Jacob deGrom
Sometimes, we may forget how unrealistic video games and simulations can be. This game between the Mets and Reds is a perfect example of that.
Not only did Jacob deGrom enter the game with a 3.89 ERA, but he’d be knocked out of this start after allowing five earned over 4.2 innings. As if that wasn’t all ridiculous enough, the Mets gave him some run support.
That mostly came in the form of two Yoenis Cespedes homers and a homer from Pete Alonso. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as deGrom would take the loss in this 7-6 game.
The Mets have won two World Series with Donn Clendenon and Ray Knight being the MVPs of those series. Aside from being Mets, one thing that links them is they both wore the number 22. However, while each have their own special place in Mets history, the best Mets player to ever wear the number was Al Leiter.
After being the starting pitcher in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, Leiter was shipped out as Wayne Huizenga ordered a firesale of the team. Leiter, who grew up a Mets fan in New Jersey, would get to live out his childhood dream of pitching for the Mets. On that note, before there was Todd Frazier, Leiter was the Mets player from Toms River, NJ.
The Leiter trade was a significant step for the franchise. Not only did it come at a steep cost which included AJ Burnett, but it was an indication the Mets were looking to take the next step forward after a surprising 88 win season in 1997. Leiter went from a star studded rotation in Florida to the Mets ace.
In that 1998 season, he was 17-6 with a 2.47 ERA, 1.150 WHIP, and an 8.1 K/9. Using the stat ERA+, Leiter’s 1998 season was the best by any Mets pitcher not named Dwight Gooden, Jacob deGrom, or Tom Seaver. Put another way, it was the best season by any Mets left-handed pitcher, a group which includes Tom Glavine, Jerry Koosman, and Johan Santana.
While Mike Piazza got much of the publicity for that season, and deservedly so, by WAR, Leiter was the second best player on that Mets team. It should be noted he was the pitcher who was on the mound when Piazza first came to the Mets. The two of them became friends, and Leiter was one of the reasons Piazza stayed.
Leiter would not be able to replicate his 1998 success in a Mets uniform, but he would go on to put together a great Mets career. While it may not have been his best season, Leiter would come up big time and again.
After the May firings of Bobby Valentine‘s coaching staff, Leiter won six of his next seven starts to help get the Mets from one game under .500 at the beginning of June to 11 games over just one month later. That helped turn the 1999 season from a forgettable one to one of the most special ones in team history.
When the Mets were staring down a late season collapse for the second straight year, Leiter helped right the ship by beating the Braves to allow the team to tie the Reds atop the Wild Card standings to force a play-in game. Leiter would get the ball, and he would turn in what was arguably the greatest regular season pitching performance in team history:
In a game the Mets absolutely had to have, Leiter put his best performance in a Mets uniform pitching a two hit shut-out on the road against the Reds to send the Mets to the NLDS. One interesting note is that while this is classified as a one-game playoff, it is considered a regular season game.
One of the reasons this is interesting is because despite some truly great performances in the postseason, Leiter never won a postseason game with the Mets. Mostly, it was due to some bad luck like when he lost Game 3 of the NLCS when the greatest infield of all-time allowed an unearned run in the Mets 1-0 loss. To be fair, his teammates picked him up in Game 6.
In 2000, for the first time in his Mets career, he was not the designated ace. That didn’t matter all that much as Leiter had a great season making the All Star team while going 16-8 with a 3.20 ERA. Things would not be as difficult for the Mets this year as they easily made the postseason.
In typical Leiter hard luck fashion, his gem in Game 2 of the NLDS went by the wayside when Armando Benitez blew the save. Still, Leiter’s performance was important as it helped right the ship after an opening game loss, and it helped propel the Mets to the NLCS. In the NLCS, Turk Wendell vultured a win.
In that World Series, Benitez yet again blew the save in Game 1 costing Leiter a win. That series did not go the Mets way, and they were forced to win a Game 5 to send the series back to Yankee Stadium. In that Game 5, Leiter gave everything he had to try to will the Mets to victory. Being a terrible hitter, he would even try to bunt his way on to drive home a run. Sadly, he was out of gas after 142 pitches, and his defense just couldn’t get to that one ground ball.
