The Mets have been known for pitchers throughout their history. The competition for the fourth and fifth pitchers and the closer was fierce. Fortunately, neither Al Jackson nor Skip Lockwood made the cut. Read on to see who did.
Earlier I did a list of the Mets all-time position players. Here is the team’s all-time pitching list. When picking this team, I only considered their contributions while a member of the Mets. I tried to weight matters evenly between peak and career value but that is always a tricky goal.
SP #1 – Tom Seaver
As a 22-year-old rookie in 1967, Seaver won 16 games for a team that lost 101 and nabbed Rookie of the Year honors. Two years later he won the first of three Cy Young Awards and led the Mets to a World Series championship. He won 20 games or more four times for the club (4.5 if you count the year he got traded and ended up with 21 wins) and 19 another time. A nine-time All-Star and the best pitcher in National League history, Seaver was truly Tom Terrific.
SP #2 – Doc Gooden
As a 19-year-old rookie in 1984, Gooden won 17 games and the Rookie of the Year Award. He was a symbol of the team’s resurgence as the team finished above .500 for the first time since 1976. Games where he pitched became must-see TV and it only got better the following season, when he won the pitchers’ Triple Crown by leading the league with 24 wins, 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts. But that was the beginning of the end. He was good-to-great the next six years, but nowhere near the dominating force he was his first two seasons. Injuries, drugs and what could have been were the themes for the rest of his career. His .649 winning percentage is the team’s all-time best.
SP #3 – Jerry Koosman
One year after Seaver burst onto the scene with 16 wins, Koosman won 19 games and finished second in Rookie of the Year balloting to some guy named Johnny Bench. The following year, Kooz went 17-9 and won two games in the World Series. An arm injury suffered early in 1970 curtailed his production the next two-to-three years but he bounced back with four strong seasons, capped by a 21-win campaign in 1976. Two years later they traded him for Jesse Orosco. Koosman is one of the most unappreciated pitchers of his era and if nothing else, we should remember him for his work in the post-season. He went 4-0 for the Mets with a 3.38 ERA. He was outstanding in five of his six starts, with only a poor outing in the 1969 NLCS inflating his overall ERA.
SP #4 – Al Leiter
It surprises me, too. My overall impression of Leiter is sullied by his final few years when it seemed like his influence in the organization was completely out of proportion with his effectiveness, with rumors that he helped facilitate the departure of Scott Kazmir for not being deferential enough to the veterans on the team. But Leiter was durable for seven years and his 170 ERA+ in 1998 dwarfs anything that the pitchers behind him ever did. Leiter led or tied for the team lead in wins in five of his seven seasons, including the back-to-back playoff teams of 1999 and 2000.
SP #5 – Jon Matlack
This is a toss-up between Matlack and Sid Fernandez. I ultimately picked Matlack because he packed more value into his seasons than Fernandez. In 1972, Matlack won 15 games as a 22-year old and won the Rookie of the Year Award. In his first five full seasons with the club, he won 75 games. Matlack pitched great during the playoffs in 1973. He hurled a two-hit shutout with nine strikeouts versus the Big Red Machine in the NLCS and then had a 2.16 ERA in three World Series games, although he came up short in Game 7. He had a 149 ERA+ in 1974 and a 144 in 1972. Fernandez’ full-season high for the Mets was 127. David Cone had a 146 in his big year of 1998 and his next highest was 120 in the year he was traded.
Closer – Armando Benitez
I imagine everyone reading this falling out of their chairs right now. Benitez had a well-earned reputation for failing in big games, none bigger than Game 1 of the 2000 World Series. But those other games count, too. From 2000-2002, Benitez had a 90.7 save percentage, which was the best in baseball. He holds the top two seasons in saves in team history and is second to John Franco on the team’s all-time save list. Franco pitched forever and had way more shaky moments than Benitez. Billy Wagner was very effective but his career in Shea was even shorter than Benitez’. The Mets had some big-name closers – Jesse Orosco, Roger McDowell, Jeff Reardon, Randy Myers and Tug McGraw – but none of them could match the production that Benitez had.
