18 Years Ago Today: Mets Acquire Carlos Delgado

After the 2004 season, the Mets made an effort to sign Carlos Delgado as a free agent. They were unable to land the first baseman, who signed with the Marlins for four years. On November 24th, 2005, the Mets obtained Delgado in a trade.

Following the 2005 season, the Marlins went through one of their trading phases, this time shedding veterans Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Delgado. The Mets sent first baseman Mike Jacobs, who had a strong rookie season, pitcher Yusmeiro Petit, and minor league infielder Grant Psomas to the Marlins in return for the two-time all-star.

Delgado, who was 33 years old when the Mets traded for him, had posted some very strong years in his career that began with the Blue Jays in 1993, though his first full year with Toronto was 1996. As a member of the Blue Jays over 12 seasons, Delgado slashed .282/.392/.556 with 336 home runs and 1,058 RBIs. His career OPS with the Blue Jays was .949, with an OPS+ of 142.

In his lone season with the Marlins, Delgado had a slash line of .301/.399/.582 with 33 home runs and 115 RBIs. In that season, Delgado’s OPS was .981, and his OPS+ was 161. As a Met over four seasons, Delgado’s production was not quite as strong (.267/.351/.506), 104 HR, 339 RBIs, .857 OPS, 122 OPS+.

Delgado was known for keeping a journal of pitchers and would often be seen writing down how pitchers were trying to get him out, and what he did, both successfully and unsuccessfully, to attempt to counter those efforts.

When the Mets trampled the National League East in 2006, Delgado whacked 38 home runs and drove in 114 runs. His power numbers were almost identical in 2008 (38 HR/115 RBI). Delgado had an outstanding postseason in 2006, posting a BA of .351 with an OPS of 1.119, slugging four home runs, and driving in 11 runs over 10 games.

Delgado had some memorable moments with the Mets. As I reflect on his career, I think about the game at Yankee Stadium in June of 2008, in which he drove in nine runs.

Delgado’s career ended after just 26 games in 2009, primarily due to a recurring hip injury that wound up requiring surgery once the labrum was torn in the hip. When Delgado was a Met, though he was not the same caliber player he was with the Blue Jays, he was a key cog in the Mets division-winning team in 2006 and, along with Carlos Beltran and David Wright, helped form a formidable middle of the Mets lineup from 2006-2008.

Delgado was honored by the Blue Jays in 2013, being inducted into their Level of Excellence. He hit 473 home runs in his 17-year career.

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