CHICAGO – After much consternation about what was wrong with Brian McRae, the Mets finally stopped trying to figure it out.
Instead, they traded the mercurial center fielder to the Rockies along with lefty reliever Rigo Beltran and Single-A outfielder Thomas Johnson in exchange for center fielder Darryl Hamilton and lefty reliever Chuck McElroy.
“We think this move gives us depth in the bullpen,” general manager Steve Phillips said. “It gives Dennis Cook some protection. Darryl will also improve our depth in the outfield.”
The Mets announced the trade shortly after their 17-10 loss to the Cubs here at Wrigley Field. They were close to making another trade that would send promising righthander Jason Isringhausen to the Athletics for Billy Taylor, but had not announced anything about that immediately after the game.
Isringhausen was once the jewel of their minor league system, but the Mets are under the belief that he may eventually have another serious injury judging from the way he throws. Isringhausen had reconstructive elbow surgery after the 1997 season, which scuttled a potential trade to the Marlins for Kevin Brown. This trade – if it happens – for a 37-year-old closer who pitched 13 years in the minors before being called up by Oakland in 1994, shows how far Isringhausen’s stock has fallen.
McElroy had a no-trade-to-New York clause in his contract, but waived it. The Mets are hoping he can take some of the pressure off Cook, who has made 50 appearances and thrown 49 innings after one inning of work yesterday.
McElroy is 3-1 this year with a 6.20 ERA in 402/3 innings of work. Hamilton was hitting .303 with four home runs and 24 RBIs in 337 at-bats.
The enigma of McRae was certainly hard to figure out. He was hitting only .221 in 298 at-bats.
McRae, who was traded to the Mets along with Turk Wendell and Mel Rojas for Lance Johnson, Mark Clark and Manny Alexander in 1997, is on the last year of his contract and the Rockies will probably just let him go at the end of the year.
Hamilton is signed through 2001.
McRae was obviously upset when the Mets leaked out that he and Bobby Bonilla were on waivers in June and he never regained his form. He was always outspoken and sometimes criticized Bobby Valentine, but the manager and GM insisted he wasn’t being shipped out for that reason.
“I think Steve put it succinctly when he said it was about his performance this year,” Valentine said. “Yes, he made some silly comments, but I thought he was a good teammate. No one expressed more joy at winning and he was a team organizer for dinners and things. it was just his performance. There are only two months to go and there is no way we could just keep wishing and hoping he would come around.”
