New York Mets - The Clinton Years (2000-2009)

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2000

Decade

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Titles:

Top Mets Players of the Oughts

2000 - Won NLDS (SF), Won NLCS (Cardinals), Lost World Series (Yankees)

2006 - Won NLDS (LA), Lost NLCS (Cardinals)

Pitchers:

Steve Trachsel (11.68) - 49

BallPark:

Al Leiter (18.78) - 47

Shea Stadium (2000 - 2008)

Tom Glavine (15.3) - 44

Citi Field (2009)

Armando Benitez (6.48) - 39

Billy Wagner (4.96) - 26

Team Name:

Johan Santana (10.45) - 23

Mets

Pedro Martinez (8.11) - 19

John Maine (5.68) - 18

Owner:

Mike Pelfrey (2.71) - 17

Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon (2000 - 2001)

Braden Loooper (2.34) - 16

Fred Wilpon (2002 - 2009)

Oliver Perez (2.18) - 16

Glendon Rusch (3.08) - 11

General Managers:

Mike Hampton (4.7) - 10

Steve Phillips (2000 - 2003)

Rick Reed (5.69) - 10

Jim Duquette (2004)

Orlando Hernandez (3.87) - 9

Omar Minaya (2005 - 2009)

Francisco Rodriguez (0.12) - 9

Jae-Weong Seo (7.05) - 7

Managers:

Pedro Feliciano (4.77) - 1

Bobby Valentine (2000 - 2002)

Art Howe (2003 - 2004)

Catchers:

Willie Randolph (2005 - 2008)

Mike Piazza (14.91) - 53

Jerry Manuel (2009)

Paul LoDuca (2.54) - 11

Jason Phillips (0.69) - 11

Hall of Famers:

Mike Piazza

First Basemen:

Pedro Martinez

Carlos Delgado (4.84) - 20

Todd Zeile (2.71) - 15

Rookie of the Year:

None

Second Basemen:

Edgardo Alfonzo (13.02) - 25

MVP:

Jose Valentin (3.53) - 9

None

ShortStop:

Cy Young

Jose Reyes (21.02) - 57

None

Third Base:

Notable Events:

David Wright (29.37) - 57

Robin Ventura (4.32) - 13

2000 - Ace lefty, Mike Hampton, 27, is acquired from Houston for two of the

Ty Wigginton (1.58) - 10

best young players remaining on the team, RP Octavio Dotel, 26, and

CF Roger Cedeno, 25.

Outfield:

Carlos Beltran (27.1) - 66

2000 - New York comes into the twenty first century on a high.

Cliff Floyd (7.71) - 25

They won 97 in '99 and made it to the NLCS.

Mike Cameron (3.31) - 20

Furthermore, they had won 88 games in each of the two seasons prior to that.

Timo Perez (2.47) - 13

The 2000 Mets had a somewhat circular lineup with seven starters

Jay Payton (3.8) - 13

hitting 15 or more homers and batting over .266. Meanwhile, the Amazins

Angel Pagan (4.49) - 8

had a solid starting rotation with all five starters winning in double figures

led by lefties Al Leiter and Mike Hampton who won 31 between them.

Notable Events:

Armando Benitez was a flaky, but effective, closer with 41 saves.

2006 - Omar Minaya has built a formidable squad:

2000 - The Mets make it to the World Series. They weren't dominant as

□ C- Paul LoDuca, 34, trade in '06 from Florida for two low level prospects

their stats would have predicted 88 wins and they are only a wild card.

□ 1B Carlos Delgado, 34, four player trade in '06 from Florida

The Amazins beat the Cards and the Giants in the NL playoff series

□ 2B Jose Valentin, 36, free agent '06 from Dodgers

before being steamrolled by the Yankees in the World Series.

□ SS Jose Reyes, 23, IFA in '99, rookie in '03, pre Minaya

Emotions ran high in the Series right from the first inning when

□ 3B David Wright, 23, 1st round pick in '01, rookie in '04, pre Minaya

Roger Clemens threw a bat, sort of, at Mike Piazza.

□ OF Carlos Beltran, 28, FA from Houston in '05

□ OF Cliff Floyd, 33, FA from Boston in '03, pre Minaya

2001 - Ace lefthander Mike Hampton, 28, bolts to Colorado in free agency.

