A look at the strange stories behind the rare Met/Yankee trades and an objective determination on which team has won by way of (Civil) WAR.

So right, and so wrong (AP/Linda Cattafo New York Daily News)

Two truths exist in this world about as comfortably as two professional baseball teams existing in the same town:

1)Sometimes Met fans and Yankee fans do not get along with one another. Met fans think Yankee fans have it too easy and should mostly keep their mouths shut and enjoy how good life is for them while they deal with the fact their parents became Met fans not out of some borough geography but because they related to the losing, and how sick is that? Yankee fans say they don’t care about the Mets at all but always seem to know how the Mets are doing on any given day. They also eat pizza wrong.

2)The Mets and Yankees have exchanged personnel and germs with each other since the beginning.

The Mets’ very first manager was Casey Stengel, whose previous job was managing the New York Yankees. Stengel was dismissed because the Yankees lost Game 7 of the 1960 World Series and/or because he foolishly got “too old.” The only reason why the Mets didn’t take a Yankee in the expansion draft was because they were only allowed to pick players from other National League franchises. There was a First-Year Player Draft from 1958–1964 meant to stop the increasing bonus baby salaries which eventually caused different headaches for owners. It was in this draft that the first “salvo” in the “war” between the two clubs was fired. On November 26, 1962, the Mets took/stole Yankee minor leaguer Steve Dillon. Dillon’s major league career consisted of three relief appearances. He gave up a towering home run that hit the scoreboard in the first ever night game at Shea Stadium. Stengel told Dillon if another player hit the scoreboard and broke it, Dillon would have to pay for it. The Yankees fired back in the 1964 Rule 5 draft by swindling Duke Carmel from the Mets. Carmel played decently in Queens in the second half of 1963 and figured to be back with the big league club in 1964. But as spring training was winding down in ’64, he got wasted and made fun of Stengel, and Stengel found out about it. Carmel was banished in Triple-A the entire season. The Yankees seemingly seemed very confident in Carmel, or just really confident that Carmel’s banishment had more to do with Stengel’s thin skin than his baseball talent. He went 0 for 29 in spring training and exhibition games yet went north with the 1965 Yankees anyway. He went 0 for 8 in six games that counted, was demoted, and never returned to the show.

The Times Record December 1, 1964

Over time, as we matured as a society (just go with it) the teams ignored their differences between one another for the sake of self-improvement. We are going to keep track of the WAR -wins above replacement — of the players exchanged in these Mets-Yankees person-to-person swaps with their new teams to see if one franchise has “won” in the now 40+ years of peace. If a team turned around and eventually traded the player they received from their crosstown rival, we’ll keep track of the player(s) they got in return as well, but not if the player they acquired went to another team due to free agency or was picked up off waivers.

December 9, 1977: New York Yankees traded Roy Staiger to the New York Mets for Sergio Ferrer

The seventies didn’t really begin until ’77, when the Mets and Yankees finally made an honest to goodness, player-for-player exchange. Four years after two Yankee players swapped wives, almost seven months since the Mets inexplicably traded away Tom Seaver, and hours after dealing another great hurler in Jon Matlack in a four-team blockbuster during the Winter Meetings in Honolulu, Mets GM Joe McDonald probably figured after a third Bahama Mama the only taboo baseball transaction left to do was deal with the defending champions and possible employers of the Son of Sam.

The Star-Gazette. December 9, 1977

Staiger went 3 for 11 in four games with the 1979 Yanks and retired a year later. Ferrer was technically worse in his 49 plate appearances, posting a negative baseball reference and fangraphs WAR over two seasons with the Mets.

Yankees: Staiger 0.0 WAR 0.0 fWAR

Mets: Ferrer -0.2 WAR -0.2 fWAR

April 18, 1983: New York Mets traded Steve Ray and a player to be named later (Felix Perdomo) to the New York Yankees for Tucker Ashford

Perdomo never made it past Double-A, and Ray never got out of Single-A. Ashford appeared in three games for the Yankees in 1981, and when it was announced he would be back in the bigs you better believe there was a lot of buzz.

Associated Press. May 5, 1983

Ashford, whom The New York Times pointed out was the 73rd third baseman in Mets history, seemed to appreciate the ironic questioning he got from reporters asking if he minded (future Yankee) Darryl Strawberry getting all of the attention. ‘’It didn’t bother me,’’ he said. ‘’It was something I had never seen before. I had four televisions and a dozen writers, and people asked me if I was being shunned.’’

Yankees: Ray never played in MLB; Pedromo never played in MLB

Mets: Ashford -0.3 WAR -0.4 fWAR

December 11, 1987: New York Mets traded Rafael Santana and Victor Garcia to the New York Yankees for Phil Lombardi, Darren Reed and Steve Frey

Now we are talking the proverbial talk! Santana was the starting shortstop for the 1986 world champion Mets, and he was dealt to the Bronx! And few cared because the closer for the aforementioned 1986 world champion Mets was dealt in a three-team trade the same day, with Jesse Orosco ending up in Los Angeles. The write-ups for the Santana deal were a bit curious.

