Joe McIlvaine and the first big Roberto Alomar trade

In December 1990, Toronto GM Pat Gillick and San Diego GM Joe McIlvaine made one of the all-time blockbuster trades. The Blue Jays acquired Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter, while giving up Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez. By 1993, Gillick's Blue Jays had won two World Series, and Gillick would eventually make the Hall of Fame in the same year as Alomar. Also in 1993, McIlvaine became GM of the Mets.

A Sporting News story on the trade makes McIlvaine look even worse. The trade was originally Carter for McGriff, which would not have been a bad trade. But Gillick asked about Alomar, and as one of Gillick's assistants remembered, McIlvaine's response was "I like to do big deals. Let's sleep on it."

Bear in mind that Alomar was only 22. And he was not a prospect - he had just made his first All-Star team. Yet McIlvaine was willing to include him in the deal, with the Blue Jays adding Tony Fernandez.

Alomar went on to make the All-Star team the next eleven years in a row. He also won ten Gold Gloves and received MVP votes in seven seasons. Fernandez, a 28-year-old three-time All-Star at the time of the trade, made one more All-Star team.

Alomar's string of All-Star appearances ended, of course, when he was traded to the Mets from the Indians before the 2002 season. At least that trade, while it didn't do the Mets any good, also didn't help Cleveland.

Part of the impetus for the 1990 trade was that Toronto was open to trading McGriff to make room for young first baseman John Olerud. And when the Blue Jays acquired Carter as well, it was part of a series of outfield moves that resulted in Blue Jays centerfielder Mookie Wilson losing his job.

After McIlvaine returned to the Mets (he was assistant GM there before going to San Diego), he traded away yet another future superstar second baseman, sending Jeff Kent to Cleveland for Carlos Baerga in the middle of the 1996 season. Cleveland also gave up on Kent, sending him to the Giants at the end of 1996. Kent made the All-Star team or received MVP votes in eight of the next nine seasons, winning NL MVP in 2000.

In fairness to McIlvaine, he also acquired Olerud for the Mets from the Blue Jays, giving up Robert Person. And McIlvaine's tenure as Mets' GM came after the series of disastrous acquisitions of the likes of Vince Coleman that would lead to "The Worst Team Money Could Buy."

But too often over the last 20 years, the Mets have had GMs who often seemed to like to do big deals whether or not they made any sense. The current offseason may be frustrating because it's so quiet, but as we've seen way too often, a bad big move is worse than no move at all.

And with the Mets' ill-fated acquisitions of Alomar, Baerga, Kaz Matsui and Luis Castillo over the last 15 years, while giving away Kent, the last thing Sandy Alderson should do is make a dramatic move to acquire a second baseman.

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According to BaseballReference.com the player Alomar is most similar to statistically is Derek Jeter. The Yankees' primary starting shortstop in 1995, the year before Jeter took over the job, was that other part of the 1990 Alomar deal - Tony Fernandez.

Lost Weekend for Yankees, and this Squawk Monster is peeved!

Squawker Jon may have something to celebrate - not only did his Mets win two of three in the Subway Series, but he wasn't disappointed with the "Lost" finale. Can't say I can say the same. I'm not happy at all with this weekend. Call me Offfically Concerned about the state of the Yankees.


When the highlight of the Yankees' weekend is Javier Vazquez's pitching, and even that was bittersweet (thanks to him banging up his finger on a bunt), you know it wasn't a good series.

Grrrrrrr. As one of our Red Sox fan/Squawker readers pointed out to me on Facebook last night, the Yanks are now just 2.5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the standings. And the Bombers have lost 10 of their last 15 games, and six of their last eight games. Not good.

So, call me the Squawk Monster, as I make some fire-breathing observations:

* Doesn't look like Joe Girardi was happy with Francisco Cervelli not running when he hit the ball that hit the foul pole last night. (The one the umps ruled was a single, not a homer.)

* A Met fan wrote me this on Facebook last night, regarding Francisco Rodriguez's postgame celebrations: "You can't really pick on K-Rod though - at least he only celebrates when the game is over. That Cervelli guy celebrates every time his pitcher throws a strike or he gets a hit. Let him get more than about 30 hits in his career before he starts acting like that." Uh-oh!

* Squawker Jon and I were at the Citi Field finale of the Subway Series last year, where a shaky K-Rod walked Mariano Rivera with the bases loaded. I think I liked last year better!

* CC Sabathia hasn't looked right since that game at Fenway Park where he was one strike away from getting the win, before the rain delay. (Yes, I know he had pretty good numbers against the Sox at Yankee Stadium last week, but he looked like he was battling and struggling the whole time.

* How long before we hear the "A-Rod always strikes out in a big spot" idiots again?

Anyhow, I'm sure I've missed a ton of other things to complain about. But I'm sure Squawker Jon and our Met fan/Yankee hater readers will remind me of them!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Squawker Lisa's Subway Series Predictions

Squawker Jon has conceded that his Mets will be on the losing side of the Subway Series this weekend. He's predicting that the Yankees will sweep!

I think he's trying to do one of those reverse jinx thingies. Your weird sci-fi trick isn't going to work, Jon!

Speaking of sci-fi, Squawker Jon will be watching the series finale of "Lost" on Sunday. I quit watching that show after they finished the second season with that ridiculous Penelope-Desmond storyline (why should I care about their stupid love story? I watched this show for the plane crash on a remote island, not for silly melodrama!) But I digress.

Anyhow, here are my predictions for this weekend:

* The Yankees will win two of three, with Javy Vazquez having a good outing Friday. My guess is that the Yankees will lose Saturday, but I agree with Jon that the bullpen will decide at least one game.

* Citi Field a pitchers' park? Not with the Yankees in the house. I'm predicting homers from Jeter, A-Rod, Cano, and Cervelli!

* Met fans are going to continue to gripe about that "Jeter's got an Edge" commercial airing on SNY. Yankee fans are going to continue to gripe about hearing that commercial twenty times a night. (It's right up there with the My Mohegan for annoyances!)

* If the Yankees lose two of three (heaven forbid!), there will be panic in the tabloids!

* Number of times we'll see the Luis Castillo dropped play again - at least 100!

What do you think? Tell us about it!