□ OF Xavier Nady, 27, trade with SD for Mike Cameron in '06

Most of the rest of the team returns. You have to think that there's

□ OF Endy Chavez, 28, FA from Phillies '06

a psychology here because almost everyone on the club has a worse

□ LHP Tom Glavine, 40, free agent from Braves in '03, pre Minaya

season than 2000. If management isn't supporting you to the fullest,

□ RHP Steve Trachsel, 35, cheap free agent from Toronto in '01, pre Minaya

why be invested? You have to think that everyone would have been a lot

□ RHP Pedro Martinez, 34, free agent from Boston in '05

more psyched if not only had management not let Hampton leave,

□ RHP El Duque Hernandez, 40, trade from Arizona in '06

but if they actually signed somebody big to augment the squad.

□ RHP John Maine, 25, trade from Baltimore in '06

But they didn't and the Mets flounder for the next five years.

□ Closer Lefty Billy Wagner, 34, free agent from Philly in '06

Mets fans are justiably miffed with the Wilpons. They just don't get it.

□ LHP Oliver Perez, 24, mid season '06 pickup from Pirates for Xavier Nady

Understood that they had a bad record with free agents, but that was

light years ago and could no longer be used as a valid excuse.

2006 - The Mets win the Division with 97 wins and then beat the Dodgers

in the NLDS before losing to the Cards in the NLCS. From 2005 - 2008, the

2001 - Aside from the inherent cheapness of the Wilpons and the pall it

Mets average 90 wins, so the season is not a fluke. The team is mostly over

cast over the club, this was a team that was ripe for re-tooling. The Mets

thirty, but there is a bit of young talent on the squad such as Jose

had six pitchers and five of its starting position players over 30 and

Reyes, 23, David Wright, 23, outfield prospect Lastings Milledge, 21,

they had just lost one of their young stars to free agency.

Carlos Beltran is still only 29, and lefty Oliver Perez is 24, Unfortunately,

The farm system was bare as New York had dealt away several of its

there just isn't quite enough talent to get over the hump in '07 and '08,

top young players (Preston Wilson, AJ Burnett, Octavio Dotel and

Roger Cedeno) for players who would help win the 2000 pennant.

2008 - Lefty Johan Santana, 29, is obtained from the Twins in a four player trade

All that was left of the young guys were OF Jay Payton, 27,

The Mets are still going for it.

OF Benny Agbayani, 27, 2B Edgardo Alfonzo, 25, IF Melvin Mora, 28,

RHP Glendon Rusch, 25, and Closer Armando Benitez, 27.

2008 - After a slow 34-35 start, the Mets replace Willie Randolph as manager

In other words, the cupboard was pretty bare for the longer term.

with Jerry Manuel. They go 55-38 the rest of the way. Oddly, despite Willie's

three previous excellent seasons with New York, he is never hired again to

2001 - New York drops 12 games in the standings and finishes

manage in the Big Leagues.

barely over .500. They will drop another 7 in '02 followed by another

9 in '03 all the way down to a 66-96 last place finish.

2009 - The run of competitive seasons abruptly stops at four. The Mets are now,

once again, a poor club as they drop 19 games in the standings to 70-92.

2002 - New York trades for a couple of high priced 34 year old veterans.

No one saw this coming. There was lots of young talent around.

1B Mo Vaughn from Anaheim and 2B Robby Alomar from Cleveland.

Lots of reasons for the decline. Most unexpected. The high powered offense

As has been Mets history, both plummet big time. In fact, the

was gone. 1B Carlos Delgado suddenly got old at 37.

circumstance of trying to prop up a sinking ship with high priced

3B David Wright, only 26, and CF Carlos Beltran, 32, lost their power having

imported veterans is similar to a decade earlier with eerily similar results.

gone from a combined 60 home runs and 236 rbi in '08 to 20 home runs

Anyway, the Mets really should have tried to do this a year earlier.

and 120 rbi for no discernable reason.

SS Jose Reyes, 26, suffered a calf injury which turned into two more

2003 - Bobby Valentine is let go before the season.

debilitating injuries while rehabbing. He ended up playing only 36 games.

Unclear to anyone why these types of disasters always happen to the Mets.

2005 - Omar Minaya takes over as GM and turns things around. He is not

On the mound, a young starting rotation of four guys under 30 went belly up.

averse to spending and brings in some high priced talent to make the Mets

Ace Santana declined the least.

competitive. Unclear why the Wilpons allowed this sort of behavior.

The other three, Pelfrey, Perez and Maine just plain went off the rails.

Not their style.

One would have suspected they would improve, not implode.

Injured closer Billy Wagner was dealt to the Red Sox, but he was replaced

2005 - Ex Yankee 2B Willie Randolph is brought in to manage

adequately by free agent pickup Francisco Rodriguez. It wasn't the pen.