The Journal News December 12, 1987

There’s something quaint and downright delightful about the Yankees general manager a)being Lou Piniella and b)openly pining for a Subway Series. There’s also something straight up incorrect in the first sentence of the article: Staiger was in the majors for three seasons as a Met, and finished the 1977 season in Flushing before he was dealt, so he should have been incredibly offended here and shouted into the void, as one had to do to express anguish before the internet became popular.

Santana played through bone chips in his elbow and was pinch-hit more times than anybody in the majors in 1988, missed 1989 after elbow surgery, and joined former teammate Keith Hernandez in Cleveland to end their careers together in 1990. Aw.

Darren Reed would be the first to tell you Darren Reed was the real big name in this trade. He was an outfielder who can positively rake. After appearing in 26 games for the Mets in 1990, he figured he’d make the 1991 team. He figured wrong because he was sent to the Montreal Expos for two guys who would never got called up, despite never making fun of Casey Stengel once. Reed expressed his surprise in a fashion that instantly made me a Darren Reed fan for life.

Sun-Sentinel. April 3, 1991

The protagonist of The Life and Times of Darren Reed is one of the most tragic literary figures you’ll ever come across. The Expos planned to platoon Reed in right field with a player about to start his second full major league season. But Met pitcher Alejandro Pena broke Reed’s wrist in his second spring training at-bat with Montreal, causing him to miss all of 1991. The Expos’ plans to alternate between Reed and Larry Walker in right field were scrapped. After predictably slumping in 1992 with a steel plate in his wrist, he was traded to the Twins, who dealt him back to the Mets. And that’s when things got ridiculous.

The Palm Beach Post. March 29, 1993

It was a brutal hamstring injury, and according to Reed in an Amazin Avenue interview, manager Dallas Green did not think it was as serious as it really was (the tendon tore completely off the bone) which lead to the two getting into a physical altercation in Green’s office. The hamstring did not magically heal instantly.

Yankees: Santana -0.6 WAR -0.6 fWAR; Garcia Never in MLB

Mets: Lombardi -0.2 WAR -0.1 fWAR; Reed 0.4 WAR 0.4 fWAR; O’Malley* 0.3 WAR 0.5 fWAR; Bailey* Never with Mets

* Third baseman Tom O’Malley was acquired with Mark Bailey for Steve Frey. Bailey was eventually allowed to leave as a free agent.

July 10, 1989: Outfielder Marcus Lawton is traded from the Mets to the Yankees for pitcher Scott Nielsen

Yes, Marcus is Matt Lawton’s older brother. When Matt was traded from the Twins to the Mets in 2001 he told Newsday he was a Mets fan for a “long time” and was once the bat boy for the Double-A affiliate. When asked who he rooted for in the previous year’s World Series between the Mets and Yankees, Matt said “definitely not the Yankees.”

This trade flew under the radar too since Ron Guidry retired on the same day.

Yankees: Lawton -0.5 WAR -0.4 fWAR

Mets: Nielsen Never in MLB with team, then retired

June 9, 1992: New York Mets traded Tim Burke to the New York Yankees for Lee Guetterman

Burke was the relief pitcher the Mets got from the Expos for Ron Darling the previous season. Guetterman complained about not getting enough chances to pitch for the Yankees. Mets manager Jeff Torborg’s awful elevator pitch for the swap was “the story of two pitchers trying to find their sinkerballs,” which proved to be much more boring than The Life and Times of Darren Reed tome. Both pitchers were out of New York by 1993.

Yankees: Burke 0.1 WAR -0.2 fWAR

Mets: Guetterman -0.9 WAR -0.6 fWAR

September 17, 1993: New York Mets traded Frank Tanana to the New York Yankees for Kenny Greer

Tanana was a last ditch effort by the Yankees to win the AL East title. “If I lose, I’ll be a bum,” the veteran said. “I understand that mentality. No problem.” He posted a perfectly good and fine 3.20 ERA in his three starts, but the Yankees lost two of those three games with Tanana on the mound. The bum retired after that.

Kenny Greer’s Mets tenure was officially one inning long, and like the total opposite of some layabout, he got the win! Unfortunately, Jeff Kent and the rest of his new teammates had a loafer work ethic.

The Ithaca Journal. September 30, 1993

Yankees: Tanana 0.2 WAR 0.3 fWAR

Mets: Greer 0.1 WAR 0.1 fWAR

December 7, 2001: New York Mets traded Robin Ventura to the New York Yankees for David Justice

After the two teams shared an entire World Series together in 2000, the floodgates opened for a hot four years. The Yankees seemingly won this trade since Robin Ventura made the All-Star team for the first time in ten seasons in 2002. David Justice’s 2002 was immortalized in the cinematic adventure Moneyball, which was not about the New York Mets.