The Mets never reached those heights again during Leiter’s tenure. However, he had one more big moment left in the tank.
Many forget this now, but after the 9/11 attacks, it was Leiter, the local kid from Toms River, NJ, who was handed the baseball when the Mets returned to action in Pittsburgh. He received a no decision after limiting the Pirates to one run over seven innings.
One really important note here is Leiter is the last Mets player to ever wear a First Responder’s cap. On the one year anniversary, Leiter cycled through the caps for each of the first responder agencies pitching a complete game shutout against the Braves.
In Leiter’s final few years with the Mets, they never got back to the postseason, but Leiter still remained a very good pitcher for the team. Notably, he never had a losing record for the Mets, and he won 10+ in his seven years with the Mets with a 3.42 ERA. He would also accomplish some truly astonishing feats.
In 2000, he won the Roberto Clemente Award. In 2002, he became the first Major League pitcher to defeat all 30 teams. In one he probably wants to have back, he was the last ever pitcher to lose a game to the Montreal Expos. Overall, he became of the best pitchers in Mets history.
In fact, he could make the claim as the best ever left-handed pitcher. On that note, among Mets pitchers who have thrown at least 1,000 innings, only Jacob deGrom and Seaver have a better ERA+. Overall, Leiter is in the Mets top 1o in wins, GS, IP, strikeouts, WAR, and ERA+. He should be in the Mets Hall of Fame, but for now, he is going to have to settle for being the best Mets player to ever wear the number 22.
Previous
1.Mookie Wilson
2.Mackey Sasser
3. Curtis Granderson
4. Lenny Dykstra
5. David Wright
6. Wally Backman
7. Jose Reyes
8. Gary Carter
9. Todd Hundley
10. Rey Ordonez
11. Wayne Garrett
12. John Stearns
13. Edgardo Alfonzo
14. Gil Hodges
15. Carlos Beltran
16. Dwight Gooden
17. Keith Hernandez
18. Darryl Strawberry
19. Bob Ojeda
20. Howard Johnson
21. Cleon Jones
To date, despite the Mets already having 20+ games from their 2020 season canceled, they have yet to issue one refund to their fans. They have not issued a refund despite the fact MLB already has announced it will have a shortened season, and early indications are the season may be played at a neutral site meaning Mets fans may never get to see the Mets play at Citi Field this year.
Still, the Mets, like the other 29 teams and the secondary market, are holding onto your money. The reason is MLB is using the very dishonest practice of calling games which will never be played postponed instead of cancelled. As reported by Bill Shakin of the LA Times, that has already led to a class action lawsuit.
Despite the pending lawsuit, all 30 of the Major League Baseball teams are keeping their fans money. They’re keeping the money of both season and single game ticket holders. At the moment, those fans are getting absolutely NOTHING in return, and it is unclear when, or if, those fans are ever going to get a refund.
While these games have come and gone unplayed, there have been a number of notable promotions for each team. For the Mets, there have already been a number of popular promotions which have come and gone with not one being distributed to the fans.
Those promotions include the Jacob deGrom back-to-back Cy Young bobblehead, the Pete Alonso Rookie of the Year bobblehead, and the Jeff McNeil bobblehead.
#OpeningWeekend will be here before you know it! Be at @CitiField as we start the season against Washington.
Saturday, 3/28 – @Pete_Alonso20 ROY bobblehead
Sunday, 3/29 – @JdeGrom19 Cy Young bobblehead?️: https://t.co/1pkMPg0MsR pic.twitter.com/CvffU826fO
— New York Mets (@Mets) February 17, 2020
On the horizon is the Amed Rosario bobblehead which is purportedly a two part bobblehead which will link up with Robinson Cano. For the Cano one, you have to go to a game in late August. Of course, there is the matter of whether that game ever gets played.
