Top 25 MLB trades of all time

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NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 30: Former New York Mets Mike Piazza waves before throwing out the first pitch prior to Game Three of the 2015 World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field on October 30, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images) /

18. Mike Piazza to the Mets, 1998

Mets get: Mike Piazza
Marlins get: Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, Geoff Goetz

After dominating the National League in the late 1980s, the New York Mets had not gone to the playoffs since 1988 when they traded for All-Star catcher Mike Piazza in 1998. Arguably the best offensive catcher in MLB history, Piazza helped breathe life and energy back into a franchise that had suffered through lean years for the first part of the 1990s.

Piazza’s brief stay with the Florida Marlins is one of the stranger happenings in MLB history. They had acquired him for the sole purpose of flipping him again, but he played five games before another trade could be worked out. For some reason, Florida could not make this a three-way trade from the jump.

With the Mets, Piazza made seven All-Star Games in eight years and won five Silver Slugger awards. More importantly, he led the Mets to a winning record in five of his eight seasons and got them to the NLCS and the World Series. Piazza also helped lay the groundwork for the 2006 team that came was an Adam Wainwirght curveball away from the World Series.

In eight years, Piazza hit 220 home runs and drove in 655 runs. More than half of his MLB-record 427 home runs as a catcher came with the Mets, and he wore their cap on his plaque when he entered the Hall of Fame in 2016.

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