It’s kind of weird to be traded from the Yankees to the Mets with the rivalry and all of that,” Justice said at the time of the deal. “I’m at that point of my career where you can always be traded at any minute. I’m happy to go to the Mets. There are far worse teams to be traded to.” How about the A’s David? Is that a worse team? Because you were dealt there one week later for Mark Guthrie and Tyler Yates. Andrew Marchand, then of the New York Post, put the second Justice trade this way:

New York Post. December 15, 2001

There would be no Juan. There would be vanity though.

New York Times. June 27, 2002

Where’s that movie? I would see that movie.

Yankees: Ventura 5.4 WAR 5.1 fWAR; Crosby* -1.4 WAR -1.0 fWAR; Proctor* 2.2 WAR 0.2 fWAR

Mets: Guthrie 1.6 WAR 0.6 fWAR; Yates -0.8 WAR 0.2 fWAR

* The Yankees traded Ventura on July 31, 2003 to the Dodgers for Bubba Crosby and Scott Proctor. Proctor’s numbers do not include when he returned to the Yankees years later.

July 16, 2003: New York Yankees traded Jason Anderson, Anderson Garcia, and Ryan Bicondoa to the New York Mets for Armando Benitez

This one was pretty awkward. Benitez drilled Yankees first baseman Tino Martinez in the back when he was with the Baltimore Orioles and started a big brawl in 1998. Five years later, Yankees fans, and some Yankees themselves, forgot to forget about it. Armando was pretty good in Yankee pinstripes, posting a 1.93 ERA. Naturally he was dealt exactly three weeks later to the Seattle Mariners for Jeff Nelson, a former Yankee reliever Yankee fans already long approved of, and in fact was traded along with Tino Martinez from Seattle in 1995. When the Mariners claimed Benitez on waivers, and the Yankees did the same with Nelson, the teams locked eyes, nervously giggled, and made the post non-waiver deadline deal.

Ryan Bicondoa never made the show. Jason Anderson posted a 5.06 ERA in 10.2 innings for the Mets, ended up back on the Yankees via waivers, and rang up a 7.94 ERA in 5.2 innings in 2005 before walking away confident in his permanent stature as a weird footnote. Anderson Garcia was plucked off waivers by the Phillies, and proved to be a sleeper agent for the Mets, pitching to a 13.50 ERA for the 2007 Philadelphia team who smartly figured out what was going on and only let him throw for two-thirds of an inning, ending his major league career.

Yankees: Benitez 0.2 WAR 0.3 fWAR; Nelson* 0.2 WAR 0.3 fWAR

Mets: Bicondara Never played in MLB; Anderson 0.0 WAR -0.1 fWAR; Garcia Never on Mets

*Nelson’s stats only include his post-Benitez tenure with the Yankees

December 3, 2004: New York Mets traded Mike Stanton to the New York Yankees for Felix Heredia

Omar Minaya’s lone deal with the Yankees as Mets GM was part of his veteran lefty pitcher purge: John Franco was allowed to leave via free agency and play for a different team for the first time since 1989; Al Leiter agreed to re-sign with the Mets, causing Minaya to admit he was only being nice in offering a contract to begin with and didn’t want him back at all. The Stanton for Heredia trade saved Minaya and the Mets about $2.1 million, which lead to free agent Pedro Martinez signing with the team 11 days later, which begat the Carlos Beltran acquisition a month later, which begat some good times in Flushing for a bit. Heredia only made three appearances in 2005 for the Mets before going down with an aneurysm in his pitching shoulder and never returning to the bigs. The deal gave Stanton the chance to pitch in a Yankees uniform for 14 more innings before he was released.

Yankees: Stanton* -0.1 WAR 0.1 fWAR

Mets: Heredia 0.1 WAR 0.0 fWAR

* Second stint only!

And that is it, for now. Only with the Phillies (July 27, 2001) and the Cardinals (April 3, 2004) has the trade draught lasted longer with any other team. The Mets and Yankees technically made a trade with each other in 2014 when the Mets sent Gonzalez Germen to the Bronx for cold hard cash or bitcoins, but money is not itself a corporation, so this was not a person-to-person swap. One month and a day after the trade the Texas Rangers purchased Germen’s contract from the Yankees. You would think the Mets won the deal, but you’re probably also thinking Germen’s departure didn’t give the Mets room on the 40-man roster to bring in future cleanup hitter John Mayberry Jr. ( -0.5 WAR -0.3 fWAR in 59 games). Gonzalez pitched for the Rockies in 2015 and 2016 and signed up to play in Japan for 2017.

The final tally:

Yankees 5.7 WAR 5.9 fWAR

Mets 0.1 WAR 0.4 fWAR

There you have it: the Mets needn’t have bothered. The Yankees, thanks to Robin Ventura, improved themselves by dealing with the Mets. Good for them. They deserve a break every once in awhile, you know?

(Mets fans are also sarcastic.)