It’s hard being the younger, less tradition-rich franchise in the city that never sleeps. Despite the memories of some of the greatest moments in big league history, the New York Mets find themselves feeling like second-class citizens in their own city going into 2010.
Begrudgingly, that is where the Mets find themselves after a spectacular stretch of baseball in the Omar Minaya era.
The high point was the young 2006 team that ran away with the National League East during the regular season, only to fall a game short of the pennant.
After two seasons of barely missing the postseason, the team bottomed out in 2009, when Mets players spent more than 1,480 days on the disabled list, the most in the majors, a list that included eight former All-Stars.
The Mets path during the Omar Minaya era has been a rollercoaster, but it could be much worse. The Mets spent more days in first place in the NL East from 2006-2008 than any team in the division, but it isn’t how to start, it’s how you finish.
Over the past decade, there were a lot of potential moves that the Mets could have made, that some fans clamored for, that the team decided not to make. A team with the passionate fanbase such as the Mets faithful ends up with a thousand different opinions on how to make the team better.
Today, I’ll look at some of these potential moves that never happened. Whether it’s trades that weren’t made, or free agent targets that ended up elsewhere, I’ll take a look at ten players that almost called Shea Stadium and/or Citi Field home.
Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, and no one really knows what could’ve happened in different circumstances if we change the past. But just for fun, let’s imagine what it would be like if the fans, at least the most vocal ones, had really gotten their say on player decisions.
Read on…