There have also been Free T-Shirt Fridays with a Noah Syndergaard replica jersey among those items which were supposed to be given to fans. There would have been other promotions as well like player posters and magnetic schedules. These were all promotional items which were supposed to be distributed to fans as part of an incentive to get them to spend money on Mets tickets.
Keep in mind, not only are the Mets holding onto their fans money, but they are also holding onto the promotions which would have been distributed at those games. While the Mets may not be able to unilaterally refund their fans money as this is likely a larger MLB policy, there is nothing preventing them from doing the right thing and sending their fans the promotional items for those games.
Overall, if the Mets and the other MLB teams are going to keep their fans money, they should be forced to give the fans some return for their purchase. While the Mets cannot play games in this environment, they can send the promotional items to fans.
No, it is not likely they can do that now. That is unrealistic due to the myriad of safety concerns, and with the shutdown, the Mets cannot possibly have enough employees on site to perform this task. However, that does not mean they should not be preparing to do right by their fans by preparing to send them the promotions they would have received had the games actually been played.
In their history, the Mets have had six players win the Rookie of the Year Award – Tom Seaver (1967), Jon Matlack (1972), Darryl Strawberry (1983), Dwight Gooden, (1984), Jacob deGrom (2014), and Pete Alonso (2019). Out of those six, two stand above the rest as they were record breaking seasons:
Who do you think had a better rookie season?@Pete_Alonso20 ?: https://t.co/XCpko4HkPn@DocGooden16 ?: https://t.co/0rb2LEwUr1@CoorsLight wants to find out ?
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 21, 2020
When the Mets posted a poll on Twitter, fans were split as to who had the better rookie season. They shouldn’t have been.
With respect to Alonso, there is no denying how great a year he had. During the year, Alonso would break Aaron Judge‘s rookie home run record, and like Judge, he would win the Home Run Derby. He would also be an All-Star. Alonso proved to be a great power hitter setting a number of Mets single season records.
In 2019, Alonso set not just the Mets rookie records, but also the team single season records for homers, total bases, extra base hits, and HR/AB. He was also in the top 10 in a number of other categories including SLG and RBI. What is interesting, and noteworthy for reasons detailed below, Alonso was not in the Mets single-season top 25 in WAR or the top 15 in OPS+.
Gooden had every bit the record breaking season Alonso had. In fact, Gooden not just broke, but he obliterated Herb Score‘s rookie strikeout record. Ultimately, Gooden would strike out 276 batters that year, a mark which would lead the majors. His K/9 would not just lead the majors, but it would also be the Mets single-season record.
In that season, Gooden would also lead the league in FIP, WHIP, H/9, HR/9, and WAR. If we are being completely honest, he was absolutely robbed of the Cy Young Award which went to Rick Sutcliffe because writers were obviously most interested in narrative and story than facts.
Like Alonso, Gooden’s season wasn’t just a great rookie year, it was also a great single season year in Mets history. In fact, Gooden’s 1984 season would be the Mets single season records for K/9 and FIP. His strikeouts were the most by any Mets pitcher not named Seaver. Remember, this is a franchise with Seaver, deGrom, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana, and other greats.
With all due respect to players like Carlos Beltran, Mike Piazza, Darryl Strawberry, and David Wright, they just don’t have the same cache as those pitchers. In terms of the pitching, the Mets have had some of the best pitchers of all-time playing at their peak. Please keep in mind, that is in no way meant to disparage those hitters. After all, Piazza and Beltran played like Hall of Famers while with the Mets. It’s just that Seaver and Martinez are on a completely different plateau.
When you are a Mets pitcher who breaks a team record, it is truly noteworthy. It really is of historical significance as you have done something not even Seaver did. Remember, not only is Seaver the greatest player who ever wore a Mets uniform, but he is also arguably the greatest right-handed pitcher in baseball history. In his rookie year, Gooden surpassed Seaver in K/9 and FIP.
Going back to the FIP, Gooden’s season was the 14th best of all-time. In fact, only Martinez had a better FIP in the post World War II era. Looking back, Gooden’s 1984 season is completely overshadowed for how great it was. Part of the reason for that is Gooden had an even better season in 1985.
