Where Are They Now? Met Castoffs Edition

By Taryn "The Coop" Cooper
Posted Monday, June 18, 2007

In light of all that’s been going on in Mets land these days (losing streaks, losing several series in a row, phantom injuries, etc), I felt it would be nice to take a trip down good ol’ Memory Lane…and perhaps take a gander at truly how bad things could be.

Or at the very least, bring back some good memories of former Mets we’ve often wondered – hey, whatever happened to that guy?

The Tampa Bay Devil Ray Connection! Ty Wigginton, Scott Kazmir and Jae Seo.
While on the Mets – traded to Pittsburgh in the infamous Kris Benson trade back in 2004 --Ty Wigginton was a decent bench player, the general consensus was that he took up space with the emergence of young every day third baseman, David Wright (ever heard of him?). Having signed with the D-Rays prior to the 2006 season, Wiggy is currently a starter for the D-Rays. Wiggy, barely 30 years old, is providing much needed veteran leadership on the D-Rays young staff. Hitting a respectable .282, he had a two home run game back in May against state rivals, the Marlins.

Perhaps nothing summons the tear-jerking reaction of Mets fans other than Scott Kazmir. Kazmir was also traded that same day as Ty Wigginton, although Kazmir went straight to Tampa for some guy (that was a joke). Part of what was possibly the most controversial Mets trade since Dykstra-for-Samuel (I won’t even go there with the Seaver trade), Kazmir blew all of his critics away by the end of 2004, becoming a starter and subsequent ace for Tampa, and perhaps most noteworthy outdueled current Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez while he was still on the Red Sox. Kazmir made the AL All-star team in 2006, the only D-Ray representative. Kazmir is currently 5-3 on the year.

Lastly Jae Seo was a surprise for the Mets in 2005, after a particularly unceremonious 2004, winning some key games and endearing himself to the hearts of Mets fans. Imagine our surprise when a near uproar emerged when Seo was included in a trade to the LA Dodgers for some dude named Duaner Sanchez. Well, we all know how Duaner fared for the Mets in 2006, but not so much for Seo. Seo was subsequently traded to the D-Rays in the middle of 2006…and given his slow start with the Dodgers in 2006, and his recent demotion to the D-Rays AAA affiliate, Seo has not quite matched his 2005 success with the Mets.

Jeff Keppinger and Brian Bannister – a Royal Combination (sort of)
Most Mets fans I knew of were excited about one of these two potentially starting for the team in 2006. Though Keppinger was “not really in the mix,” according to fearless leader Willie Randolph, in the race for starting second base, Bannister made a few starts before popping his hamstring while rounding the bases…sidelining most of his 2006 season.

Keppinger was traded to Kansas City for one Ruben Gotay, a seeming straight-up second baseman for second baseman trade. Kepp was DFA’d by the Royals early in 2007 and was subsequently picked up by the Cincinnati Reds, where he is currently hitting .250 in 8 AB’s. Hmmm…maybe he would have been a good bench guy for us…

Bannister was in the AmBurglar trade (aka Ambiorix Burgos). Unlike Kepp, Bannister though is still with the Royals, with a respectable 4-3 record with 10 starts under his belt. He started off the season in AAA, but was recalled in April, sent back down in May, then re-recalled in May.

Guy Traded to (and Still with) Pittsburgh -- Xavier Nady
Xavier Nady was brought to the Mets in a trade with the San Diego Padres for Mike Cameron back in 2005. Most Mets fans responses were – who’s this guy? Needless to say, Nady instantly became a fan favorite…until the trade deadline, when Omar had to use him a piece to get some extra relief pitching for the off season…Oh and we got an extra special throw-in too, named Oliver Perez.
Nady immediately became one of the stronger offensive machines for the Pirates… he is batting a respectable .286 but with 11 HRs and 42 RBIs.

Guys with the Same First Name -- Jason Tyner & Jason Phillips
Jason Tyner made his debut with the Mets in 2000…and was subsequently traded to the D-Rays later that season for Bubba Trammel and Rick White. In other words – why? Mets fans might see Tyner this week, as he is on the Minnesota Twins roster, as a LF, hitting a .268 in 112 ABs.
On a side note, I also found an interesting tidbit about Jason Tyner. His middle name is Renyt…Spell that backwards. Why on earth would a parent do that to a child?

