Steve Phillips: The Good and the Bad

Three Trades That Succeeded

1. Getting Al Leiter from the Marlins before the 1998 season brought the

team a clubhouse leader and an ace at the top of the rotation. Hard-throwing

pitching prospect A.J. Burnett could have come back to haunt the Mets, but he

appears to be a victim of overuse by the Marlins.

2. The trade that brought Mike Piazza to the Mets ranks with the Keith

Hernandez deal as the best in franchise history. Preston Wilson has been a

useful major-league slugger who hurts the Mets but strikes out too often

against everyone else.

3. Boo or laugh if you must, but the trade for Armando Benitez brought a

dominant closer whose failures in several big games obscure the fact that he is

one of the most efficient savers in the game. The Mets also unloaded Todd

Hundley in the deal and acquired a then-promising Roger Cedeno.

Three Trades That Failed

1. Not only was righthanded setup man Billy Taylor a complete bust after

being acquired from the A's, but Jason Isringhausen turned out to be a

first-class closer after a second-rate career as a starter with the Mets.

2. Roberto Alomar has not been a total bust, but he hasn't resembled the

Hall of Famer he had been before coming to the Mets. The price didn't turn out

to be that high because highly touted Alex Escobar has been injury plagued and

Matt Lawton has flopped.

3. The only thing that saves the Mo Vaughn deal from burying the franchise

financially is the insurance policy that covers the big first baseman's

contract. The Mets gave up reliable, veteran starting pitcher Kevin Appier.

Three That Might Have Been

1. Even now, Texas' Alex Rodriguez says the Mets were his first choice all

along. Phillips may have had his hands tied by ownership, but he appeared to

give up too easily because of what were considered outrageous demands by

A-Rod's agent.

2. After the wild-card success of 1999, Phillips just assumed rock-solid

first baseman John Olerud wanted to return home to the state of Washington.

Olerud has said that his departure was not a lock, especially if the Mets had

come up with the money.

3. Edgardo Alfonzo is not exactly lighting it up in San Francisco, and Ty

Wigginton is one of the few pleasant surprises of 2003, but Alfonzo deserved a

better offer. He, too, clearly wanted to stay with the Mets.

For the Record

How the Mets have played for each of their nine general managers:

GM Record Pct. Frank Cashen 1980-91 984-803 .551

Johnny Murphy1968-69 173-151 .534

Steve Phillips 1997-03 501-442 .531 Bob Scheffing 1970-74 402-401 .501 Joe

McIlvaine 1993-97 284-321 .469 Joe McDonald 1975-79 361-449 .446

Al Harazin 1992-93 93-137 .404

Bing Devine 1967 61-101 .377

George Weiss 1962-66 260-547 .322