Going deeper, you can make a good case Gooden’s rookie season was the greatest rookie season a pitcher ever had. While Alonso’s season was great, you can’t make that same claim for him among the ranks of position players.
If the historical significance of both seasons is not enough to convince you, consider their respective WAR. In 1984, Gooden had a 5.5 bWAR and 8.3 fWAR surpasses Alonso’s 5.2 bWAR and 4.8 fWAR.
Overall, while there is no denying Alonso had a great rookie year, the best a Mets position player ever had, it just pales in comparison to Gooden’s 1984 rookie season. Simply put, Gooden probably had the greatest rookie season a pitcher ever had, and he had the best rookie season of any Mets player.
Every time a team makes a trade, you hope that it is helping you win a World Series. There are few times you can pinpoint a trade as a significant reason why your team was able to beat the other team. In many ways, that is exactly what the Bob Ojeda trade was for the Mets.
Before the 1986 season, the Mets acquired Ojeda from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a package which included Calvin Schiraldi. The motivating factor for this deal was for the Mets to get another left-handed starter into the rotation to help them deal with the Cardinals line-up which included the left-handed Andy Van Slyke as well as the switch hitting Tom Herr, Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman, and Willie McGee.
What the Mets really got was the best pitcher in their rotation. Yes, even with Dwight Gooden atop the rotation, Ojeda would lead that Mets team with a 140 ERA+. In fact, he was arguably the second best pitcher in the National League that year after Mike Scott. Overall, Ojeda was 18-5 with a 2.57 ERA.
As great as he was in the regular season, he was even better in the postseason. His first ever postseason start came in Game 2 of the NLCS with the Mets already down 1-0 in the series. He would respond by out-dueling Nolan Ryan in his complete game victory:
That postseason Ojeda made four starts, and the Mets won all four games he pitched. All four of those games were crucial games the Mets had to have. That included this Game 3 and the subsequent Game 5. The next time he took the mound was in Game 3 of the World Series.
In that Game 3, Ojeda was facing his former Red Sox teammates; teammates who were up 2-0 in the series as it headed to Fenway. Staked to a 4-0 lead before he ever took the mound, Ojeda would shut down the Red Sox offense and get the Mets back into the series. Over seven innings, he yielded just one run on five hits.
In Game 6, the Mets once again handed him the ball asking him to keep hopes alive. With all the drama of that game, one thing which gets completely lost is how well Ojeda pitched. He did all he could possibly do to keep the Red Sox at bay limiting them to just two runs over six innings. When he departed that game, the score was tied, and the Mets were still alive.
An important note to that game was while Ojeda was keeping the Mets alive, Schiradi melted down. After two quick outs, he allowed Gary Carter to start the greatest World Series rally of all-time. Ultimately, Schiraldi would be the losing pitcher of that Game 6, and he would be the losing pitcher of Game 7.
In the history of baseball, you may never get a clearer indication of who won and lost a trade than this 1986 World Series. For the Mets, they have no chance at winning it if they did not have Ojeda in the rotation. With respect to the Red Sox, it’s possible they win that World Series if they had someone else on the mound in those crucial Game 6 and Game 7 moments.
Ojeda’s Mets career was more than just 1986. In 1987, he would get the Opening Day start due to Dwight Gooden‘s drug problems. Unfortunately, his season would be hampered by injury. He would recover to again be an important part of the 1988 rotation.
That year, due to the emergence of David Cone, he was “only” the second best pitcher in the rotation with a 112 ERA+. Yes, he had a losing record, but that tells you more about the that stat than it does about how Ojeda pitched. After all, he had a 2.88 ERA and a 1.004 WHIP. Aside from that record, everyone knew how good Ojeda was. That was evident from his five shutouts, a mark which ranks as the sixth best single season mark in Mets history. His HR/9 that year was also sixth best.
