During the 1996 season, Mets GM Joe McIlvaine, decided to flip vilified third baseman/second baseman Jeff Kent and shortstop Jose Vizcaino for Indians All-Star second baseman Carlos Baerga and former Yankees shortstop Alvaro Espinoza. Kent would go on to a career in which he hit .291 and slammed 366 homers and drove in 1,467 runs…Hall of Fame-type numbers. Baerga, a three-time All Star and two-time Silver Slugger with the Indians, saw his production greatly drop off after joining the Mets and never matched the success he achieved in Cleveland in the two plus seasons he spent in a Mets uniform. During the 306 games he played for the Mets, Baerga batted a meager.267 with 18 home runs and 116 RBI.

Wanting to make a big splash prior to the 2002 season, Mets GM Steve Phillips engineered an eight-player trade with the Indians for perennial All Star second baseman Roberto Alomar. The Indians received outfielders Matt Lawton and Alex Escobar, first baseman Earl Snyder, and pitchers Jerrod Riggan and Billy Traber. Recognize any of those names? In addition to Alomar, the Mets also got pitcher Mike Bacsik and first baseman Danny Peoples. Alomar was a biggie, but it was by no means a “blockbuster” deal. Alomar played in 12 All Star games before joining the Mets, won 10 Gold Glove Awards, and four Silver Slugger Awards. However, his two seasons with the Mets saw him with numbers vastly below his career numbers. He hit 44 points below his career batting average and his on base percentage was 55 points below his career numbers. He made it to the Hall of Fame, but his two seasons with the Mets would be his worst.

In between the two debacles with Indian All Stars, early on in the 1998 season, Phillips stole Mike Piazza from the Florida Marlins who took the disgruntled catcher off the hands of the Dodgers in a huge multi-player deal with a number of star players heading to Los Angeles. Knowing that they could not afford to re-sign the soon-to-be free agent, the Marlins were able to procure outfielder Preston Wilson, and pitchers Ed Yarnall and Geoff Goetz. Wilson would have a short but productive career with the Marlins while Yarnall pitched a total of 20 innings in the majors and Goetz…well…he didn’t make it. Piazza made his presence in the lineup known immediately and proved to be the kind of impact player the Mets needed. And following the 1998 season, the Mets convinced Piazza to stick around and handed him a seven-year, $91 million contract. Of course, Piazza would then carry the team on his back for the next few years, including to the 2000 World Series against the Yankees, and a lot more, on his path to the Hall of Fame. He was loved by the fans, capturing the hearts of so many New Yorkers.

The question is whether or not the Mets have been taken, for a third time, by the Indians, or Lindor becomes this generation’s version of Mike Piazza and captures the hearts of Mets fans for a long time.