Five former Mets are headed to the World Series, and while in previous years, this might have stung, but this year, it only gives fans of the Amazins’ something to cheer for.
The World Series will feature five players who spent time with the Mets: Starting pitchers Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt, and infielder Andrés Giménez with the Toronto Blue Jays, and outfielder Michael Conforto and right-handed reliever Anthony Banda for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Unlike in other years, this is a good thing. The Mets have become far more adept at understanding what they have in their system and on their own team.
Three years ago, Mets fans were forced to watch as Zack Wheeler, an ace developed by the Mets, led the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series. A year later, he helped pitch the Phillies to the NLCS. That same year, Scherzer, who started the season with the Mets, returned from an injury to pitch for the Texas Rangers in the World Series.
Former Mets have always dotted the rosters of playoff teams, and the same can be true of other teams as well. For as much success as the Dodgers have had over the last decade, even they’ve let some players go that have become successful elsewhere. It’s every front office’s worst fear, especially when it comes to players they’ve drafted and/or developed in their minor league system.
Only two players who came out of the Mets’ system play for World Series teams, Conforto and Giménez, the latter of which was sent to Cleveland as part of the Francisco Lindor trade. The Mets would still make that trade again. The shortstop is a bonafide star and a key leader for the Mets on and off the field.
The team would be in a far different position had it not acquired Lindor in 2021, and signed him to a 10-year contract.
Once billed as a future franchise cornerstone after helping the Mets capture the 2015 pennant as a rookie, Conforto left Queens as a free agent after the 2021 season. At the time, he was 28 with what turned out to be two bad shoulders. His career was already declining, and the Mets had a new management group that wasn’t bound by loyalty to homegrown players.
The club built around a different group of homegrown hitters, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil, adding Lindor to the core to put it over the top. In 2022, they signed Scherzer to a three-year contract, which helped lend credibility to owner Steve Cohen’s operation a year after he purchased a controlling interest in the team.
Chris Bassitt was one of the first players the Mets landed after the lockout ended in March 2022, trading two pitching prospects to the Oakland A’s for the right-handed All-Star. Those two pitchers — right-handers J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller — have combined to pitch in only 67 games in the big leagues. It was arguably one of Billy Eppler’s best moves during his two-year stint as the Mets general manager.
Scherzer and Bassitt were in a rotation with Jacob deGrom, who finally had hitters that could give him some run support. The Mets won 101 games in 2022, reaching the postseason for the first time since 2016.
Of course, letting go of Bassitt in free agency following the 2022 season was arguably one of Eppler’s worst moves. DeGrom was gone, choosing to sign with Texas as a free agent. He was replaced by Justin Verlander, a 40-year-old who managed to turn back the clock in 2022 with the Houston Astros, winning the AL Cy Young Award and a World Series. Verlander wasn’t the same with the Mets, and the team was unequipped to absorb the struggles of nearly the entire starting rotation.
Scherzer and Verlander were both traded midseason, which was tough for all involved, but especially for Scherzer. He believed in the Mets and what they were doing, and was hesitant to waive the no-trade clause in his contract. Ultimately, he went to the Rangers for infielder Luisangel Acuña, while Verlander was traded back to the Astros for Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford.
But here’s where these trades still sting a bit. Gilbert was traded to the San Francisco Giants for reliever Tyler Rogers at the deadline in July, and was immediately called up to the big leagues. The outfielder nearly helped the Giants reach the postseason, hitting nearly .300 with a .908 OPS over a 15-game stretch in August and September before falling back to earth. Acuña spent much of the season on the Mets’ Major League roster being utilized mostly as a late-game infield defender or pinch-runner. Unable to do much with the bat, the infielder/outfielder could be traded this winter.
Clifford, a first baseman/outfielder who is now 22, had a solid season in the minor leagues, but doesn’t appear to be ready for the big leagues.
It doesn’t always work out the way teams project. Scherzer’s contract would have expired after 2024 anyway, though the Mets sure could have used Bassitt and his 31 starts in 2025.
Still, it’s all so far in the past that it matters little. While last season was one many fans would like to forget, the former Mets playing for a championship will give fans something to look forward to.