Many to this day, pinpoint his severing part of the middle finger in a hedge clipper accident as the reason the Mets lost the 1988 NLCS. That’s how good he was that year, and really, that is how much of a big game pitcher he was.
Ojeda would last two more years with the Mets pitching well. He would finish his Mets career with a 51-40 record with a 3.12 ERA, and a 1.182 WHIP. His ERA and WHIP are the ninth best in Mets history. That is all the more remarkable when you consider it puts him ahead of pitchers like Johan Santana. Finally, he is ninth in terms of shutouts which puts him not only ahead of Santana but also Jacob deGrom.
More than any of that, he was a driving force for the Mets winning the 1986 World Series. His importance to that team could not be overstated. As a result, Ojeda is the best Mets player to wear the number 19.
Previous
1.Mookie Wilson
2.Mackey Sasser
3. Curtis Granderson
4. Lenny Dykstra
5. David Wright
6. Wally Backman
7. Jose Reyes
8. Gary Carter
9. Todd Hundley
10. Rey Ordonez
11. Wayne Garrett
12. John Stearns
13. Edgardo Alfonzo
14. Gil Hodges
15. Carlos Beltran
16. Dwight Gooden
17. Keith Hernandez
18. Darryl Strawberry
In the first game of this series, the Marlins offense exploded. In the next game, the Mets responded. In tonight’s game, no one could score:
From the Marlins perspective, you knew this was likely coming with Jacob deGrom on the mound. Jake was Jake shutting out the Marlins for seven innings.
Robert Gsellman, Edwin Diaz (2 IP), and Justin Wilson shut the Marlins down to keep them scoreless through 11. That allowed Brandon Nimmo to be the hero as he hit a walk-off homer to give the Mets a 1-0 extra inning victory.
There was a time when we thought Dwight Gooden was not only going to be the best Mets player of all-time, but he may be one of the best ever. That was how great Gooden was to start his career, and arguably, even with Tom Seaver and Jacob deGrom, Gooden put together the best two year stretch a Mets pitcher ever had.
To say Gooden was a phenom in 1984 was a complete and utter understatement. Gooden burst onto the scene leading the league in strikeouts, FIP, H/9, HR/9, and K.9. To date, his 11.4 K/9 that season still remains a Mets single-season record. His 276 strikeouts that season ranks “only” third in Mets history, but it was the Major League rookie record for strikeouts:
Not only was Gooden the youngest pitcher to ever pitch in an All-Star Game, but he would also strike out the side. Notably, in that game, he and Fernando Valenzuela combined to strike out six straight batters. That remains an All-Star Game record.
As great as he was in 1984, he would be even better in 1985. That 1985 season still ranks as the best season a Mets pitcher has ever had. Gooden’s 12.2 WAR mark that year still rates as the highest WAR any Met has had in any season. That year also marked the Mets single-season record for shutouts and WPA.
Perhaps, the best way to describe just how dominant Gooden was in the 1985 season is to point out how batters had absolutely no chance against him. In fact, as pointed out by Sports Illustrated, Larry Bowa told Gooden he had been tipping his pitches that entire season. Even with batters knowing what was coming, they still couldn’t hit him. One of the reasons why is he had a curveball so good Tim McCarver once dubbed it Lord Charles.
During the year, Gooden won the unanimous Cy Young, and he won the pitcher’s Triple Crown. His numbers that year look like video game numbers: 24-4, 1.53 ERA, 276.2 IP, 0.965 WHIP, and 268 strikeouts. He was simply untouchable.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons including drug and arm issues, Gooden never got back to this level. Still, he was a bona fide ace. In 1986, he would become the youngest pitcher to ever start an All Star Game. While he would amazingly never earn a postseason win in his career, he would still have some great starts. For example, in Game 5 of the 1986 NLCS, Gooden would allow just one run over 10.0 innings. While Gooden struggled in that World Series, he was still a World Series champion.
That’s when things really went downhill. Gooden missed the championship parade, and he would serve the first of his suspensions related to his cocaine use. The last one cost him the entirety of the 1995 season, and it would be the end of his Mets career.
