Editor’s note: Starting tomorrow, We Can Pod It Out episodes will come out on their own, regularly scheduled. As you likely can tell from this post going out late on Tuesday night, we’re (I’m) still a little bit behind on organization and whatnot, but the good news is that Roger and Andrew have recorded several episodes already, so we’ve got regular content lined up. More good stuff to come, so stay tuned! —Jesse
The Metropolitan Astro Tiger
By Jesse Spector
Five years after he’s done playing baseball, Justin Verlander almost assuredly will be inducted to the Hall of Fame. When that happens, his plaque will list the Mets among his teams, following Detroit and Houston.
The Hall of Fame is an exclusive club, sure, but the club that Verlander will join when he throws his first pitch in (the Mets’) orange and blue? This is going to be history in the making.
The Mets and Astros entered the majors together in 1962, and in six decades, there have been 128 players who have featured for the National League’s ninth and 10th franchises. Last year, New York employed ex-Astro J.D. Davis, while former Mets prospect Rafael Montero won a ring with Houston.
Only 18 of those 128 players, however, also have been on the Tigers. And of those, only two have spent multiple seasons with all three clubs — one pitcher and one hitter. Can you guess them?
Perhaps you guessed one of the Mets’ all-time ERA leaders, C.J. Nitkowski, who worked 5.2 innings over five appearances in 2001 without a blemish… or another of the Mets’ all time ERA leaders, Dan Schatzeder, who worked 5.2 innings over six appearances in 1990 while also posting zeroes for the Mets. But, of course, each of those guys only made Flushing cameos, although Nitkowski and Schatzeder both were multi-year Tigers, and Schatzeder was in the Mets’ organization for 10 days in June of 1991, but did not appear in a game.
Three of the players who were Mets, Astros, and Tigers were only with each in one season. Journeymen Jim Lindeman and Roger Mason teamed up on the 1994 Mets, having been on the 1993 and 1989 Astros, and 1990 and 1984 Tigers, respectively. Oddly, Mike Marshall (the pitcher, not the first baseman, who also was a Met) also appeared for the Mets in a strike year, 1981, having been an Astro in 1970 and a Tiger three years before that.
Marshall isn’t the only major leaguer to share a name with another major leaguer and also play for the Mets, Astros, and Tigers. Lefty pitcher Dave Roberts was teammates with Marshall in 1981 in New York, and spent 1972-75 with the Astros, and 1976-77 in Detroit.
That’s six of the 18, and unfortunately neither Octavio Dotel, Jose Lima, nor Jose Valverde spent more than a few fleeting moments as Mets (and fortunately, Kyle Farnsworth only threw 17 innings here in 2014). Brandon Lyon spent multiple seasons in Queens, but one was with the Queens Kings, when he was a Blue Jays farmhand.
The Queens Kings played at St. John’s, where Nitkowski went to school, and he had multiple teammates on the 2001 Tigers who were also Mets and Astros, Willie Blair and Roger Cedeño, but Blair was only a Met in 1998 and Cedeño only an Astro in 2000. It would still be another few years before Lima got to the Mets, but he was on the 2001 Tigers, too… along with one of the answers, Dave Mlicki.
And while Cameron Maybin, Verlander’s ex-teammate in Detroit and Houston, was in New York for multiple seasons, one of those was with the Yankees…. and also he was only with Houston in 2017. Tim Byrdak also was Verlander’s teammate in Detroit, but only in 2007 before spending 2008-10 with the Astros and 2011-13 as a Met.
That leaves two players, both Mets legends in their own right, and in fact teammates in New York. While 1986 World Series MVP Ray Knight was with the Astros from 1982-84, his only action with the Tigers was in 1988.
The other answer along with Mlicki is the one guy, before Verlander, who really could’ve been said to be known as a Met, Astro, and Tiger… and Rusty Staub is remembered by most as Le Grand Orange, for his time with the Expos.
Verlander isn’t just coming to New York to further his path to Cooperstown. He’s blazing a new trail, all his own, through arcana and ad astra, the Metropolitan Astro Tiger.
deGone
By Roger Cormier
The Texas Rangers signed Jacob deGrom on Friday, in their quest to get within 10 games under .500 I suppose. It was for five years and a lot of money, more years and money that a sane person would hand over to a 34-year-old with deGrom's injury history. But it's Jake. A two-time Cy Young Award winner who only a few months ago, in his second start after missing over a year, struck out 12 batters in 5.2 innings against a 102-win team.
You know it's a big loss because the Mets leaked "Actually, this dude kinda sucks" information mere hours after he was no longer an employee. deGrom was anti-vaxx apparently. This isn't surprising, considering the Mets were previously reported to have one of the lowest vaccination rates in the game, and Jake, the poor guy, was born and reared in Florida. I am ashamed to admit that this confirmation makes me feel a little bit better about him no longer being a Met.
This still stings though, because
He was/is a generational talent who
Clearly did not want to be a New York Met anymore. He always seemed to want to be the GOAT without the fame that came with it, something you definitely won't be afforded in New York.
But was it something else? Was it something us Met fans said or did? It sounds so stupid, and yet, I wonder.
The Mets already added Justin Verlander to take the spot atop the rotation alongside Max Scherzer. They could sign Carlos Rodon and Kodai Senga and the reanimated corpse of Tom Seaver with Uncle Stevie's moolah. That would be nice…and it wouldn't be the same. Which is the point, I tell myself.
Even if he stayed, Jacob deGrom's 2015 NLDS, 2018, 2019, and first half of 2021 would never be replicated, because it already happened. He might put together another all-timer of a season, and it will likely be the only thing Texas Ranger fans can love. Good for them. (It's easy to be magnanimous when Texas is so far away, diametrically opposite in the American League West.) What they potentially might have is something we had, when Jacob and us were younger, less jaded, more capable of childlike awe. And no amount of money can take those memories away.
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