Return To Sender

Barry Wittenstein at SNY, writes about all the bad Mets Moves and what could have been if things had gone differently for some Mets' from our recent past, such as Mr. Strawberry & Mr. Gooden. These are presented in an "imagine if" format:

Scott Kazmir:

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, sighting the evidence that Tampa Bay did not fully disclose the extent of their pitcher's arm injury, has rescinded the Mets - D-Rays trade involving Scott Kazmir and Victor Zambrano.

"The Mets alerted us to this possible omission of medical reports," Selig told reporters via a conference call, "and after some investigation, we agree." Kazmir, who was to pitch in tomorrow's game at Yankee Stadium for the Rays, took off his uniform, said goodbye to his teammates of one week and flew to Norfolk to resume his Mets' career.

Darryl Strawberry And Dwight Gooden:

In what can only be described as a storybook ending, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, close friends on and off the field for the past 25 years, were inducted together into Baseball's Hall of Fame today, joining Tom Seaver who was honored in 1992. Strawberry, who hit 658 home runs and Gooden, who won 304 games, are unique in that remained with the Mets for their entire careers.

"I want to thank, first of all, Frank Cashen, for trading Kevin Mitchell after 1986 before he could infect us with his bad drug habits," Dwight Gooden said before an audience of 10 thousand. " I also want to thank my good friend, Darryl Straberry, for without his guidance and support, I'd probably would have ended up incarcerated. Thank you, Darryl."

Trading Tom Seaver

In what might have turned into one of the all-time great Mets' blunders, M. Donald Grant, the chairman of the New York Mets, revealed today that he was "this close to trading Tom Seaver" at the deadline in 1977.

"News reporter Dick Young was pressuring me, giving me all this crap about Seaver's wife and Seaver, and I finally said, 'I'm in charge here, Dick, go back to your G-damn column."

Head over to Barry's column to view some more "what could have beens" in this excellent column.