Jason Phillips was a fan favorite with his unique style plus his really cool goggles (if you visit the Geeks’ website, the prototype for the Geeks mascot is inspired by Phillips)…despite his ~ ahem ~ limitations at the plate. Phillips was also the beneficiary of a “Why?” trade, going to the Dodgers in 2005 for one Kaz Ishii. Phillips has played 49 games with the Toronto Blue Jays, still barely batting his weight at .222. He’s still appears to be a fan favorite though.

And does anyone know where Kaz Ishii is nowadays???

Guy We Traded Kazmir For…Victor Zambrano
What can I say about Victor Zambrano that hasn’t been said already? The last we saw of him in Mets uniform, he ran off the field holding his elbow. It ended up being a blessing in disguise, since we got to see a whole lot more of Jose Lima after that (OK that was a joke). Sadly, we never got to see the full potential of Victor Zambrano as a Met, since he was oft-injured but didn’t bother to bring it to anyone’s attention.
Zambrano is playing with former Met Jason Phillips on the Blue Jays…and they are unfortunately seeing the full potential of The Zambrano, with his underwhelming 10.97 and 0-2 record.

Go West, Young Men…Royce Ring and Heath Bell
Royce Ring and “Free” Heath Bell were two of the names always thrown around when talking about bulking up the bullpen. Dominating AAA for quite some time, both Ring and Bell saw time on the Mets major league roster…only to underwhelm. We Mets fans though thought of Ring and Bell together. One goes good with the other.

Perhaps fittingly, Ring and Bell were traded to San Diego together for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins in the offseason.

Royce Ring has only pitched 2 innings for the Padres this season, according to their website. But Heath Bell, he’s the true story here. Most Mets fans believed he would be a Met long-time coming. Alas, it was not meant to be. Clearly, to the Mets brass, he would be nothing more than a AAAA player, and to cut their losses. Needless to say, a little bit of home cooking (being a Southern California native) has done “Taco” Bell good, as he is pitching an overwhelming 1.13 ERA in 33 games.

And what have Ben Johnson or Jon Adkins done for us lately?

Kickin It Old Skool -- Benny Agbayani, Timo Perez and Matt Franco
Remember when Benny Agbayani, Timo Perez and Matt Franco were the go-to guys?

Yup, yup, yup, those were the days.

Benny Agbayani captured the hearts of many Mets fans, especially in 1999 and 2000 when he became a cult figure. Agbayani was a Bobby V favorite, often coming in late in the game as a clutch pinch hitter. Perhaps nothing warms our collective Mets fan hearts more than thinking about his game winning home run in the NLDS versus the Giants, in Game 3, all but solidifying our trip to the World Series. Agbayani had a tough time living up to those games, playing for the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox in 2002. Benny was last seen playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2005…under manager Bobby Valentine.

Timo Perez is also a notorious “Bobby V” guy, and was perhaps best known for coming out of nowhere in 2000, and catching the last out of the NLCS…and not running out a double to score a run in the World Series. After being traded to the Chicago White Sox in 2003 for Matt Ginter, Timo Perez became a prototypical journeyman, serving two seasons on the White Sox, then playing on the 2007 World Championship Cardinal team…to being a Detroit Tiger today. According to my stats, Perez hasn’t done much of anything for the Tigers this year.
Now Matt Franco…besides being the nephew of actor Kurt Russell – is a tough guy to track down. Last we saw, he was a Brave and then wandered off to play ball in Japan, you guessed it, for Bobby Valentine, but has not been anywhere since then.

Long Gone but Surely Not Forgotten - Anna Benson
Hmmm…I ask once again, how are the bag of balls Benson turned into faring?

I digress – What is Anna doing these days? According to her website, she is a humanitarian. Please, stop laughing. Her namesake charity – Benson’s Battalions – fights local terrorism and she is a passionate human rights activist. When she is not trying to singlehandedly rid the world of terrorists, she is posing or showing off her many assets – who wouldn’t? I mean, if most of us pay extra for a nice car, we want to drive it, right?

Oh and Kris Benson is out for the 2007 season with a torn rotator cuff. As Nelson would say – hah hah!

I hope this "Remember When" conversation was not at a low form, but just a reminder of how far we’ve come as a team, as fans…and who we used to root for, thinking *they* were the next big thing.

Now, if we could only figure out where Carloses Delgado and Beltran have gone. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?