Mets In-Season Report Card

May 1981 Jeff Reardon,Dan Norman to Montreal for Ellis Valentine F Valentine sucked his way through two seasons with the Mets,while Reardon went on to become one of a handful of guys to reinvent the closer role. June 1983 Neil Allen,Rick Ownby to St. Louis for Kieth Hernandez A++ What can I say? There is no ring in 86 without Hernandez...Also one of the best color men in the business. July 1989 Lenny Dykstra,Roger McDowell, to Philidelphia for Juan Samuel Mookie Wilson to Toronto for Jeff Musleman,Mike Brady Rick Agularia,Kevin Tapani,Tim Drummond to Minnesota for Frank Viola F,F,and F I believe it was around this time I realized being a Mets fan might be a difficult journey. This trio of July trades breaks down to Mookie, Dykstra, McDowell, Agularia, and Kevin Tapani for Viola and Juan Samuel. July 1991 Ron Darling, Mike Thomas to Montreal for Tim Burke D I'm guessing the conversation went something like this: METS: We'll give you Darling for the most run down, ragged used up piece of shit you got. EXPOS: Can you throw in Thomas? July 1996 Jeff Kent, Jose Vizcaino to Cleveland for Carlos Baerga C+ Tough one, you cant blame the Mets for this...Baerga was an absolute stud at the time. Only the Mets could trade a future HOF 2B for a certain HOF 2B,who then turns into a pile of shit, then replace him with another sure thing HOF 2B who then also turns into a pile of shit. May 1999 Ed Yarnall, Geoff Goetz, Preston Wilson to Florida for Mike Piazza A You know, I really liked the guys we gave away in this deal. But when you have a chance to get a Piazza...you jump on it. July 2004 Scott Kazmir, Joselo Diaz to Tampa for Victor Zambrano Jose Bautista,Ty Wigginton, Mat Peterson to Pittsburgh for Anna + Kris Benson D I got into it with my buddy at the bar the day this trade went down. He didnt get the point...You don't trade a top 20 in baseball prospect for a guy that couldnt hit the broad side of a fucking barn. Listen, the point of this post isn't to be negative about the Mets chances of getting better through the trade market. Just saying be careful what you wish for. I see a lot of comments on blogs like "why don't we trade McHugh, DeGrom and Havens for Grienke?" Uhhhh, it doesn't really work like that. Scouts from other teams tend to look for future major leaguers, not 24 year olds ripping up low A ball. Right now the Mets have a middle of the pack farm system, thats going to graduate 3 of its top 4 players by next year--and not much to replace them. I say go big or go home. Offer anybody but Wheeler for Grienke, or Hamels. Dickey,Santana and Hamels would be tough to beat in a 5 or 7 game series.