After that 1986 season, he would still have highlights. Despite the suspension to start the year, he’d be lovingly greeted by Mets fans in his 1987 debut. He’d also finish in the top five of Cy Young voting. In 1988, he’d again pitch atop the Mets rotation who would win the NL East for the second time in three years.
While much of the focus was on Mike Scioscia in that series, his performance was overlooked. In his Game 1 no decision, he struck out 10 and out-pitched Orel Hershiser. Even though he got the no decision, he helped the Mets jump out to an early 1-0 lead in that series:
One thing which was understandably lost was his coming out of the bullpen on two days rest in Game 7 to pitch three shutout innings.
Gooden’s last good year came in 1990. Looking past his 3.83 ERA, which was startling a career high, he led the league in FIP and HR/9. It was also his fifth season pitching 200 innings, an it was the fourth time he would strike out 200 batters. For that season, he would finish fourth in the Cy Young voting.
Even with the troubles and much of the promise unfulfilled, Gooden remains a great all-time Met and Mets Hall of Famer. He is arguably the second best pitcher in Mets history. To date, he still holds team records in win percentage and HR/9. He also ranks second in WAR among pitchers, wins, strikeouts, and FIP.
Gooden is all over the top 10 in Mets pitcher career and single-season records. By WAR, he is the third best player to ever wear the Mets uniform. While we may fret over what might’ve been, what we got was a World Series, and the best player to ever wear the number 16.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series highlighting the best players in Mets history by highlighting the best Mets player to wear a particular uniform number. In this case, this is not saying Gooden was the 16th best player in Mets history, but rather the best Mets player to wear the number 16.
Previous
1.Mookie Wilson
2.Mackey Sasser
3. Curtis Granderson
4. Lenny Dykstra
5. David Wright
6. Wally Backman
7. Jose Reyes
8. Gary Carter
9. Todd Hundley
10. Rey Ordonez
11. Wayne Garrett
12. John Stearns
13. Edgardo Alfonzo
14. Gil Hodges
15. Carlos Beltran
Keston Hiura and Justin Smoak hit a pair of two run homers in the second inning off of Jacob deGrom giving the Brewers an early 2-0 lead. The Mets responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning with a Wilson Ramos solo shot and a Jeff McNeil two RBI double to take a 3-2 lead.
Smoak tied the game back up in the fourth with an RBI double. Ramos’ fifth inning RBI single retook the lead.
Christian Yelich homered off Robert Gsellman to tie the game in the seventh. Gsellman would load the bases that inning, but Jeurys Familia would get out of the jam.
It was Ramos again in the seventh with a go-ahead RBI single scoring Michael Conforto giving the Mets a 5-4 lead.
The Mets would win the game by that score after Edwin Diaz recorded the save. That means the Mets are undefeated this year when wearing their black jerseys on Friday.
Looking at the 2019 season, Jacob deGrom and Pete Alonso are the reigning Cy Young and the Rookie of the Year award winners. With each passing day, it becomes more difficult to see how someone will supplant them in 2020.
By no means were deGrom and Alonso were the first to win those awards or any award for the Mets. Can you name who won the first player award for the Mets and for every team in MLB history? Good luck!
Babe Ruth Tris Speaker George Sisler Alfredo Griffin Carlos Pena George Burns Luis Aparicio Ty Cobb Lou Piniella Walter Johnson Eddie Collins Dean Chance Vic Power Doug Rader Alvin Davis Jeff Burroughs Mike Hargrove Tom Seaver Charles Johnson Johnny Evers Chuck Klein Carl Morton Frank Schulte Paul Waner Randy Johnson Steve Finley Don Baylor Dante Bichette Vinny Castilla Randy Jones Chuck Metzger Jake Daubert Larry Doyle
Well, the Mets couldn’t complete the sweep. Somehow, through a glitch in the matrix, the Brewers jumped all over Jacob deGrom:
The four runs off deGrom seemed odd, but jumping all over the Mets bullpen in the 11-4 game didn’t.