*****
In a few years, I hope to update this list and put Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez in. If everything goes right, I should be able to do that after the 2011 season.
8 comments
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January 24, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Scott G.
SP#6 Craig Swan!!!!
RP#1,000,000 Doug Sisk!!!!
January 24, 2009 at 1:49 pm
bjoura
Oh man, how we hated Doug Sisk! We were all so excited when McDowell came and proved you could throw a sinker for a strike.
And thanks for the laugh about Swannie. He’ll always have the ERA title…
January 25, 2009 at 9:43 am
Bob D
Benetiz????? it appears that you are chosing the Mets all time team based on sorting regular season stats in Excel. Not impact on the franchise. I think you have to look at closers who actaully closed out championships. I would look hard at Mcgraw and Orosco. Jesse closed out Houston and Bosox in ’86. And didn’t Jesse have an almost cy young type of season a few years before that?
Could the Mets of won the 2000 WS if they did win that first game? What would Mets history looked like if Orosco did a Benetiz in Game 7?
You forgot Benitez blowing that SF game for Al Leiter as well. I think Al Leiter never won a playoff game but has pitched very well in many of them (He pitched great in Game 1 2000 WS ) Al, if your out there reading this please chime in here!
A test of a great relief pitcher is how they perform in the biggest stage and in my opinion, to be on any all time great list, playoff success has to be strongly weighted .
My vote Jesse Orosco
Where’s Ron Darling on this list? I would have him higher than El Sid
January 25, 2009 at 9:51 am
bjoura
Darling had a bunch of wins but never put up dominating numbers in other stats.
Orosco went 13-7 in 1983 for a team that lost 94 games and finished third in the Cy Young Award voting.
January 28, 2009 at 6:13 pm
typicalmetsfan
1986 was not the beginning of the end for Gooden. 1992 was. Gooden went 132-53 from 1984-1991. He was MLB’s best pitcher during those 8 years. .713 winning percentage
Who else in the last 50 years has had a more impressive first 8 years. Clemens went 134-61 from 1984-1991 .687 to start his career. Gooden fell to 10-13 in 1992. After 1991 Gooden was 62-59. (today 62-59 pitchers get $10 million a year) See Ben Sheets 61-69 to start his career -earning $9.6 million a year by 2006 to close out that stretch. If Gooden had started out 62-59 and finished with 132-53 on top of that, throw in a ring, Cy Young, no-hitter.
He’d be in Cooperstown.
January 28, 2009 at 9:00 pm
bjoura
If you saw him pitch it was clear he was not the same pitcher.
January 28, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Nick C.
I cannot believe you said Benetiz. He is one of the most hated players in NYM history. Unbelievable!! Great pitchers are measured by their consistency over a career and great performances in big games. You may be saying that he was consistent, but when it doesn’t matter then who cares. You can do great the whole season, but if you can’t hack it in Sept. and Oct. then step aside.
JESSE OROSCO!!!
August 8, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Brian in RI
Where’s “Little Al” Jackson, the best pitcher from the Stangle Era (’62 to ’65) who piched his heart out in futility for those early, hapless Mets? This is why computer rated stats don’t always work … you had to see the different players play in context. Consider Little Al, with the atrocious fielding behind him which unfairly inflated his hits totals (and hence earned runs) to the abismal bullpen which would unfailingly allow just about every inherited runner to score, its no wonder that half of his 8 1962 season victories had to come via shutout (and by the way, the ONLY shutouts pitched for the Mets that season)! Jackson was a consumate pro who basically threw his arm out for some of the worst teams (’62 through ’65 Mets) in baseball history without complaint. Considering his total number of starts for the Mets, he still ranks up there in a number of pitching catagories. Nope, Little Al will always rank in my book as one of the greatest Mets ever, I guess its a shame there’s not enough people left who can remember just how good he was.