond was the man on Alderson’s radar.

Ken Rosenthal (then of FOX Sports), detailed the talks via sources. Here’s how it played out, according to him:

The Nationals would have sent Desmond to the Rays for Zobrist and Escobar, the two players the Rays traded to the Athletics on Saturday. The Rays then would have flipped Desmond to the Mets. The roadblock was the Rays’ request for two top Mets prospects from a list of three – a price the Mets considered too steep for Desmond, who is entering his free-agent year. The Rays’ wish list included right-hander Noah Syndergaard, the Mets’ No. 1 prospect according to Baseball America. The other two targets are not known.

Trying to sidestep that steep price, Alderson attempted to engage with the Rays about Zobrist directly, but the asking price was just as steep.

Noah Syndergaard has had his health issues since the start of 2017, but seriously, can you imagine where the Mets as a club would be right now without both him AND deGrom at the top of their rotation?

Yeah, no thanks. Things don’t need to be any more painful than they already are.